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THE 


ANNUAL  REGISTER, 


OR  A  VIEW  OF  THE 

HISTORY, 

POLITICS, 

AND 


L  I  T  E  RATURE, 


For  the  YEAR  1778. 


THE  THIRD  EDITION. 


LONDON:- 
Printed  for  J.  Dodsley,  in  Pall-Mall.  1786. 


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PREFACE. 


THE  Hiftory  of  the  year  1778,  is 
more  confined  in  its  nature  than 
that  of  many  others.  It  is  more  properly 
the  Hiftory  of  the  Britifh  Nation,  however 
feparated,  or  into  whatever  divifions  un¬ 
happily  thrown,  than  that  of  the  world  in 
general,  or  of  Europe  in  particular.  If  it 
is  therefore  lefs  interefting  to  Foreigners,  it 
is  proportionally  the  more  fo  to  Englifh- 
men.  It  records  matters  in  which  they  are 
all  concerned.  No  man,  nor  no  ftation, 
can  be  free  from  their  confequences.  No 
common  apathy  can  afford  an  indifferent 
fpedtator.  We  are  exhibited  upon  the  grand 
theatre  of  adtion,  to  perform  a  part  equally 
confpicuous  and  perilous,  and  the  world  is 
ftill  in  a  gaze  for  the  event. 

Although 


I 


PREFACE. 


iv 

Although  it  be  a  year  which  has  not 
afforded  thofe  great  and  lignal  actions, 
which  throw  a  fafcinating  fplendour  over 
the  face  of  Hiftory,  it  has  abounded  with 
bufinefs  of  lefs  luftre,  but  of  the  moft  im¬ 
portant  nature,  in  a  degree,  perhaps,  un¬ 
equalled,  in  our  annals.  Our  attention  to 
domeftic  matters,  has  not,  however,  pre¬ 
vented  our  paying  a  due  regard  to  that  war, 
which  was  commenced  with  fuch  tremen¬ 
dous  appearances  in  Germany,  and  fo 
fpeedily  and  happily  concluded.  The  ex¬ 
traordinary  bulk  of  our  Hiftory,  notwith- 
ftanding  our  utmoft  endeavours  (both  for 
our  own  fake,  and  that  of  our  Readers)  to 
comprefs  it  within  more  moderate  limits, 
will,  we  hope,  afford  an  unqueftionable 
teftimony  to  the  Public,  that  neither  our 
zeal,  nor  our  induftry,  are  flackened  by 
their  favour. 


2 


THE 


THE 


ANNUAL  REGISTER, 

For  the  YEAR  1778. 

THE 

H  I.  S  T  O 

O  F 

EURO 

CHAP.  I. 

Germany .  Some  obfervations  on  the  political  fiats  of  that  country.  Death  of 
the  Elector  of  B aquaria ,  Some  account  of  the  character  and  difpofition  of 
his  fuccejfor ,  the  Elector  Palatine.  Aufirian  troops  feize  upon  the  Lower 
Bavaria,  and  upon  the  Upper  Palatinate.  Subfiance  of  the  convention 
concluded  between  the  Elector  and  the  court  of  Vienna.  Various  claims 
notwit hfi anding  left  open.  Short  view  of  the  hifiory  of  the  two  great 
branches  of  the  Bavarian  or  Palatine  line ,  fo  far  as  it  relates  to  the  pre- 
fent  contefi.  Claims  of  the  Houfe  of  Aufiria  controverted.  Claims  of  the 
Prince  of  Deuxponts  ;  of  the  Eledlrejs  Dowager  of  Saxony  ;  and  of  the 
Dukes  oj  Mecklenburg.  Protefi  entered  by  the  Jirfi  againfi  the  late  conven¬ 
tion  ;  and  an  appeal  to  the  Diet  of  the  empire  againfi  the  conduct  of  the  court 
of  Vienna.  King  of  Prufiia  efpoufes  the  caufe  of  the  Princes  who  fuppofed 
themfelves  injured.  V arious  memorials  and  documents  laid  before  the  Diet 
by  the  P ruffian  and  Aufirian  minifiers.  Memorial  of  complaint  by  the 
Elect  or  of  Bavaria.  VV ill  of  the  late  Eledior  laid  before  the  Diet.  De¬ 
claration  to  the  Prujfian  minifier  at  Vienna.  F rejh  remonfi ranees  on  the 
other  fide.  Memorial  by  Prince  Kaunitz  to  the  Prujfian  minifier.  \  Diredl 
correfpondence  between  the  Emperor  and  the  King  of  Prujfia  in  Bohemia , 
and  a  negociation  opened  in  confequence  at  Berlin.  Negotiation  fuitlefis. 
Bevj  propofals  for  an  accommodation,  tranfmitted  by  the  King  to  Vienna . 
Propo/als  rejedled.  Other  propofitions  on  both  fedes  inefj'edlual.  Prujfian 
manifefio. 

MANY  appearances  have  happen  to  predominate  in  the  other 
for  a  long  time  feemed  parts  of  Europe,  the  tranquillity 
to  indicate,  that  however  of  Germany  could  fcarcely  be  of  a 
the  fcale  of  war  or  peace  might  very  lafting  nature.  Beiides  the 
Vol.  XXI.  [A]  conclufions 


2]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


fconclufions  which  might  at  other 
times  be  drawn  from  the  particular 
circumftances  of  government,  the 
multitude  of  men,  and  the  mili¬ 
tary  genius  which  has  in  all  ages 
characterized  that  nurfery  of  fol- 
diers,  other  more  immediate  cir¬ 
cumftances  were  not  wanting  to 
render  the  profpeCt  of  peace  pre¬ 
carious. 

The  vatl  and  continually  increa- 
iing  armies,  which  have  been  kept 
up  fince  the  conclulion  of  the  late 
war,  by  the  two  powers,  who  with 
a  deciflve  controul  now  fway  the 
motions  of  the  other  members  of 
the  Germanic  body,  were  of  a  mag¬ 
nitude  far  beyond  all  the  interests 
of  peace;  and  if  notabfolutely  be¬ 
yond  the  abilities  of  their  refpedtive 
countries  to  fupport,  were  totally 
Inconfiftent  with  the  eafe  and  pro- 
fperity  of  the  people  for  whofe  pro¬ 
tection  they  were  fuppofed  to  be 
formed.  Indeed  thefe  powers  feem 
fo  fenfible  of  the  fatal  confequences 
of  fuch  a  drain  from  population, 
and  fuch  a  withdrawing  of  ftrengt'h 
from  the  labours  of  the  earth,  that 
both  of  them  have  adopted  the  re¬ 
medy  of  encouraging  matrimony 
In  their  armies ;  and  one  allows  his 
foldiers,  in  rotation,  to  apply  their 
hands  to  the  neceffary  occupations 
of  held  labour.  Thus  we  may  in 
time  behold  hereditary  armies ;  and 
the  countries  of  Europe  may  fee  a 
new  order  of  men  grow  up  amongft 
them,  who,  from  father  to  fon,  in¬ 
herit  manners,  principles,  and  in¬ 
terefts,  feparate  and  diftinCt  from 
thofe  of  the  community  at  large. 

Nor  did  the  increafe  of  thofe  ar¬ 
mies  exceed  the  conftant  attention 
which  was  paid  to  their  perfection 
in  military  ftiill,  and  in  the  dexte¬ 
rity  of  military  evolution  ;  whilft 
the  abundant  provihon  for  war 
which  was  made  in  their  refpeftive 


1 

ftates  kept  pace  with  both.  It 
might  indeed  have  been  imagined 
upon  a  flight  view,  that  the  fudden 
friendfliip  which  fprung  up  be¬ 
tween  the  two  great  monarchs  in 
queftion,  would  have  been  in  fome 
degree  a  pledge  for  the  public 
quiet  and  fecurity;  but  to  thofe  of 
a  fhrevvder  turn  and  ciofer  obfer- 
vatiop,  it  is  probable  that  their 
friendfliip  appeared  more  dange¬ 
rous  than  their  enmity. 

•Some  particular  circumftances 
perhaps  preserved  the  tranquillity 
of  Germany  for  a  longer  fpace  of 
time,  than  the  appearances  of 
things  feemed  to  indicate,  or  men 
in  general  to  expeCt.  The  near 
equipoize  of  power,  military 
ftrength,  and  of  the  means  and  re- 
four  ces  of  war,  between  thehoufes 
of  Auftria  and  Brandenburg,  might 
produce,  for  fome  time,  and  in 
fome  degree,  flmilar  effe&s,  with 
thofe  which  would  have  arifen  from 
a  ftate  of  mutual  inability.  The 
affairs  of  Poland,  which  feemed  at 
firft  calculated  to  fcatter  firebands 
and  defolation  over  every  part  of 
the  North,  produceda  direCtly  con¬ 
trary  effeCt.  They  not  only  drew 
off  for  fome  years  the  attention  of 
thofe  great  powers  from  domeftic, 
or  other  matters,  and  at  the  fame 
time  occupied  the  hands  of  a  dan¬ 
gerous  and  equally  great  neigh¬ 
bour;  but  the  fhare  which  they  all 
obtained  in  the  partition  of  that 
ancient  kingdom,  would  have 
feemed  well  calculated  to  appeafe 
the  infupportable  cravings  of  am¬ 
bition,  if  long  experience  had  not 
demonftrated,  that  the  appetite  in 
that  di  item  per  becomes  more  infa- 
tiate,  in  proportion  to  the  greatef 
quantity  of  food  which  is  admini- 
ftered  to  its  fupply. 

The  King  of  Pruftia  feerns  the 
only  power  to  whom  the  indepen¬ 
dent 


HISTORY  O  F  E  U  R  O  P  E.  [3 


dent  princes  and  free  cities  of  Ger¬ 
many  can,  with  any  degree  of  cer¬ 
tainty,  look  up  for  fupport  again  ft’ 
the  great  and  increafmg  ftrength  of 
the  houfe  of  Auftria;  a  houfe,  to 
which  the  prerogatives,  the  pecu¬ 
liar  powers,  and  undefined  claims, 
appertaining  to  the  title  and  office 
of  Emperor,  may  now  be  nearly 
confidered  as  an  appendage.  No 
union  of  the  lefter  ftates  could 
now,  as  heretofore,  form  a  fiiffi- 
cient  weight  to  counterbalance  in 
any  degree  that  power.  Belides 
the  natural  imperfection  and  insta¬ 
bility  which  muft  neceffarily  attend 
fuch  an  union,  compofing  an  ill- 
conneCted  body,  with  a  number  of 
difunited  heads,  it  would  undoubt¬ 
edly  be  found  greatly  deficient  in 
the  mere  article  of  ftrength. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  houfe 
of  Auftria  is  at  prefent  a  necefiary 
curb  on  the  fuddenly  grown  power, 
and  the  ambitious  views  of  that  of 
Brandenburg.  Between  both,  the 
lefter  ftates,  by  a  prudent  and 
watchful  attention  to  the  prefer- 
vation  of  that  balance  of  power 
in  Germany,  which  has  fo  unac¬ 
countably,  and  perhaps  fatally, 
been  worn  out  of  memory  in  the 
general  fyftem  of  Europe,  may  ftill 
long  continue  to  preferve  their  in¬ 
dependence.  A  negleClof  this  po¬ 
litical  principle,  will  probably  oc- 
cafion  one  of  the  fcales  to  prepon¬ 
derate,  which,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  muft  prove  dangerous,  if 
not  ruinous,  to  the  independency 
of  the  Germanic  body. 

But,  if  that  rage  of  dominion, 
and  Spirit  of  arbitrary  power  and 
encroachment,  which  feem  at  pre¬ 
fent  fo  generally  prevalent  in  Eu¬ 
rope,  Should  unite  thofe  two  great 
powers  in  a  common  league  againft 


the  independency  of  .the  other 
princes,  and  the  liberties  of  th£ 
free  cities,  it  feems  evident  that  no 
force  within  the  empire  could  pre¬ 
ferve  the  Germanic  body  in  its  pre¬ 
fent  form.  Poland  has  afforded  a 
recent  inftance,  that  quietnefs,  an 
inability  to  offer  injury  or  wrong, 
with  many  ufeful  and  valuable  pro¬ 
perties  of  good  neighbourhood,  af¬ 
ford  no  proteftion  againft  the  luff 
of  power,  and  the  rage  of  ambi¬ 
tion  ;  whilft  Dantzick  prefents  a 
yet  living  example  to  the  free  ci¬ 
ties,  that  the  ruft  of  parchments, 
and  the  venerable  antiquity  of  im¬ 
munities,  offer  no  better  defences; 
againft  fuch  enemies.  From  what 
every  body  has  feen,  and  from  a 
ft  ate  of  public  affairs  and  general 
difpofition,  which  cannot  efcape 
common  obfervation,  it  feems  not 
impoffible,  that  the  greater  part  of 
Europe  might  continue  indifferent 
fpe&ators  of  fuch  an  event.  Nor 

does  it  feem  lefs  probable,  that 

m±  ' 

Ruflia,  though  deftitute  of  liberty 
herfelf,  (and  perhaps,  at  prefent, 
incapable  of  it)  would,  notwith- 
ftanding,  be  the  only  power  which 
would  interfere  in  fuch  a  caufe, 
and  to  whom  the  Germanic  body 
might  owe  the  prefervation  of  its 
independence  and  liberties, 

The  extinction  of  the  male  Wil¬ 
liam  line  of  Bavaria  in  the  perfon 
of  the  late  Elector,  opened  a  new 
Scene  in  the  affairs,  and  may  pof- 
fibly  mark  an  intereftirig  period  in 
the  hiftory  of  Germany.  At  leaft 
this  event  has  opened  the  way  to 
claims  and  pretenfions  which  had 
not  been  before  generally  thought 
of,  and  in  a  great  meafure  with-,' 
drawn  the  veil  from  political  views' 
and  defigns  of  the  greateft  impor¬ 
tance  to  the  Germanic  body,  and 
z  \  which' 


4]  ANNUAL  RE 

which  otherwife  might  for  fome 
time  longer  have  been  referved  in 
darknefs. 

Maximilian  Jofeph,  the  late 

•n  Elector  of  Bavaria, died 

Dec.  3oth,  of  the  fnla!1_pox  at 

1 777*  Munich,  in  the  51ft 
year  of  his  age,  and  on  the  lalt  day 
but  one  of  the  old  year.  The 
death  of  this  prince,  without  iffue, 
totally  extingtiifhed  the  male  Guil- 
lielmine  or  Ludovician  line  of  Ba¬ 
varia,  which  had  been  in  poffeffion 
of  that  dutchy  for  near  five  hun¬ 
dred  years.  This  prince  was  fuc- 
ceeded,  both  in  the  electoral  dig¬ 
nity,  and  his  dominions  at  large, 
by  his  general  heir,  Charles  Theo¬ 
dore,  the  Elector  Palatine  of  the 
Rhine.  The  large  allodial  efiates 
of  Bavaria,  with  feveral  particular 
territorial  acquifitions,  which  were 
obtained  at  different  times,  and 
held  by  different  tenures,  from  that 
of  the  grand  fief,  were  alfo  open  to 
feveral  claimants,  whofe  titles  were 
to  be  difcuffed,  and  rights  legally 
determined,  according  to  the  ge¬ 
neral  laws  and  confiitutions  of  the 
empire. 

The  EleCtor  Palatine,  at  the 
time  of  his  acceffion  to  the  Bava¬ 
rian  dominions,  was  newly  entered 
into  the  54th  year  of  his  age,  and 
having  no  iffue,  the  large  pofief- 
fions  of  the  double  deflorate,  with 
the  dignity  appertaining  to  one, 
were  in  the  expectation  of  his  ap¬ 
parent  heir,  the  Duke  of  Deux- 
ponts,whowas  the  neareft  relation 
in  the  male  Palatine  line.  The 
prefcnt  EleCtor  is  much  celebrated 
for  the  liberality  of  his  fentiments 
and  difpofition  ;  for  his  affeCtion  to 
learning  and  the  fine  arts ;  and  for 
that  happy  ftate  of  freedom  and 
eafe,  in  which  men  of  genius  of  all 
kinds,  and  ©f  all  countries,  have 


GISTER,  1778. 

for  many  years,  amidft  the  hofpi- 
tality  and  pleafures  of  his  elegant 
court  at  Manheim,  forgotten  all 
the  inequalities  of  fortune  and  con¬ 
dition.  The  particular  circum- 
ftances  of  fituation,  the  temper  and 
difpofition  we  have  defcribed,  with 
the  habits  of  life  confequent  of 
them,  will  ferve  to  explain  fome 
parts  of  his  fubfequent  conduct, 
and  account  for  that  flexibility, 
with  which  he  feemed  to  facrifice 
his  rights  to  the  love  of  eafe,  and 
defire  of  tranquillity. 

As  the  courfe  of  the  fucceflion  to 
Bavaria  had  been  fettled  for  ages, 
was  known  to  every  body,  and  had 
been  even  prepared  for  by  the  late 
prince,  the  EleCtor  found  no  diffi¬ 
culty  in  taking  pofleflion  of  that 
dutchy  with  the  Upper  Palatinate, 
and  of  receiving  the  willing  ho¬ 
mage  of  his  new  fubjeCts.  But 
before  he  could  feel  his  new  fitua¬ 
tion,  he  unexpectedly  found  that 
he  had  a  rival  of  fuch  fuperior 
power  and  greatnefs  to  encounter, 
that  all  competition  on  his  fide 
would  not  only  be  futile,  but  that 
the  difparity  was  fo  great,  as  to 
render  all  appearance  of  oppoiition 
even  ridiculous.  He  had  Scarcely 
arrived  in  his  new  capital  of  Mu¬ 
nich,  before  the  Auftrian  troops, 
who  had  been  evidently  ftationed 
on  the  frontiers  for  the  purpofe, 
and  only  waiting  for  an  account 
of  the  event  of  the  late  Ele&or’s 
death,  poured  on  all  fides  into  the 
Lower  Bavaria,  and  fe,ized  upon, 
every  place  they  came  to.  In  the 
mean  time,  another  flrong  body 
advanced  on  the  fide  of  Egra  to  the 
Upper  Palatinate,  where  the  re¬ 
gency  in  vain  pleaded  the  kws  of 
the  empire,  and  the  rights  of  fo- 
vereignty,  againft  the  entrance  of 
foreign  troops. 

We 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


We  have  obferved,  that  it  was 
not  in  the  charafter  of  this  prince 
to  enter  willingly  into  the  animo- 
fity  of  conteft.  He  accordingly 
fubmitted  to  the  neceffity  of  the 
times,  with  a  facility  for  which  he 
has  been  blamed,  as  committing  an 
aft  which  was  inj urious  to  his  heirs 
as  well  as  tohimfelf.  He  has  fince 
juftified  his  conduft,  on  the  ground 
of  that  neceffity  which  he  hates  to 
be  invincible,  in  a  letter  to  his 
kinfman  and  heir  apparent,  the 
Duke  of  Deuxponts.  He  could 
yet  have  no  knowledge  of  what 
fupport  he  might  receive,  or  in¬ 
deed  whether  he  would  be  at  all 
fupported.  He  faw,  that  inflead 
of  lofing  a  part  by  compromife,  a 
fruitlefs  oppofition  to  the  court  of 
Vienna  would  infure  the  lofs  of  the 
whole  fucceftion.  But  that  was  not 
the  only  ftake  that  was  at  hazard. 
He  was  threatened  with  an  army  of 
60,000  men,  though  he  was  not 
able  to  relilt  the  force  which  was 
already  feizing  his  territories.  If 
things  were  carried  to  the  utmoft 
extremity,  the  lofs  of  his  old  do¬ 
minions  might  fpeedily  follow  the 
lofs  of  his  new ;  and  life  would  be 
fpent  before  he  could  have  a  hope 
of  redrefs.  At  any  rate,  he  knew 
that  no  aft  of  his  could  in  any  de¬ 
gree  injure  the  rights  of  his  fuc- 
ceftors  ;  that  a  more  favourable  op¬ 
portunity  than  the  prefent  might 
occur  for  eltablifhing  them  ;  and 
that  unlefs  the  conftitution  of  the 
empire,  and  the  Germanic  fyftem 
were  entirely  overthrown,  fuch  a 
violence  mull  fooner  or  later  be  re¬ 
drafted. 

A  convention  was  accordingly 
concluded  and  ratified  before  the 
middle  of  January,  between  the 
court  of  Vienna  and  the  Eleftor, 
by  which  the  latter  gave  up  the 


is 

better  half  of  his  new  pofleflions, 
and  left  claims  open,  which  might 
have  fwallowed  a  great  part  of  the 
remainder.  The  articles  of  this 
convention  were  indeed  of  an  ex- 
traordinary  nature  ;  and  it  may  be 
doubtedwhether  any  public  inftru- 
ment  has  appeared  for  many  years, 
which  carries  in  its  own  face  more 
glaring  marks  of  violence  andcom- 
pulfion.  In  a  word,  it  bore  a 
complexion  of  fuch  a  call,  as  if  it 
had  never  been  intended  to  come 
under  any  other  cognizance  than 
that  of  the  contrafting  parties. 

By  thefe  articles,  the  Eleftor 
acknowledges  the  claims  and  pre- 
tenfions  of  the  houfe  of  Auftria 
upon  the  Lower  Bavaria,  without 
knowing  the  titles,  or  feeing  the 
documents,  upon  which  thefe 
claims  were  founded.  It  is  true, 
it  was  fuppofed  in  the  treaty,  that 
thefe  material  articles  were  to  be 
afterwards  produced  ;  but  we  alfo 
find  the  Eleftor,  long  after,  under 
a  necefiity  of  applying  to  the  Diet 
of  the  empire  to  obtain  that  fatis- 
faftion.  He  agrees  that  they  fhall 
take  pofl’eflion  of  all  the  eftates 
which  compofed  the  patrimony  of 
Duke  John  of  the  line  of  Strau- 
bingen,  who  died  early  in  the 
15th  century  ;  and  that  they  fhall 
alfo  be  entitled  to  all  thofe  dif- 
trifta  to  which  Duke  John  had 
even  any  doubtful  claim.  Thefe 
articles,  which  contain  claims 
founded  on  fo  remote  and  doubt¬ 
ful  a  period,  and  which  mull  ne- 
ceftarily  refer  to  many  fafts  and 
circumstances,  which  at  this  dis¬ 
tance  of  time  it  mull  be  equally 
difficult,  if  not  impoffible,  either 
to  afcertain  or  difprove,  were  ac¬ 
companied  with  no  fpecification, 
either  of thepofteffions  which  Duke 
John  aftuaiiy  held,  or  of  thofe  to 

[A]  3  which 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


6] 

which  it  was  fuppofed  he  might 
have  claims. 

,  A  more  extraordinary  article  (if 
poiTible)  Hill  remained.  It  was 
agreed,  that  if  the  Ele&or  fhould 
claim  any  particular  diftnd  which 
he  wifhed  to  retain,  as  not  belong¬ 
ing  to  the  Duke  John,  the  proof 
pf  the  negative  fnould  reft  upon 
himfelf.  Thus,  befides  a  renun¬ 
ciation  of  the  better  part  of  his  new 
dominions,  the  talk  was  impofed 
upon  him,  of  proving  his  title  to, 
and  jiiftifying  the. limits  of  the  re¬ 
mainder,  againft  unknown  claims, 
>vhich  might  extend,  to  any  part  or 
to  the  whole  of  his  pofteftions.  In 
the  fame.fpirit,  he  acknowledged 
the  rights  of  the  court  of  Vienna 
to  the  county  of  Cham,  and  to 
jfuch  parts  of  the  Upper  Palatinate 
as  had  been  fiefs  of  the  kingdom, 
of  Bohemia;  an  undefined  claim, 
which  might  take  in  any  part  or 
the  whole  of  that  country.  Other 
.claims  were  recognized  with  re- 
fped  to  the  principality  of  Min. 
delheim*  ai  d  to  various  other  pof- 
felhons,  both  fiefs  and  allodial  ef- 
tates.  In  a  word,  an  inftrument 
under  the  name  of  a  convention  or 
treaty  was  concluded,  which  Teem¬ 
ed  to  leave  nothing  as  a  matter  of 
right  or  certainty  to  one  of  the 
contracting  parties,  but  to  throw 
him  entirely  on  the  grace,  modera¬ 
tion,  or  favour  of  the  other.  Such 
are  fome  of  the  confequences,  whe¬ 
ther  in  public  or  private  life,  of 
living  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
great  and  powerful. 

It  will  be  necefiarv  for  the  ex-, 
planation  of  this  fubjed,  to  take  a 
f'hort  view  of  the  hiftoryof  the  Ba¬ 
varian  or  Palatine  family,  fo  far  as 
It  relates  to  the  principal  grounds 
of  the  prefent  controverfy. 


The  two  houfes  of  Bavaria  and 
the  Palatinate  of  the  Rhine,  de¬ 
rived  their  origin  from  the  fame 
common  flock.  Their  great  an- 
ceftor  Otto,  Count  Palatine  of 
Wittlefbach,  upon  the  expulfion, 
under  the  ban  and  proscription  of 
the  empire,  of  Henry  the  Lion, 
Duke  of  Saxony  and  Bavaria,  from 
his  dominions,  received  the  dut- 
chy  of  Bavaria  as  a  male  fief  in  the 
year  1 180,  from  the  Emperor  Fre-* 
derick  the  Firft.  Lewis  the  Firft 
of  Bavaria,  the  fon  and  fuc.ceftor 
of  Otto,  brought  by  marriage,  on 
the  extindion  of  the  male  line  in 
the  ancient  family,  the  Palatinate 
of  the  Rhine,  with  the  eledoral 
dignity,  into  the  houfe  of  Bavaria. 

Thefe  great  pofTeffions,  along 
with  the  dignity  of  the  firft  fecular 
ele.dorfnip,  would  have  given  a 
decided  lend  among  the  princes  of 
the  empire  to  this  houfe,  if  they 
had  been  kept  undivided.  But, 
according  to  the  fafhion  of  thofe 
times,  the  two  fons  of  Lewis  the 
Severe,  who  died  in  the  year  1294, 
made  a  partition  of  the  patrimony  ; 
the  Palatinate  of  the  Rhine,  with 
the  eledoral  dignity,  and  the 
Northgow,  (or  what  is  fometimes 
called  the  Upper  Palatinate,  and 
the  Palatinate  of  Bavaria)  coming 
to  the  fhare  of  P^odolph  the  elded; 
fon,  and  the  dutchy  of  Bavaria  de¬ 
volving  to  Lewis  the  Second.  The 
firft  of  thefe  princes  was  accord¬ 
ingly  the  founder  of  the  Rodol- 
phine  or  Palatine  line,  as  the  fe- 
cond  was  of  the  Ludovician,  which 
has  however  been  more  generally 
called  the  Guillielmine  line  of 
Bavaria. 

Some  troubleshaving  afterwards 
rifen  between  the  aforefaid  Lewis, 
who  alfo  became  Emperor,  and  his 

nephews. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [7 


nephews,  the  Tons  of  Rodolph,  the 
former  divifion  of  patrimony,  and 
family  fettlement,  was  fully  con. 
firmed,  by  a  public  treaty  con¬ 
cluded  at  Pavia  in  the  year  1329, 
under  the  fanftion  and  further  con¬ 
firmation  of  all  the  eledlors.  By 
this  treaty,  thus  confirmed,  the 
contracting  parties  were  recipro¬ 
cally  bound,  that  when  either  of 
the  lines  fhould  fail  of  heirs,  and 
become  extinCt,  the  eftates  and 
electoral  dignity  fhould  fall  to  the 
other  ;  and  that  neither  of  them 
fhould  fell,  mortgage,  or  alienate, 
any  part  of  their  eitates. 

This  treaty  was  confidered  and 
applied  to,  as  the  foundation  of  all 
the  family  compacts  and  treaties 
which  have  fince  taken  place  be¬ 
tween  the  Palatine  and  Bavarian 
houfes,  and  was  accordingly  fur¬ 
ther  flrengthened  and  confirmed 
by  thofe  concluded  in  the  years 
1524,  1724,  1746,  1766,  and  fo 
late  as  1771.  From  hence  it  has 
been  infilled  on  in  the  prefent  con- 
troverfv,  that  the  treatv  of  Pavia, 
thus  concluded  by  an  Emperor,  and 
confirmed  by  all  the  eledlors,  and 
as  it  were  renewed  and  recorded  by 
fo  many  fucceffive  fanClions,  was 
really  and  efFe&ually  a  fundamen¬ 
tal  1  aw,  and  a  pragmatic  fanCtion 
of  the  Palatinate  and  Bavarian 
houfes,  by  which  they  are  indivifi- 
bly  bound  to  an  agreement  of  mu¬ 
tual  fucceffion,and  which  no  branch 
of  thofe  houfes,  without  the  confent 
of  all  the  heirs,  nor  even  the  Em¬ 
peror  himfelf,  could  arbitrarily 
abolifh. 

In  the  viciffitudes  of  fortune, 
temper,  and  difpo/ition,  and  the 
various  complexion  of  a  long  f  uc- 
ceffion  of  ages,  much  emulation,, 
jealoufy,  and  animofity,  fprung 
up  between  thofe  two  houfes  of  the 


fame  blood.  Thefe  partly  arofc 
from  the  envy  excited  in  that  of 
Bavaria,  at  feeing  the  electoral 
dignity  and  the  grand  vicarfhip  Of 
the  empire  held  by  the  Palatine 
line,  and,  in  part,  from  a  difpute 
that  arofe  upon  a  point  of  fuccef- 
fion.  But  when  thefe  paffions 
were  further  inflamed,  through, 
the  rage  of  civil  wars,  and  the  bit- 
ternefs  of  religious  zeal  and  perfe- 
cution,  which  afforded  a  colour  for 
every  enormity,  and  a. cloak  to  co*» 
ver  rapacity  and  ambition,  under 
the  guife  of  piety  or  patriotifm-; 
in  that  Hate  of  human  depravity, 
which  diffol.ved  all  ties  of  kindred 
and  friendfhip,  and  which  fo  long 
filled  the  empire  with  violence 
and  blood,  the  mofl  mortal  en¬ 
mity  took  place  between  the  Bava¬ 
rian  and  Palatine  branches  of  the 
fame  houfe.  <  -  *  - 

Eor  when  the  unfortunate  Fre¬ 
deric,  Eleftor  Palatine  of  the 
Rhine,  was  in  the  year  1619  called 
to  the  crown,  and  elefted  King  of 
Bohemia  by  the  revolted  Hates  of 
that  country,  Maximilian,  Duke 
of  Bavaria,  in  contempt  of  all  an¬ 
cient  ties  of  treaty  and  blood,  took 
a  decided  and  fatal  part  againft 
him.  That  prince  not  only  en¬ 
tered  into  the  llriCteft  alliance  with 
the  Emperor  Ferdinand  the  Se¬ 
cond,  but  alfo  raifed  a  confiderable 
army  at  his  own  expence  in  his 
fuppor.t.  From  this  overweening 
zeal,  beinp-  chofen  head  of  the 
league  which  was  formed  again!!' 
Frederic  and  the  Evangelic  union,, 
and  appointed  Generaliffimo  of 
their  forces,  and  being  alfo  a  bet¬ 
ter  ioldier  than  any  of  thofe  who 
oppofed  him,  he  became  the  prin¬ 
cipal  adlor  in  fir  it  dethroning  the 
unhappy  Frederic  ;  and  afterwards, 
along  with  the  Spaniards,  in  fub- 

14,1  4  "  duin2 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


S] 

duing  his  hereditary  dominions, 
and  chafing  him  and  his  family  en¬ 
tirely  out  of  Germany. 

With  fuch  good  will  was  this 
fervice  executed,  and  fo  unequal 
was  the  Emperor  in  himfelf  to  the 
talk;,  that  he  was  under  a  necelfity 
at  its  conclufion,  of  placing  the 
^Jpper  Auftria  in  the  hands  of 
Maximilian  as  a  mortgage,  for  the 
payment  of  a  debt  of  thirteen  mil¬ 
lions  of  florins,  which  he  had  ex¬ 
pended  on  his  account,  in  the  pro- 
iecution  of  the  war.  The  Em¬ 
peror  at  length,  being  emboldened 
by  his  great  and  continued  fuccefs 
in  arms,  proceeded  to  the  violent 
meafure,  not  only  of  profcribing 
the  Elector  Palatine  as  a  rebel,  but 
of  extending  the  penalties  of  trea¬ 
son  to  all  his  pofterity,  by  feizing 
the  Upper  and  Lower  Palatinate 
as  irredeemable  forfeitures.  The 
|*roteflant  princes,  fome  of  the  Lu¬ 
theran  part  of  whom,  particularly 
the  Eledor  of  Saxony,  had  affifted 
jhim  againft  Frederic,  in  vain  pro- 
tefted  againft  this  violence,  as  be¬ 
ing  entirely  fubverftve  of  the  laws 
and  conftitution  of  the  empire, 
which  admit  of  no  treafon  or  for¬ 
feiture  to  affed  the  defendants  or 
heirs.  To  affix  a  feal,  however, 
to  this  meafure  which  fhould  ren¬ 
der  it  irrevocable ;  and  at  the  fame 
time  to  clear  his  hereditary  domi¬ 
nions,  the  Emperor,  by  a  formal 
contrad,  fold  thofe  two  countries 
in  the  year  1628,  together  with 
the  eledoral  dignity  annexed  to 
them,  to  Maximilian  of  Bavaria, 
as  a  difcharge  of  the  thirteen  mil¬ 
lions,  for  which  he  held  the  Upper 
Auftria  in  mortgage.  Thus  the 
houfe  of  Auftria  paid  a  debt  to 
that  of  Bavaria  with  its  own  patri¬ 
monial  inheritance* 


This  and  other  violences  pro¬ 
duced  thofe  long  and  fatal  wars, 
which  brought  the  Swedes  and 
French  into  Germany,  and  def¬ 
lated  every  part  of  the  empire. 
The  treaty  of  Weftphalia,  in  the 
year  1648,  at  length  put  an  end 
to  the  calamities  of  the  country. 
By  the  fourth  article  of  that  treaty 
it  was  ftipulated,  that  Charles 
Lewis,  fon  of  the  late  unfortunate 
Frederic,  fhould  be  re-eftablifhed 
in  the  Lower,  commonly  called  the 
Palatinate  of  the  Rhine,  and  that 
an  eighth  eledorate  fliould  be 
created  for  him  ;  that  he  fhould 
cede  the  Upper  Palatinate,  with 
the  county  of  Cham,  and  the  an¬ 
cient  eledoral  dignity,  to  the  Duke 
of  Bavaria;  but  that  if  the  houfe 
of  Bavaria,  or  William  line,  fliould 
become  extind  in  failure  of  heirs 
male,  then  the  eighth  eledorate 
fhould  be  abolifned,  and  the  Ro= 
dolphine  line  fhould  fucceed  to  the 
ancient  eledoral  dignity,  as  well 
as  to  the  poffeffions  which  were 
now  ceded  ;  and  that  all  the  other 
rights  of  the  Palatine  line  fhould 
be  preferved,  excepting  only,  that 
they  fhould  not  affed  the  rights  of 
the  allodial  heirs  of  the  eledor  of 
Bavaria. 

It  is  neceffary  here  to  obferve, 
that  during  this  courfe  of  time  of 
which  we  have  been  treating,  fe- 
veral  partitions  of  territory  in  fa¬ 
vour  of  younger  branches  of  the 
family,  had  taken  place  at  differ¬ 
ent  times  in  the  Bavarian  line. 
And  at  the  time  of  the  great  di- 
vifion  between  that  and  the  Pala¬ 
tine  family,  the  Lower  Bavaria  was 
then  a  feparate  dutchy  in  the 
hands  of  a  younger  branch,  which 
becoming  extind  in  the  year  1340, 
n  was  again  annexed  to  the  Gull- 

lielmine 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [9 


lielmine  eftates.  But  in  fome  time 
after,  upon  the  marriage  of  a 
younger  brother  to  the  heireis  of 
Holland,  the  Lower  Bavaria  was 
again  detached  in  his  favour,  from 
the  principal  ftock,  from  whence 
proceeded  that  branch  of  the  fa¬ 
mily  which  was  called  the  line  of 
Straubingen. 

Th  is  line  having  become  extindt 
jn  the  perfon  of  the  Duke  John, 
whom  we  have  before  mentioned, 
and  who  died  without  iftue  male 
in  the  year  1425.  Sigifmond,  then 
Emperor,  taking  advantage  of  the 
confufion  and  difqrder  of  the  times, 
took  fome  ftrong  meafures  to  tranf- 
fer  the  patrimony  of  that  Duke 
to  his  own  fon-in-law,  Albert, 
Duke  of  Auftria,  who  was  alfo 
defcended  from  the  line  of  Strau- 
bingen,  being  John’s  nephew  on 
the  mother’s  iiae.  The  meafure 
of  transferring  a  male  fief  to  a  fe¬ 
male,  was,  however,  fo  directly 
repugnant  to  the  conftitutions  and 
cultoms  of  the  empire,  and  he 
found  fo  flrong  an  oppofition  both 
to  that,  and  an  attempt  towards 
a  forfeiture  which  he  made,  as 
well  from  the  other  princes,  as 
from  the  houfe  of  Bavaria,  that 
the  Emperor,  about  three  years 
after,  was  under  the  neceffity  of 
abandoning  the  defign,  and  in 
fome  degree  of  publicly  refcinding 
his  own  adds. 

The  prefent  claims  of  the  houfe 
of  Auftria  upon  the  Lower  Bavaria, 
were  founded,  at  the  end  of  350 
years,  upon  thefe  abortive  attempts 
of  the  Emperor  Sigifmond,  A 
letter  of  inveftiture  of  the  Lower 
Bavaria,  laid  to  be  granted  by 
Sigifmond  to  Albert,  dated  on  the 
10th  of  March,  1426,  and  a  con¬ 
vention  between  them  concluded 
on  the  25  th  of  the  fame  month. 


were  opportunely  difcovered  in  the 
Imperial  Library  at  Vienna,  at  the 
precife  time  in  which  they  were 
wanted. 

The  holding  back  of  thefe  ori¬ 
ginal  documents,  imperfeft  print¬ 
ed  copies,  or  abftra&s  of  which  had 
only  been  exhibited,  and  that  long 
after  the  convention  with  the  Elec¬ 
tor  Palatine  had  been  concluded, 
and  that  the  rights  fuppofed  to  be 
founded  upon  thefe  inftruments 
had  been  actually  exerted,  by  a 
feizure  of  extenfive  territorial  pof- 
feffions,  concurred  not  a  little,  with 
other  circumftances,  either  to  ren¬ 
der  their  authenticity  in  reality 
doubtful,  or  at  leaf;  to  afford  much 
open  ground  for  calling  it  in  ques¬ 
tion.  And  when  thefe  copies  or 
abftra&s  were  publifhed,  it  was 
faid,  that  the  letter  of  inveftiture, 
and  the  convention  with  Albert, 
fo  far  as  it  could  be  gathered  from 
thofe  parts  of  them  which  appear¬ 
ed,  miiltated  with  each  other,  fo 
that  one  of  them  muft  be  a  nulli¬ 
ty.  For  whilft  the  one  feemed  to 
admit  or  confirm  Albert’s  perfonai 
right  of  defcent  to  the  Lower  Ba¬ 
varia,  the  other  fettled  that  dutchy 
upon  his  wife,  (the  Emperor’s 
daughter)  and  her  iffue,  under 
the  pretext  of  its  having  become 
a  vacant  fief  of  the  empire,  through 
fome  diftenfions  which  prevailed 
among  the  princes  of  Bavaria,  and 
fome  informality  or  irregularity 
charged  to  that  houfe,  in  making 
family  fettlements  and  divifions  of 
territory,  without  applying  for, 
or  obtaining  the  Emperor’s  con- 
fent. 

The  claims  under  both  thefe 
heads  were  combated  in  the  pre¬ 
fent  controverfy,  with  great  force 
of  argument,  and  no  lefs  appear¬ 
ance  of  right,  by  thofe  who  op- 


10 


io]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


pofed  the  views  and  condud  of  the 
court  of  Vienna.  Albert’s  ina¬ 
bility  to  fucceed  to  a  male  fief  by 
a  female  defcent,  whild  any,  the 
moil  remote  branch  of  the  male 
line  was  in  being,  was  infilled  upon 
to  be  a  legal  fad  of  fo  incontro¬ 
vertible  a  nature,  and  fo  firmly 
eflablifhed  by  the  conftitution, 
laws,  and  feudal  fyftem  of  the  em¬ 
pire,  as  precluded  all  argument 
and  difcuffion  upon  the  fubjed. 
The  pretence  of  a  vacancy  in  the 
fief  on  the  fcore  of  forfeiture,  was 
encountered  with  equal  energy.  It 
was  contended,  that  by  the  conili- 
tution,  laws,  and  eftabiifhed  ufage 
of  the  empire,  all  the  princes  had 
not  only  an  unqueftioned  right  to 
conclude  family  compacts  and  con¬ 
ventions  for  the  fettlement  or  divi¬ 
sion  of  their  eflates,  among  thofe 
who  were  entitled  to  remainder 
in  their  fiefs,  but  that  the  Em¬ 
peror  was  alfo  bound,  in  virtue  of 
liis  place,  to  give  an  official  fane- 
tion  and  confirmation  to  all  fuch 
conventions. 

Upon  the  whole  it  was  infixed, 
that  no  pretence  which  had  been 
offered,  whether  in  regard  to  any 
quarrels  that  had  arifen  among  the 
princes  of  Bavaria  on  points  of 
Aitceffion,  or  any  family  divifion 
or  arrangement  they  had  made  of 
their  eflates,  could  afford  the  fmall- 
ed  legal  or  colourable  fandion  to 
the  Emperor  Sigifmond,  or  to  any 
other,  for  attempting  to  drip  them 
of  their  feudal  rights  and  inheri¬ 
tance.  But  that  if  this  drong 
ground  were  even  given  up,  and 
that  it  fhould  be  admitted,  that 
Sigifmond,  by  forfeiture  or  other- 
wife,  had  Tome  well-founded  claim 
upon  the  Lower  Bavaria  ;  that 
claim  or  title  would  have  been  to¬ 
tally  done  away  and  invalidated 


by  a  fubfequent  ad  of  his  own, 
three  years  after  the  date  of  the 
invediture  and  convention  in  ques¬ 
tion.  For  a  meeting  of  the  prin¬ 
ces  and  dates  of  the  empire  hav¬ 
ing  been  held  at  Prefburg,  in  the 
year  1429,  who  were  affembled  as 
arbiters  to  fettle  the  difputes  and 
put  an  end  to  the  troubles  which 
had  for  fome  time  agitated  Bava¬ 
ria  ;  Sigifmond  found  it  not  only 
neceffary  to  drop  all  thofe  claims 
which  he  had  formerly  made, 
whether  in  his  own  right  or  that 
of  his  fon-in-law,  but  to  join  in 
a  definitive  fentence,  wheseby  the 
princes  of  Bavaria  were  redored  to 
or  confirmed  in  all  their  rights  ; 
and  this  folemn  ad  was  executed, 
without  anyoppofition  from  Albert 
of  Audria,  who  was  both  prefect t, 
and  an  ading  member  of  the  af- 
.fembly. 

The  indudry  with  which  the 
nature  of  thefe  claims  was  invedi- 
gated,  through  all  the  darknefs 
and  diforder  of  thofe  didant  times, 
feemed  to  render  it  neceffary  to 
the  court  of  Vienna,  to  (Lengthen 
them  with  fome  additional  fup- 
port ;  or  at  lead  by  multiplying 
the  objeds  of  con  trover  fy,  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  public  opinion  upon  the 
merits  of  the  caufe,  from  reding 
on  any  fingle  point  of  decifion. 
Another  claim  was  accordingly 
brought  of  a  later  date,  but  of 
the  fame  nature  with  the  former. 
This  was  founded  on  a  reverfion 
of  the  dominions  in  quedion, 
granted  to  the  houfe  of  Audria, 
(of  which  he  was  himfelf  the  head) 
by  the  Emperor  Mathias,  in  the 
year  1614.  To  this  claim  it  was 
replied,  that  it  was  by  no  means 
unufual  with  the  Emperors,  in 
times  of  difficulty  and  trouble, 
to  endeavour  to  aggrandize  their 

families. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [it 


families,  at  the  expence,  and  in 
the  wrong,  of  other  princes  of  the 
empire.  That  though  they  too 
often  fucceeded  in  fuch  attempts, 
they  were,  however,  often  foiled, 
which  happened  to  be  the  cafe  in 
the  prelent  inftance:  the  Emperor 
'Mathias,  after  the  example  of  his 
[predecelfor  Sigifmond,  being  ob¬ 
liged  four  years  after,  in  1618,  to 
revoke,  and  utterly  annihilate  this 
add. 

The  claims  fet  up  in  right  of 
the  crown  of  Bohemia,  to  feveral 
parts  or  the  whole  of  the  Upper 
Palatinate,  (for  their  extent,  like 
thofe  on  the  patrimony  of  Duke 
John,  were  by  no  means  ascertain¬ 
ed)  as  ancient  fiefs  appertaining 
to  that  kingdom,  were  not  lefs 
controverted  or  oppofed.  It  was 
contended,  that  thofe  fiefs,  fo  far 
as  the  extent  and  direction  of  the 
claims  were  known,  were  incon- 
teftibly  the  ancient  domains  of  the 
houfe  of  Wittlesbach,  and  which 
had  been  for  above  five  centuries 
incorporated  with  the  Upper  Pala¬ 
tinate  ;  that  even  part  of  them 
were  exprefsly  named  in  the  treaty 
of  Pavia,  where  they  are  charged 
with  a  perpetual  Fidei-commis  to 
the  Palatine  houfe,  long  before 
any  foundation  could  be  laid  for 
the  prefent  pretenfions.  That  be¬ 
ing  thus  an  integral  part  of  the 
Palatine  polfellions,  they  were  (ex- 
clufive  of  all  other  rights,  and 
waving  the  laws  and  eftablifihed 
ufage  of  defcent  with  refpedt  to 
fiefs,  which  were,  however,  fully 
Sufficient  to  have  eftablifhed  an  ir¬ 
refragable  title)  infeparably  at¬ 
tached  to  that  family  by  the  25th 
chapter  of  the  golden  bull,  which 
Specially  provides  for  and  ordains 
the  indivijibility  of  that  electorate. 
That  if  thefe  pretenfions  had  even 


a  better  foundation,  they  would, 
notwithftanding  have  been  entire¬ 
ly  overthrown  by  the  4th  article  of 
the  treaty  of  Weftphalia,  by  which 
it  was  exprefsly  ftipulated,  that  the 
Upper  Palatinate,  of  which  the 
Electoral  Houfe  had  only  been 
Itripped  by  force,  fhould  return  to 
it  upon  the  extinction  of  that  of 
Bavaria.  And  that  this  article  was 
the  more  particularly  and  conclu- 
fively  binding  upon  the  prefent 
Queen  of  Bohemia,  as  her  anceftor 
Ferdinand  the  Third,  who  was  then 
in  full  pofteftion  of  all  the  rights  of 
Sovereignty  belonging  to  that  king¬ 
dom,  was  a  principal  contracting 
party  to  the  treaty  in  queftion, 
and  had  not  made  the  fmalleft  ex¬ 
ception  with  refpedt  to  thefe  fiefs. 

We  omit  a  Specification  of  the 
claims  made  by  the  houfe  of  Auf- 
tria  to  the  principality  of  Mindel- 
heim,  to  the  allodial  eftates  of  Ba¬ 
varia,  and  to  various  other  poftef- 
fions  ;  as  well  as  thofe  which  the 
Emperor  laid  by  virtue  of  his  of¬ 
ficial  rights  to  feveral  places  and 
diftridts,  which  were  reprefented  as 
vacant  fiefs,  that  had  reverted  and 
devolved  to  the  empire  by  the 
death  of  the  late  eledtor. 

It  could  fcarcely  be  fuppofed, 
and  probably  was  not  expedted, 
that  in  Such  a  republic  as  that  of 
the  Germanic  body,  the  proceed¬ 
ings  of  the  court  of  Vienna  could 
pals  without  difcuflion,  if  not  op¬ 
position.  The  difmemberment 
and  fpoil  of  two  great  Eledtorates, 
including  a  number  of  adventi¬ 
tious  polfelfions,  and  involving 
many  foreign  claims  and  titles, 
and  this  done  without  any  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  ufual  forms  eftablifhed 
in  fuch  cafes,  without  waiting  for 
any  legal  Sanction  or  determina¬ 
tion,  and  without  taking  the  Senfe 

of 


1 


12]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


of  their  co-eftates,  the  hereditary 
confervators  and  judges  of  all 
rights,  and  more  particularly  thofe 
of  fucceffion,  could  not  fail  of  fe- 
rioully  alarming  all  the  princes  of 
the  empire.  Their  tenures  were 
all  involved  in  the  darknefs,  un¬ 
certainty,  and  frequent  violence  of 
early  ages  ;  their  titles  were  to  be 
fought  for  amidft  all  the  rubbifh 
of  ancient  jurifprudence,  dill  more 
perplexed  and  confounded  by  lo¬ 
cal  ufages,  particular  conventions, 
and  family  fettlements,  which  it 
would  be  now  found  difficult,  if 
not  impoffible  to  trace;  and  all  the 
rights  of  a  family,  excepting  thofe 
derived  from  prefeription,  which 
were  now  fhewn  to  afford  no  fecu- 
rity,  might  depend  upon  a  fingle 
record,  buried  in  fome  unknown 
repofuory,  and  in  vain  fought  for 
until  its  difeovery  perhaps  became 
ufelefs.  Nor  were  the  claims 
upon  which  thefe  proceedings  were 
founded,  by  any  means,  even  in 
the  mod  favourable  point  of  view, 
of  that  clear  nature,  which  might 
ferve  to  palliate  any  irregula¬ 
rity  or  violence  in  the  proceed¬ 
ings. 

Befides  this  general  effedt,  the 
Duke  of  Deuxponts,  and  the  Elec¬ 
toral  houfe  of  Saxony,  were  deeply 
and  materially  affedted  in  their  re- 
fpedtive  intereds  by  thefe  tranfac- 
tions ;  as  the  Dukes  of  Mecklen¬ 
burg  alfo  were,  but  in  a  leffer  de¬ 
gree.  The  Eledlrefs  Dowager  of 
Saxony,  as  only  dder,  and  as  the 
neared  relation  and  heir  of  the  late 
Elector  of  Bavaria,  claimed  a  foie, 
and  what  was  reprefented  as  an  in- 
difputable  right  in  the  fucceffion 
to  all  the  allodial  edates  in  that 
dutchy.  Though  this  claim  took 
in  very  confiderable  territorial  pof- 
feffions*  is  was  rendered  of  dill 


greater  importance,  by  its  com* 
prehenfion  of  the  purchafe-money 
which  had  been  paid  by  the  houfe 
of  Bavaria,  for  the  Upper  Palati¬ 
nate.  For  that  territory  was  main¬ 
tained  to  be  in  actual  mortgage  to 
her,  for  the  13  millions  of  florins 
which  Maximilian  had  paid  for  it 
to  the  houfe  of  Audria;  the  mo-  . 
ney  being  not  only  to  be  fpecifi- 
cally  confidered  as  an  allodium  ; 
but  its  being  alfo  fettled  by  the 
contract  of  fale  with  Ferdinand 
the  Second,  in  the  year  1628, 
that  it  fhould  be  reimburfed  to  the 
allodial  heirs.  As  this  princefs 
ceded  all  her  right  in  the  allodial 
edates,  to  her  fon,  the  prefen t 
Elector  of  Saxony  ;  he  of  courfe 
became  the  adting  party,  upon  that 
claim  in  this  conted.  The  claims 
of  the  princes  of  Mecklenburgh, 
which  were  probably  founded 
upon  the  rights  of  fucceffion  to  a 
feparate  fief,  didindt  from  the  fa¬ 
mily  compatls  of  the  Palatine  line, 
were  confined  to  the  Landgraviate 
of  Luchtenburg. 

The  Prince  of  Deuxponts  lod 
no  time  in  proteding  again d  the 
prefent  proceedings,  as  well  as 
againd  the  late  convention  between 
the  court  of  Vienna  and  the  new 
Elector  of  Bavaria  ;  and  in  calling 
upon  the  princes  and  dates  that 
compofe  the  diet,  both  in  their 
original  character,  and  as  Guaran¬ 
tees  of  the  treaty  of  Wedphalia, 
to  interfere  in  the  prefervation  of 
his  rights.  Though  the  general 
voice  of  the  empire  feems,  fo  far 
as  it  could  be  known,  to  be  on 
this  fide  of  the  quedion  ;  yet  it 
would  have  been  little  heard,  and 
lefs  attended  to,  had  not  one 
louder,  and  more  awful  than  the 
red  united,  in  fome  degree  com¬ 
manded  regard* 


The 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE;  [13 


The  King  of  Pruflia,  who  has 
a  jealous  eye  upon  every  thing 
which  may  aggrandize  the  houfe 
of  Auftria,  and  having  no  com¬ 
mon  intereft,  as  in  the  cafe  of  the 
partition  of  Poland,  to  tolerate 
itrong  aifls  in  favour  of  that  houfe, 
undertook  the  fupport  of  the  prin¬ 
ces  who  fuppofed  themfelves  in¬ 
jured,  and  the  defence  of  the  rights 
of  the  Germanic  body.  His  pub¬ 
lic  adts  and  memorials,  whether  at 
Vienna  or  Ratifbon,  were,  how¬ 
ever,  tempered  with  the  greateft 
moderation,  and  bore  every  ap¬ 
pearance  of  refpect  and  deference, 
as  well  to  the  head  of  the  empire, 
as  to  his  auguft  mother,  vvhilft 
any  hope  of  an  amicable  accom¬ 
modation  of  the  conteft  feemed  to 
remain. 

On  the  contrary,  the  court  of 
Vienna  was  rather  fupercilious  in 
her  manner,  and  aftumed  a  high, 
haughty,  and  decifive  tone.  She 
knew  her  own  rights ;  was  the  pro¬ 
per  judge  of  them  ;  and  fhewed 
little  difpofition  to  give  any  fatis- 
fadtion  to  others  on  the  fubjedl. 
On  the  whole,  though  fhe  did  not 
entirely  negledl  to  give  anfwers  to 
the  ftrong  memorials  made  againft 
her,  yet  fhe  was  charged  with 
placing  rather  more  reliance  on  her 
power  than  her  arguments. 

.  ,  In  the  firft  formal 

Pn  8Ct  ’  an^vver  which  was  laid 
*77  *  before  the  Diet,  to  a 
memorial  of  the  Pruffian  minifter, 
the  fubjeft  of  conteft  was  treated 
merely  as  a  private  arrangement 
between  the  court  of  Vienna  and 
the  Eledtor  Palatine,  in  which  no 
other  ftate  was  concerned.  The 
latter  having  acknowledged  the 
claims  of  the  former,  an  amicable 
accommodation  relative  to  the  fet- 
tlement  and  divifton  of  Bavaria, 


accordingly  took  place ;  which  af¬ 
forded  no  juft  ground  fqr  the  in¬ 
terference  of  any  third  power,  in  a 
bufinefs  which  only  properly  con¬ 
cerned  the  contracting  parties. 
That  as  thk  tranfadtion  did  not 
bear  the  leaft  fhadow  of  difmem- 
bering  a  prince  of  the  empire  by 
force,  as  had  been  reprefented  by 
the  Eledtor  of  Brandenburg,  but 
was  founded  on  j  uft  pretenfions  and 
a  friendly  agreement ;  his  Impe¬ 
rial  Majefty  did  not  think  himfelf 
any  ways  accountable  to  any  prince 
of  the  empire  for  the  meafures  he 
had  purfued.  It  concluded,  in 
this  early  ftate  of  the  controverfy, 
with  a  declaration,  that  the  Em¬ 
peror  being  thoroughly  fatisfied  of 
the  juftice  of  the  caufe  in  which  he 
had  embarked,  was  determined  to 
perfevere  in  the  meafures  which  he 
had  adopted,  and  to  fupport  his 
pretenfions  by  arms. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the 
court  of  Vienna  was  more  difpof- 
ed  to  admit  the  nature  or  founda¬ 
tion  of  its  claims  to  the  cogni¬ 
zance  of  the  Diet.  Thefe  were 
communicated  only  to  the  public 
through  the  letters  patent  which 
that  court  iftued  for  taking  pof- 
feftion  of  the  refpedlive  territories 
in  queftion  ;  or  through  the  me¬ 
dium  of  the  anonymous  publica¬ 
tions  in  fupport  or  j  unification  of 
its  conduft,  which  were  circulated 
at  Vienna  and  Ratifbon  ;  and 
which  were  accordingly  liable  to 
any  interpretation  or  difavowal 
that  might  be  thought  neceftary. 

On  the  very  day  after  the  deli¬ 
very  of  that  memorial,  which  ftat- 
ed  the  friendly  nature  of  the  agree¬ 
ment  between  the  courts  of  Vienna 
and  Munich  ;  another  was  pre- 
fented  from  the  latter  to  the  Diet, 
complaining  of  the  late  feizure  of 

about 


i4]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 


about  twenty  additional  didrids 
by  the  Audrians,  and  dating  the 
Eledlor’s  right  to  thofe  places.  The 
will  of  the  late  Elector  of  Bavaria 
was  alfo  laid  before  the  Diet, which 
afforded  the  fulled  convidion,  that 
that  prince  not  only  confidered 
the  fucceflion  to  his  dominions  to 
be  as  fully  and  inherently  eda- 
blifhed  in  the  Palatine  line,  as  the 
warmed  oppofers  of  the  prefent 
meafures  could  poffibly  fugged, 
but  that  his  inclinations  alfo  went 
along  with  the  courfe  of  defcent  ; 
in  confirmation  of  which  he  adopt¬ 
ed  a  meafure,  which  he  perhaps 
was  not  legally  enabled  tb  do,  by 
devifing  all  the  allodial  edates  of 
Bavaria  to  the  prefent  Elector. 
He  alfo  bound  him  and  his  heirs 
for  ever,  to  maintain  a  condant 
army  of  10,000  effedive  men  in 
that  electorate  ;  a  claufe  which 
would  have  been  equally  futile  and 
impracticable  under  the  circum- 
fiances  of  the  prefent  fubdradion 
of  territory. 

The  King  of  Prufiia  was  not  lefs 
fervent  in  his  dired  reprefentations 
to  the  court  of  Vienna,  in  favour 
of  the  Palatine  line,  and  the  other 
claimants  of  the  Bavarian  fuccef- 
lion,  than  he  was  induftrious  in  re* 
futing  its  pretenfions,  and  laying 
open  the  dangerous  tendency  of 
the  prefent  meafures  before  the 
Diet  of  the  empire.  That  court 
feemed,  however,  determined  on 
its  meafures,  and  both  refolved 
and  prepared  to  fupport  them  at 
ail  events. 

In  anfwer  to  the  prefiing  folici- 
tations  of  that  monarch,  for  with¬ 
drawing  the  Audrian  troops  out  of 
the  territories  of  Bavaria,  and  fub- 
mitting  the  different  claims  upon 
that  fucceffion  to  a  legal  enquiry 
and  decifion,  according  to  the 


laws  and  conditution  of  the  em¬ 
pire  ;  his  minider  at  Vienna  re¬ 
ceived  the  following  declaration, 
in  the  beginning  of  April,  from 
the  Imperial  Court. 

st  That  they  would  no  longer 
continue  difcuffing  their  own 
rights. — That  they  would  not  de¬ 
fid  from  keeping  poffefiion  of  ter¬ 
ritories  legally  acquired.  —  That 
judice  fhould  be  rendered  to  all 
who  had  the  lead  pretenfions  to  it, 
but  that  her  Imperial  Majedy 
would  never  admit  that  a  prince 
of  the  empire  fhould  arrogate  to 
himfelf  the  authority  of  judge  or 
tutor  in  his  co-principalities,  or  to 
conted  about  their  rights. « — That 
the  court  of  Vienna  knew  how  to 
defend ,  and  even  to  attack  him  moho 
durji  prefume  to  do  it . — That  not- 
vvithdanding  they  fhould  adopt 
every  admijfible  means  which  could 
be  judged  proper,  to  maintain  the 
general  tranquillity.’* 

This  anfwer,  which  can  fcarcely 
be  confidered  as  lefs  than  tanta¬ 
mount  to  a  declaration  of  war,  was 
not,  however,  fufficient  to  over¬ 
come  that  guard  and  caution,  by 
which  his  Prufiian  Majedy  feems  to 
have  particularly  regulated  his  con¬ 
duct  in  this  whole  bufinefs.  He 
dill  remondrated,  and  dill  fought 
for  explanation.  At  length  the 
court  of  Vienna  yielded  to  fome 
general  judification  of  her  con- 
dud,  and  expofition  of  her  inten¬ 
tions,  in  a  memorial  de-  M  , 
livered  by  Prince  Kau- 
nitz  to  the  Prudian  Minider. 

The  principal  ground  of  judi¬ 
fication  taken  in  this  piece  was, 
that  the  Eledor  Palatine  had  no 
complaint  of  that  court ;  and  that 
the  prince  of  Deuxponts  had  no 
right  to  interfere  in  the  bufinefs, 
during  the  evidence  of  the  prefent 

line 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [i5 


line  in  pofleffion.  It  was  faid  that 
her  Imperial  Majelly  did  not  op- 
pofe  the  pretenfions  of  the  Elector 
of  Saxony,  or  the  Dukes  of  Meck¬ 
lenburg  ;  and  a  defire,  or  inten¬ 
tion  was  held  out,  that  all  the 
claims  might  be  examined  con¬ 
jointly  with  thofe  of  the  Emprefs 
Queen,  and  that  a  legal  decifion 
might  put  an  end  to  a  contefta- 
tion,  which  the  court  of  Berlin 
had  thought  proper  to  excite. 

In  anfwer  to  this  it  was  obferv- 
ed,  that  the  court  of  Vienna  was 
already  in  the  violent  and  forcible 
pofleffion,  which  it  abfolutely  re- 
fufed  to  relinquilh,  of  all  the  ob¬ 
jects  of  contention  ;  and  that 
though  a  legal  deciflon  is  talked 
of,  no  competent  tribunal  is  men¬ 
tioned,  to  which  it  would  fubmit 
the  award  ;  but  that  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  that  court  had  conftantly 
reje&ed  with  the  utmofl:  contempt 
every  propofal  of  that  nature  ;  fo 
that  if  the  expreflion  of  legal  decifion 
was  intended  to  mean  any  thing, 
it  mull:  flgnify  that  the  Emperor 
was  to  be  the  judge  in  his  own 
caufe.  It  is  eaflly  feen,  that  if  the 
Prince  of  Deuxponts  had  fullered 
his  claims  to  lie  dormant,  until  the 
Auftrian  title  to  Bavaria  and  the 
Upper  Palatinate  was  ftrengthened 
by  length  of  pofleffion,  and  all  its 
confequences,  how  futile  his  at¬ 
tempts  of  recovering  them  mull: 
then  prove. 

Previous,  however,  to  the  deli¬ 
very  of  this 'memorial,  a  negocia- 
tion  was  opened  upon  new  ground  $ 
and  attended  with  fo-me  circum- 
flances,  which  feemed  to  afford 
room  for  hoping,  that  thefe  dif¬ 
ferences  might  be  terminated  ami¬ 
cably.  In  the  courfe  of  the  dif- 
cuffion  at  Vienna  and  Ratifbon, 
and  the  great  preparations  for  war 

K  -  • 

*9. 


which  were  made  on  both  fldes  ; 
the  great  force  of  the  Auflrian-  ar¬ 
mies  was  collected  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia,  which  of  courfe  drew  the 
Pruffian  forces  from  the  diflant 
provinces  to  the  frontiers  of  thofe 
countries.  Thefe  movements  alfo 
drew  the  King  of  Pruffia  into  Si- 
lefia,  and  the  Emperor  into  Bohe¬ 
mia,  about  the  fame  time  in  the 
month  of  April.  In  this  fituation, 
a  direft  correfpondence  by  letters 
was  opened  by  the  Emperor,  and 
carried  on  between  the  two  mo- 
narchs,  with  an  apparent  view  to 
an  accommodation. 

A  negociation  was  accordingly 
opened  at  Berlin,  under  the  con¬ 
duct  on  one  fide  of  Count  Co- 
bentzel,  the  Imperial  Minifter. 
The  firfl:  propofals  made  by  this 
minifter  were  Ample  and  laconic. 
That  the  king  fhould  acknowledge 
the  validity  of  the  convention, 
which  the  Emprefs  Queen  had 
concluded  with  the  Elector  Pala¬ 
tine,  and  her  legal  title  to  thofe 
territories  which  fhe  pofleffed  in 
confequence  of  that  treaty  ;  and 
that  he  fhould  alfo  leave  all  other 
arrangements  to  be  fettled  by  thefe 
two  princes  as  they  liked,  whether 
they  might  relate  to  particular  di- 
ftridts,  or  to  the  whole  of  the  do¬ 
minion  of  Bavaria.  That  it  might 
not  be  fuppofed  this  ufeful  com¬ 
pliance  was  to  pafs  without  due 
reward,  the  court  of  Vienna  was 
to  be  bound,  to  favour  the  King’s 
convenience  and  pleafure,  in  all 
things  that  related  to  the  fucceffion 
of  the  houfe  of  Brandenburg,  to 
the  countries  of  Anfpach  and  Ba- 
reuth,  on  the  failure  of  iffue  male, 
in  thofe  two  younger  branches  of 
his  own  family.1 

To  pave  the  way  for  the  fuecefs 
of  thefe  propofltions,  the  court  of 

Vienna 


1 6]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Vienna  laid  down  the  following 
general  principles,  to  govern  the 
conduct  of  both  courts  in  their 
mutual  tran factions,  as  tending  to 
conciliation,  and  to  equitable  con- 
clufions  ;  viz.  That  each  court 
fhould  put  itfelf  in  the  other’s 
place  ;  that  neither  lhould  demand 
any  thing  contrary  to  the  dignity 
of  the  other  ;  nor  any  thing,  if  the 
lituation  was  reverfed,  which  it 
would  not  think  right  to  be  infilled 
on.  The  immediate  application 
of  thefe  principles  was,  that  if  his 
Pruffian  Majefty,  on  a  principle  cf 
political  convenience,  would  not 
oppofe  the  aggrandizement  of  the 
houfe  of  Auftria  in  Bavaria  ;  the 
latter,  on  the  fame  principle, 
fhould  not  oppofe  the  aggrandize¬ 
ment  of  that  of  Brandenburg, when 
a  fit  opportunity  offered,  for  re¬ 
uniting  the  countries  of  Bareuth 
and  Anfpach  in  her  line  ;  and  to 
give  a  permanency  to  this  compafl, 
and  to  render  the  motives  clear 
and  indifputable,  it  was  propofed, 
that  thofe  reafons  and  coalitions  of 
interefts,  fhould  be  laid  down  as  the 
bafis  of  the  prefen t  convention. 

This  propofition  feeiped  to 
breathe  the  fpirit,  which  produced 
the  partition  of  Poland.  But  the 
cafes  and  times  did  not  refemble 
each  other.  The  King  of  Pruflia 
evidently  derived  morebenefit  from 
the  chara&er  of  the  Protestor  of 
the  rights  of  the  princes  of  the 
empire,  than  from  any  thing  to  be 
acquired  in  virtue  of  this  offer. 
He  therefore  rejected  thofe  propo¬ 
rtions,  which  evidently  tended  to 
the  eftablilhment  of  fuch  an  union 
between  thofe  great  powers,  found¬ 
ed  upon  political  convenience ,  and 
mutual  aggrandisement ,  as  might 
have  been  extended  in  its  effects, 
to  .  the  difntemberment  of  all  the 


ffates  in  Germany,  without  any  fe- 
curity,  after  all,  for  peace  or  final 
good  intelligence,  between  the 
powers  who  had  facrificed  their 
neighbours  to  a  prefen t  and  preca¬ 
rious  agreement.  Unfortunately, 
however,  though  the  fcheme  has 
failed  for  the  prefent,  the  defign 
is  too  ftrongly  fketched  to  be  worn 
out  of  memory,  and  may  be  too 
foon  adopted  in  future  practice. 

The  king  anfwered,  that  he  op¬ 
pofe  d  the  difmemberment  of  Ba¬ 
varia,  only  becaufe  he  looked  upon 
it  as  totally  unjuft,  and  as  deftruc- 
tive  of  all  liberty  and  fafety  in 
Germany.  That  he  was  not  averfe 
to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  houfe 
of  Auftria  in  juft  acquifitions.  That 
it  was  wrong  to  blend  the  prefent 
difmemberment,  which  the  houfe 
of  Auftria  had  no  right  to  do,  with 
a  diftant,  but  inconteftible  acqui- 
fition  belonging  to  the  houfe  of 
Brandenburg.  And,  that  he  could 
not  accept  of  a  treaty,  which 
would  overthrow  the  very  butt  of 
his  oppofition,  and  which  Bated 
nothing  upon  the  juft  re-eftablifti- 
ment  of  the  Palatine  Houfe  in  Ba¬ 
varia,  nor  towards  the  fatisfadtion. 
of  the  Ele&or  of  Saxony. 

Though  the  court  of  Vienna 
abfolutely  refufed  to  propofe  any 
conditions  that  feemed  to  the 
King  of  Pruflia  more  -precife  or 
fatisfa&ory  than  thofe  already  laid 
down  ;  the  king,  ftill  perfevering 
in  his  endeavours  to 
prevent  a  rupture,  re¬ 
mitted  to  that  court  a  plan  of  ac¬ 
commodation.  By  this  it  was  pro¬ 
pofed,  that  for  the  fake  of  peace, 
the  Ele&or  Palatine  lhould  be  en¬ 
gaged  to  cede  to  the  court  of 
Vienna,  two  great  diftri&s  be¬ 
longing  to  Bavaria,  which  were 
fituated  contiguous  to  Bohemia  and 

Auftria, 


May  26th. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [•? 


Auftria,  upon  the  Danube  and  Inn. 
That  theEmprefs  fhould  reftore  all 
thofe  territories  which  her  troops 
occupied  in  Bavaria.  And  that 
in  return  for  the  ceflion  made  by 
the  Ele&or,  the  Emprefs  Queen 
and  the  Emperor  fhould  grant 
fome  renunciations  and  invefti- 
tures,  with  refpeft  to  difputable 
fiefs  and  claims  in  his  favour. 

It  was  contended,  that  thefe  pro- 
pofals  exhibited  proofs  of  the  great- 
eft  equity  and  moderation,  at  the 
fame  time  that  they  were  highly 
advantageous  to  the  court  of  Vi¬ 
enna.  That  court,  it  was  faid, 
had  no  claim  on  the  Elector,  as  a 
matter  of  right,  for  any  thing. 
The  legal  and  tranquil  ceftion  of 
two  extenfive  diftrids,  which  in¬ 
terfered  fo  much  with  the  domi¬ 
nions  of  the  houfe  of  Auftria,  as 
to  have  been  the  caufe  of  frequent 
divifions  and  feuds,  and  which 
would  have  rounded  their  poffef- 
fions,  and  defined  their  limits,  by 
great  rivers  and  other  diftinguifhed 
boundaries,  in  fuch  a  manner  as 
to  prevent  ail  future  controverfy  on 
that  fubjeCt,  was  a  matter  of  great 
and  permanent  advantage  to  that 
houfe.  On  the  other  fide,  no¬ 
thing  was  demanded  in  return,  but 
fome  fmall  and  inadequate  par¬ 
cels  of  territories  which  lay  de¬ 
tached  from  the  body  of  the  Auf- 
trian  dominions,  and  fome  feudal 
claims  and  rights,  which  inftead 
of  affording  any  real  advantage, 
ferved  only  as  a  fource  of  continual 
altercation  with  the  neighbouring 
princes. 

The  court  of  Vienna  not  only 
refufed  to  liften  to  thefe  propofi- 
tions,  but  to  offer  any  on  her  fide, 
which  could  in  any  degree  clearly 
or  exprefsly  define  her  prefent,  or 
limit  her  future  claims.  Some 
Vol.  XXI. 


preliminaries  were,  however,  dif- 
patched  to  Berlin  by  Prince  Kau- 
nitz>  to  ferve  as  the  bafts  of  a  new 
plan  of  conciliation,  and  in  which 
the  fame  undefined  principles  of 
reciprocal  equity  were  ftill  held 
out,  or  talked  of.  By  orte  article 
the  court  of  Berlin  was  to  make  no 
oppofition  to  any  acquifition  the 
court  of  Vienna  might  make,  or 
was  then  actually  poffeffed  of  in 
Bavaria.  By  another,  the  Pala¬ 
tine  Houfe  fhould  be  fatisfied  by  a 
voluntary  exchange ,  upon  agreeable 
and  convenient  conditions. 

The  court  of  Berlin,  after  ex- 
pofing  and  complaining  much  of 
what  fhe  called  the  vague,  ob- 
feurey  and  unfatisfa&ory  nature  of 
thefe  overtures,  demanded  a  pre- 
cife  anfvver,  and  a  clear  explana¬ 
tion,  on  certain  points  which  it 
ffated  :  particularly.  What  the 
court  of  Vienna  would  keep,  and 
what  reftore,  belonging  to  Bava¬ 
ria  ?  What  equivalents  and  ad¬ 
vantages  it  would  give  to  the  Pala¬ 
tine  and  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony  ? 
And,  Whether  it  would  enterinto 
an  arrangement  of  all  the  Bavarian 
fucceifion,  relative  to  the  rights  of 
the  feveral  claimants,  with  the 
king,  as  the  friend  and  ally  of 
thofe  Princes,  as  a  member  of  the 
empire,  and  as  having,  by  his  other 
titles,  a  great  right  and  material 
intereft  in  taking  part  in  the  juft: 
regulation  of  that  fucceffion  ? 

This  memorial,  though  accom¬ 
panied  with  every  verbal  repre- 
fentation  which  apparently  could 
conduce  to  a  friendly 
arrangement,  was  but 
ill  received  at  Vienna,  and  pro¬ 
duced  an  anfwer,  which,  after  a 
total  cenfureof  the  Pru Ilian  propt  - 
fitions,  concluded  with  a  declara¬ 
tion,  that  if  the  Vienna  propofi- 

{ B J 


June  24th. 


# 


*8]  ANNUAL  RE 

tions  were  not  adopted  as  prelimi¬ 
naries,  all  friendly  arrangements 
would  become  imppffible,  and  all 
farther  ecclaireiffement  fuperhu- 

ous. 

An  end  being  thus  put  to  all 
hopes  of  accommodation,  and  the 
yah  armies  on  both  fides  only  wait¬ 
ing  the  iignal  for  a&ion,  the  King 
of  Pruflia  early  in  July  published 
a  manifeho,  and  other  documents, 
Hating  the  unwarrantable,  violent, 
and  unjuh  conduft  of  the  court  of 
Vienna,  and  feverely  cenfuring  that 
of  the  emperor,  who  was  bound  by 
his  high  office  to  have  afted  that 
very  part  which  the  king  had  been 
under  a  neceffity  of  undertaking, 
t?y  preventing  or  applying  a  re- 


GISTER,  1778. 

medy  to  all  fuch  tranfa&ions  within 
that  empire  over  which  he  was 
chofen  to  prefide.  In  thefe  pieces, 
after  accurately  hating  all  the 
points  of  conteh,  and  the  tranfac- 
tions  on  both  fides,  he  (hews  the 
neceffity  of  his  taking  up  arms,  and 
calls  upon  the  hates  of  the  empire 
.to  fecond  his  efforts,  to  fupport  and 
defend  the  natural  and  much-in¬ 
jured  rights  of  fo  many  eminent 
and  illuhrious  Princes,  and  in  op~ 
pohng  the  all-afpiriag  power  and 
ambition  of  the  houfe  of  Auhria, 
which  if  buffered  to  proceed  uncon- 
trouled,  would  foon  fet  up  claims 
to  other  dominions,  and  proceed  to 
the  total  overthrow  of  the  whole 
fyitem  of  the  German  empire. 


CHAP.  II. 

Great  preparations  jor  war  on  both  fides.  C  onduCi  of the  great  neighbouring 

powers,  king  of  P  ruffed  s  military  Jpeeth  to  his  Generals .  Prefents  to  the 
officers ,  and  a  gratification  to  the  joldiers .  Prodigious  artillery .  State  of 

Caxony.  Neutrality  props  fed  by  the  'Elector  %  but  fuch  conditions  laid  down 

ly  the  court  of  Vienna ,  as  amounted  nearly  to  a  rejection.  State  and fitua - 

,  Vion  of  the  hofiile  armies .  King  of  Prujfta  penetrates  into  Bohemia  from  the 
county  oj  Glatz ,  and  fuzes  Nacbod.  Emperor*  s  army  fecurely  pofied  in  the 
ftrong  camp  of  Koningfgratz,  and  occupies  the  pajfes  on  the  Upper  Elbe . 
All  the  endeavours  ufed  by  the  iving  to  bring  the  imperial  army  to  action ,  or 
to  induce  it  to  a  change  of  pofition ,  prove  ineffectual.  Great  prudence  and 
judgment  Jhewn  by  the  Emperor  in  this,  his  firjl  ejfay  in  war.  Operations 
on  the  fide  Oj  Saxony.  Prince  Henry  pajfes  the  Elbe,  and  penetrates  the 
mountains  of  Bohemia ,  on  the  fide  of  Mifnia  and  Lufatia.  Unufual  diffi¬ 
culties  in  that  mai  ch.  Good  conduCi  oj,  and.  great  applaufie  gained  by , 
General  Belling .  Defeats  General  de  Fins,  at  Tollenftein.  Prince  Henry 
advances  to  Ley  pa.  General  ivloellendorf ,  and  other  detached  corpus,  enter 

Bohemia  in  different  parts.  Marjhal  Laudohn  breaks  up  his  ftrong  camp  at 

Pleiffwedel ,  and  falls  back  to  the  Ifer  ;  where  he  takes  fo  admirable  a  po- 
fition ,  that  he  effectually  prevents  the  junction  of  the  oppofite  armies,  co  vers 
the  city  of  Prague ,  and  is  hirnfelf  inacceffible.  Prince  Henry’s  army  being 
thrown  into  feveral  divifeons,  forms  a  line  of  great  pofis,  and  of  confider - 
able  extent.  Singular Jituation  of  the  four  vaft  armies  in  Bohemia .  Eft's  Ci 
of  the  great  generalftnp  and  Juperior  ability  difplayed  on  both  fides.  'An¬ 
other,  but  ineffectual  negotiation.  Grand  movement  to  the  right ,  by  the 
King.  Pufbes  on  towards  the  head  of  the  Elbe ,  by  Burkerfdorf,  Wilt- 

fchitx 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [19 

fbilz,  Hermanfeifen ,  and  Lautervsaffer .  All  his  movements ,  and  at¬ 
tempts  to  bring  the  enemy  to  an  aClion ,  prove  ineffectual.  Bad  weather . 
Sicknefs.  Difficult  and  admirably  conducted  retreat  to  iViltfchitz , '  to 
Altftadty  and  to  Schatzlar.  King  evacuates  Bohemia.  Various  move - 
merits  of  Prince  Henry’s  army ,  preparatory  to  its  retiring  into  Saxony , 
P  ruffians  over 'run  the  Aufrian  Silefa. 


7’HILST  a  verbal  and  lite¬ 
rary  warfare  was  thus  car¬ 
ried  on  at  Vienna,  Berlin,  and  Ra- 
tilbon,  wherein  the  fubjeCl  of  de¬ 
bate,  whether  hid  in  the  confufion 
and  darknefs  of  violent  and  igno¬ 
rant  ages,  involved  in  the  laby¬ 
rinths  of  German  jurifprudence,  or 
perplexed  by  ill  defined  rights, 
doubtful  records,  and  fufpicious 
documents,  would  have  afforded 
room  for  endlefs  litigation,  the  two 
great  powers  who  had  engaged  as 
principals  on  the  oppofite  fides  of 
the  queHion,  were  mofl  ferioudy 
employed  in  their  preparations  for 
that  final  refort,  which  only  can 
generally  determine  fuch  contro- 
verfies  between  fuch  parties.  For 
though  it  would  feem  that  their 
iituation  and  habits  in  peace  ap¬ 
proached  fo  nearly  to  a  Hate  of 
war,  that  there  could  be  but  little 
difficulty  in  the  tranfition  ;  yet  fo 
waHeful  as  well  as  deflruCtive  is 
that  infatiate  monfter,  and  fo  iin- 
menfe  is  theprovifion  of  every  kind 
neceffiary  to  be  made  for  the  fup- 
port  of  thofe  valt  armies  which  it 
is  now  the  faffiion  to  bring  into  the 
field,  that  the  greateft  treafures, 
joined  to  the  products  of  the  moil 
fertile  countries  and  abundant  fea- 
fons,  cannot  preclude  fome  delay 
and  extraordinary  preparation,  at 
the  point  of  approach  to  that  awful 
crifis. 

The  court  of  Vienna  had  feemed 
to  expert  or  intend  hoflility,  from 
almofi  the  moment  that  declared 
the  Elector  of  Bavaria’s  death. 


The  language  of  war  was  every 
where  held  in  the  AuHrian  domi¬ 
nions,  and  its  expectation  fhewn, 
before  the  controverfy  had  rifen  on 
either  fide  to  fuch  a  height,  as 
could  feem  to  warrant  thofe  Hrong 
indications.  Among  other  im¬ 
mediate  preparations,  agents  were 
very  early  fent  to  Tartary  and  the 
Ukraine,  to  purchafe  7,000  horfes 
for  the  ufe  of  the  cavalry  ;  a  num¬ 
ber  which  was  foon  procured  in 
thofe  wide  Sarmatic  and  Scythian 
regions,  whofe  graffy  unbounded 
plains  feem  in  all  ages  to  have  been 
confideredas  the  native  inheritance 
of  that  generous  animal.  The 
demand,  however,  increafing  with 
the  fupply,  the  fame  officers  were 
immediately  fent  back  to  procure  a 
Hill  greater  number.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  troops  from  the  moH 
diHant  parts  were  in  motion  on 
their  way  to  Bohemia,  whild  clouds 
of  Croats,  and  other  irregular 
forces,  who  are  only  of  ufe  in  ac¬ 
tual  fervice,  were  puffied  on  in 
con  Han  t  fucceffion  towards  that 
kingdom  ;  the  hereditary  Hates 
were  ordered  tofurniffi  40,000  re¬ 
cruits ;  AuHria  to  fupply  300,000 
facks  of  oats  ;  and  by  the  end  of 
February,  public  prayers  were  put 
up  in  the  churches  of  Vienna,  for 
fuccefs  to  the  Auflrian  arms  againlt 
all  the  enemies  of  that  houfe. 

It  appears,  however,  that  this 
point  has  been  controverted  ;  and 
that  the  charge  of  original  prepa¬ 
ra  tipn,  and  indication  of  hoHiliry, 
has  been  laid  at  the  King  of  Pruf. 
[B]  2  Ha’s 


ao]  ANNUAL  RE 

fia’s  door.  It  is  indeed  a  queftlon 
of  little  confequence ;  each  fide 
took  every  meafure  in  its  power  to 
be  prepared  for  every  poffible 
event,  whilft  it  watched  with  the 
moft  jealous  attention  all  the  mo¬ 
tions  of  the  other  ;  nor  will  it  be 
eafily  fuppofed,  that  if  any  negli¬ 
gence  afforded  a  prompt  opportu¬ 
nity  of  advantage,  the  occafion 
would  have  been  overlooked  by 
either.  Upon  the  whole,  it  does 
not  feem,  from  his  conduct,  that 
the  king  was  by  any  means  de- 
iirous  of  entering  into  a  war,  if  it 
could  be  avoided  without  giving 
up  the  points  in  conteft;  nor  does 
it  feem  very  probable  that  the 
houfe  of  Auftria,  in  the  prefent 
fituation  of  affairs,  carried  her  im¬ 
mediate  views  any  farther,  than  to 
fome  undefined  extenfion  of  her 
dominion  on  the  fide  of  Bavaria, 
the  limits  of  which  were  only  to 
be  determined  by  future  circum- 
ftances  and  events.  If  the  Pruflian 
monarch  was  determined  to  thwart 
her  views  in  this  purfuit,  fhe  was 
willing  to  abide  the  confequences, 
and  was  exceedingly  well  prepared 
for  a  war ;  but  if  his  ambition 
fhould  coincide  with  her  own,  fhe 
feemed  much  more  difpofed  to  en¬ 
ter  into  fuch  an  amicable  arrange¬ 
ment  and  partition  of  territory  with 
him,  as  fhould,  at  the  expence  of 
fome  of  the  weaker  princes,  afford 
him  fome  equivalent  in  one  quar¬ 
ter  for  what  fhe  obtained  in  an- 
» other. 

It  was  generally  fuppofed,  that 
fome  of  the  neighbouring  great 
powers  would  have  taken  a  part  in 
this  conteft,  and  from  thence  ap¬ 
prehended  that  the  war  might  by 
degrees  become  general.  The 
court  of  Ruffia  is  laid  to  have  en¬ 
gaged  with  the  King  of  Pruffia  by 


GISTER,  1778. 

treaty,  to  affift  him  with  a  ftrong 
body  of  auxiliary  forces ;  and  it  is 
certain,  that  her  minifter  at  Vi¬ 
enna  expreffed  the  ftrorigeft  difap- 
pfobation  of  the  conduct  and  pre- 
tenfions  of  that  court.  It  is  pro¬ 
bable,  that  the  expeded  Ruffian 
auxiliaries  were  in  part  retarded  by 
the  expectation  of  a  Turkilh  war, 
and  in  part  by  the  uncertainty  of 
the  event  in  Germany,  from  the 
negociations  which  we  have  feen 
had  been  opened,  under  the  imme¬ 
diate  aufpices,  and  through  the  di- 
red  correfpondence,  of  the  great 
contending  powers. 

On  the  other  fide,  the  court  of 
Vienna  is  faid  to  have  opened  a 
ne^ociation  with  that  of  V erfailles, 
for  the  march  of  a  French  army 
into  Weftpbalia.  Whatever  mo¬ 
tives  might  have  otherwife  operated 
upon  the  condud  of  the  latter,  it 
could  fcarcely  avoid  being  affeded 
in  the  prefent  inftance  by  that  ex¬ 
traordinary  alliance  which  France 
entered  into  in  the  beginning  of 
the  year,  with  the,  once  Englifh, 
American  colonies.  It  may,  how¬ 
ever,  be  a  matter  of  doubt,  what 
part  France,  in  any  (late  of  her 
affairs,  would  have  taken  in  this 
bufinefs  ;  a  formal  declaration, 
which  her  minifter  has  fince  pre¬ 
fen  ted  to  the  Diet  of  the  empire, 
being  by  no  means  favourable  to 
the  opinion,  that  fhe  was  any  ways 
difpofed  to  fupport  the  pretenfions, 
or  even  approved  of  the  condud, 
of  the  court  of  Vienna  ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  held  out  the  firm  re- 
folution  of  his  Moft  Chriftian  Ma- 
jefty,  to  adhere  religioufly  to  his 
treaties  with  the  Germanic  body, 
and  pundually  to  fulfil  his  guaran¬ 
tee  of  the  treaty  of  Weftphalia  ; 
giving  at  the.  fame  time  an  .  dur¬ 
ance,  that  his  alliance  with  that 
'  court 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [21 


court  was  founded  merely  upon 
thofe  principles. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  does  not  ap¬ 
pear  that  the  pretenfions  and  con¬ 
duct  of  the  court  of  Vienna  have 
been  much  more  approved  of  with¬ 
out,  than  within  the  empire. 

The  King  of  Pruffia,  after  a 
review  of  that  part  of  his  army 
which  lay  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
.  ..  i  Berlin,  and  which  was 

*rl  J  then,  as  well  as  him- 
felf,  on  the  point  of 
fetting  out  for  Silefia,  made  a 
fpeech  to  his  general  officers,  in¬ 
cluding  his  brothers,  which,  as  it 
was  drongly  marked  with  the  pro¬ 
per  charafter  of  the  veteran  hero 
by  whom  it  was  delivered,  was  not 
lefs  adapted  to  that  of  the  veteran 
chiefs  to  whom  it  was  addreffied. 

He  obferved,  that  mod:  of  them, 
and  himfelf,  had  ferved  together 
from  their  earlied  days*  and  were 
grown  grey  in  the  fervice  of  their 
country  ;  that  they  confequently 
knew  each  other  perfectly  well  ; 
they  had  been  partakers  of  the  fame 
dangers,  toils,  and  glories.  He 
made  no  doubt  that  they  were  all 
equally  averfe  with  himfelf  to  the 
fhedding  of  blood  ;  but  the  dan¬ 
gers  which  now  threatened  their 
country,  not  only  rendered  it  a 
duty,  but  placed  them  under  a  ne- 
ceffity  of  ufing  the  mod  fpeedy  and 
efficacious  meafures,  for  the  timely 
difperfion  of  that  dorm  which 
threatened  to  burd  fo  heavily  upon 
them.  He  relied  on  their  zeal, 
and  would,  with  heartfelt  fatisfac- 
tion,  for  ever  acknowledge  their 
fervices.  He  urged,  in  the  mod 
preffing  terms,  humanity,  in  every 
fituation,  to  the  enemy  ;  and  with 
the  fame  energy,  an  unremitting 
attention  to  the  drifted  difcipline 
among  their  own  troops.  He  con¬ 


cluded  by  obferving,  that  he  did 
not  wiffi  to  travel  like  a  king  ; 
rich  and  gaudy  equipages  had  no 
charms  for  him  ;  but  his  infirmi¬ 
ties  rendered  him  incapable  of  tra¬ 
velling-  as  he  had  done  in  the  vi- 
gour  of  youth,  and  obliged  him  to 
ufe  a  pod-chaife;  but  they  ihould 
fee  him  on  horfeback  in  the  day  of 
battle. 

The  whole  fpeech  bore  an  air 
of  folemnity  and  ferioufnefs,which 
feemed  even  to  give  it  a  cad  of  me¬ 
lancholy,;  but  which  ferved,  how¬ 
ever,  fufficiently  to  fhew,  that  the 
ideas  of  war  and  glory  did  not  now 
excite  thofe  raptures,  which  have 
fo  irrefidible  an  impulfe  on  the 
mind,  in  the  fpring  of  hope,  and 
during  the  lummer  of  the  paffions. 

The  king  at  the  fame  time  or¬ 
dered  a  prefent  of  money  to  all  the 
officers,  ridng  in  due  proportions 
from  the  enfigns  to  the  generals* 
as  an  affidance  towards  their  camp 
equipage,  and  other  charges  inci¬ 
dent  to  taking  the  field.  The  fol- 
diers  were  alfo  gratified  by  an  aug¬ 
mentation  of  one  fourth  both  to 
their  pay  and  provisions,  from  the 
commencement  of  aftual  fervice. 
The  artillery  ordered  for  the  fer¬ 
vice  of  the  campaign^  if  the  public 
accounts  may  be  relied  on-,  proba¬ 
bly  exceeds  any  thing  before  known 
in  the  hidory  of  military  tranfac- 
tions,  and  has  been  rated  from  800 
to  1000  pieces  of  cannon.  Prodi¬ 
gious  as  this  appears,  and  unma¬ 
nageable  as  it  would  prove  in  many 
fituations  of  warfare,  it  was,  if  we 
credit  fimilar  authorities,  exceeded 
by  more  than  one  half  on  the  fide 
of  the  Audrians.  In  a  word,  the 
preparations  on  both  fides  were  fo 
mighty,  that  had  the  fate  of  the 
whole  empire,  or  even  that  of  Eu¬ 
rope,  depended  on  the  iflue  of  the 
1*]  3  con  ted. 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


22] 

conteflj  neither  the  force  employ¬ 
ed,  nor  the  means  applied  to,  would 
have  appeared  inadequate  to  the 
importance  of  the  fubjedL 

Though  the  electorate  of  Saxony 
had  {hewn  fome  early  figns  of  war¬ 
like,  or  at  lead  of  defenfive  prepa¬ 
ration,  and  that  its?  troops  had  been 
affembled  and  encamped  in  the 
month  of  April,  towards  the  con¬ 
fines  of  Bohemia,  yet  the  Elector, 
endeavouring  to  preferve  his  coun¬ 
try  from  a  repetition  of  that  ruin, 
by  which  it  had  been  laid  defolate 
iff  the  two  late  wars,  propofed  to 
the  court  of  Vienna,  the  obferva- 
tion  of  a  {Irfft  neutrality  during  the 
continuance  of  the  prefent. 

This  was,  however,  a  meafure 
of  fecurity  which  could  fcarcely 
be  expeCled  in  the  prefent  ftate  of 
things.  That,  court  could  not  pof- 
fibly  avoid  confidering  the  Elector 
as  a  principal  party  in  the  prefent 
conteft ;  and  inurt  therefore  be  fen- 
fible,  that  from  the  particular  fitua- 
tion  of  Saxony,  along  with  the 
predilection  in  his  favour  which  a 
common  caufe  neceffarily  infpired, 
the  King  of  Pruffia  would  nearly 
derive  every  advantage  from  that 
electorate  under  the  name  of  a  neu¬ 
trality,  which  it  was  capable  of 
affording  as  a  principal  ;  whilft 
under  that  cover,  it  was  fheltered 
from  many  of  the  confequences, 
and  Auftria  cut  out  from  many  of 
the  advantages,  which  might  re- 
fult  from  a  hate  of  abfolute  war. 
Nor  is  it  to  be  fuppofed  that  the 
court  of  Vienna  was  not:  much  ir¬ 
ritated  at  the  defection  of  that  fa¬ 
vourite  hopfe.  from  its  party  and 
intereks  ;  which  now.,  departing 
from  that  intimate  union  between 
the  two  families,  fo  long  dement¬ 
ed,  and  fo  often  renewed,  by  all 
the  various  ties  of  affinity,  alliance. 


common  views,  interefts,  and 
Ioffes,  had  all  at  once  thrown  it- 
felf  into  the  arms  of  the  ancient 
enemy  of  both,  and  the  hill  hated 
and  dreaded  rival  of  one.  The 
court  of  Vienna  accordingly  in¬ 
filled  upon  fuch  hard  conditions  as 
the  bafis  of  a  convention,  that  the 
confequences  of  declared  enmity 
could  fcarcely  be  worfe  than  the 
effeCts  of  a  neutrality  under  fuch 
terms.  It  was  demanded,  that  the 
important  fortrefs  of  Koningftein 
fhould  be  refigned  into  the  hands, 
and  continue  for  two  years  in  the 
poffefficn  of  the  Auflrians  ;  that 
they  fhould  be  allowed  a  free  paf- 
fage  and  navigation  through  every 
part  of  the  eleftoral  dominions,  and 
that  the  Saxon  forces  fhould  be  re¬ 
duced  to  4000  men.  The  rejec¬ 
tion  of  theie  terms  could  fcarcely 
excite  any  furprize,and  the  Eleftor, 
from  thence,  confidering  himfelf 
as  an  inevitable  party  in  the  war, 
took  his  meafures  accordingly. 

During  the  negociations  at  Ber¬ 
lin  and  Vienna,  the  countries  of 
Bohemia,  Silefia,  Saxony,  and 
Moravia,  were  gradually  covered 
with  armed  men,  or  overfpread 
with  the  various  apparatus  and 
provifion  of  war.  And  as  all  hope 
of  accommodation  grew  to  an  end 
towards  the  latter  end  of  June,  the 
P ruffian  forces  were  every  where  in. 
motion,  their  Auflrian  antagonilis 
having  long  occupied  thofe  flrong 
fituations  in  their  own  countries, 
wherein  thev  were  determined  to 

fuilain  the  krft  rufh  and  furv  of  the 

✓ 

war. 

The  grand  Pruffian  army  on  the 
fide  of  Silefia  was  commanded  by 
the  king  in  perfon,  where  he  was 
accompanied  by  his  nephew,  the 
prince  fucceffor,  who  had  now  an. 
opportunity,  not  much  expelled. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


of  acquiring  the  rudiments  of  war, 
and  the  means  of  defending  his  fu¬ 
ture  dominions,  under  the  eye  and 
tuition  of  that  great  matter,  whofe 
ability  had  increafed  and  exalted 
them  to  their  prefent  high  pitch  of 
power  and  fplendor.  As  it  fcarce- 
ly  feems  more  necettary  to  temper 
the  rafhnefs  of  youth  by  the  wif- 
dom  of  age,  than  it  does  in  mat¬ 
ters  of  war,  to  add  an  edge  and 
fervour  to  the  caution  of  years  and 
experience,  by  the  fpirit,  activity, 
and  love  of  enterprize,  which  cha- 
radterize  the  former  ttage  of  life, 
the  king  was  feconded  in  this  cam- 
paign  by.  that  accomplifbed  war¬ 
rior,  the  hereditary  prince  of 
Brunfwick,  whofe  early  military 
atchievements,  and  fuperior  emi¬ 
nence  in  thofe  qualities,  had  at- 
tradled  the  admiration  of  all  Eu¬ 
rope  in  fo  great  a  degree  during 
the  late  war.  His  brother,  the 
prince  Frederic  of  Brunfwick,  and 
the  hereditary  prince  of  Heffe 
Cattel,  alfo  held  commands  in  the 
royal  army. 

The  combined  army  of  Pruflians 
and  Saxons,  which  was  affembled 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Drefden, 
and  had  for  its  immediate  object 
the  protection  of  that  capital  and 
electorate,  could  fcarcely  be  deem¬ 
ed  lefs  ably  conducted,  under  the 
orders  of  the  king’s  brother,  prince 
Henry,  than  the  former.  This 
army,  fupported  by  a  prodigious 
artillery,  amounting  to  no  lefs 
than  400  pieces  of  cannon,  was 
eltimated  at  about  90,000  men  ;  a 
force,  which  under  fuch  a  leader, 
could  hardly  acknowledge  a  fupe- 
rioritv  in  any  oppolite  combination 
of  numbers.  A  third  Pruffian  ar¬ 
my,  under  the  Generals  Werner 
and  Stutterheim,  was  formed  on 
the  fide  of  the  A.ullrian  Silefia. 


[23 

On  the  other  fide,  nearly  the 
whole  force  of  the  houfe  of  Auf- 
tria  had  been  drawn  from  every 
part  of  its  extenfive  dominions,  and 
was  now  concentered  in  the  king¬ 
dom  of  Bohemia.  This  force, 
which  was  principally  thrown  into 
two  grand  armies,  has  been  rated, 
upon  a  loofe  and  undoubtedly  large 
calculation,  at  250,000  men.  The 
Emperor,  in  perfon,  commanded 
the  army  on  the  fide  of  Silefia, 
which  was  dettined  to  oppofe  the 
enterprizes  of  the  King  of  Prufiia. 
The  other  grand  army  was  under 
the  orders  of  the  celebrated  Mar- 
Ihal  Count  Laudohn,  who,  fpread- 
ing  his  front  along  the  confines  of 
Saxony  and  Lufatia,  pottetted  thofe 
impracticable  pofts  and  fattnettes, 
of  which  the  mountains  that  fepa- 
rate  thofe  two  countries  from  Bo¬ 
hemia,  afford  fo  great  a  variety. 
A  third  army,  under  the  Marquis 
de  Botta,  and  fome  other  Gene¬ 
rals,  was  appointed  to  counteract 
the  defigns  of  the  Pruffians  in  the 
Upper  Silefia,  and  on  the  fide  of 
Moravia.  Whatever  the  exadt  ttate 
of  thefe  armies  might  have  been 
in  point  of  numbers,  it  is  faid  that 
the  troops  they  exhibited,  whether 
confidered  with  refpedt  to  military 
appearance,  or  to  bodily  endow¬ 
ments,  were  probably  never  ex¬ 
ceeded  by  any  affemblage  of  man¬ 
kind. 

Such  were  the  combatants  that 
were  now  to  be  thrown  into  adlion,, 
and  fuch  the  mighty  force  on  both 
fides  to  be  exhautted,  in  the  con¬ 
tention  for  a  du tchy,  the  fee  fimple 
of  which,  if  fold  at  the  market 
rate  of  other  ettates,  would  not  dis¬ 
charge  one  year’s  expences  of  the 
war  ;  nor  its  immediate  produce, 
probably,  afford  fubfiflence  to  the 
contending  armies  only  for  fo  many 

[5]  4  hours 


1 


a4]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


hours  as  they  contained  thoufands 
of  fighting  men. 

The  King  of  Pruffia,  in  purfu- 
ance  of  his  long  edablilhed  maxim 
in  war,  determined  to  render  the 
enemy’s  country  the  fcene  of  hofti- 
lity  ;  a  meafure,  ^vhich  if  it  even 
afforded  no  greater  advantage, 
would  at  lead  keep  fpoil  and  de¬ 
valuation  at  a  didance  from  his  own 
fubjeCls,  and  throw  much  of  the 
preffure  of  fubfifting  his  army  on 
the  oppofite  fide.  He  accordingly, 
taking  the  way  of  Lewin  in  the 
county  of  Glatz,  penetrated  the 
mountains  of  Bohemia, 
and  having  feized  the 
city,  cadle,  and  magazines  of  Na- 
chod,  in  the  confines  of  that  king¬ 
dom,  without  oppofition,  he  there 
fixed  his  head  quarters,  whilft  he 
waited  for  the  arrival,  and  made 
roads  acrofs  the  mountains  to  faci¬ 
lity  -te  the  paffage,  of  his  heavy  ar¬ 
tillery  and  dores.  Thus  Nachod, 
otherwife  of  no  name  or  confe- 
quence,  became  a  pod  of  great 
importance  during  the  enfuing 
campaign,  for  keeping  the  com¬ 
munication  open  between  the  army 
and  the  king’s  dominions. 

The  king  foon  perceived  that 
without  fome  unexpected  change 
cf  circumdances,  or  the  extraor¬ 
dinary  effeCt  of  fome  happy  ma¬ 
noeuvre,  his  plan  of  operation 
would  be  much  narrowed  in  the 
execution.  This  proceeded  in  part 
from  the  very  judicious  positions 
taken  by  the  enemy,  and  in  part 

from  the  very  difficult  nature  of  the 
* 

country,  which  being  encumbered 
greatly  with  mountains  and  woods, 
abounded  on  all  Tides  with  drong 
pods  and  dangerous  defiles. 

For  the  emperor  had  previoufly 
taken  pcffeflioh  of  the  very  im¬ 
portant  and  celebrated  pod  of 


Koningfgratz,  which  lay  within  a 
few  miles  of  the  front,  but  tending 
to  the  left,  of  the  Pruffian  army, 
where  his  camp  was  in  a  fituation, 
which,  if  not  totally  unavailable, 
at  lead  rendered  every  approach  to 
it  exceedingly  dangerous.  He  had 
alfo  fecured  with  fuch  care,  the 
drong  pods  on  the  Upper  Elbe, 
from  Koningfgratz  to  Jaromitz, 
and  for  feverai  miles  farther  to¬ 
wards  its  head,  as,  along  with  the 
nature  of  the  country  through 
which  it  paffed,  nearly  rendered 
that  river  an  infuperabie  barrier  to 
the  progrefs  of  an  enemy.  Thus 
the  emperor  had  it  much  in  his 
power  to  refrain  from  aClion  as  he 
liked,  and  to  wait  in  fecuriiy  to 
grafp  at  fome  favourable  opportu¬ 
nity  (which  it  did  not  feem  that 
any  fk.il!  or  fagacity  could  con- 
dantly  guard  againd  in  fuch  rela¬ 
tive  Situations)  of  bringing  it  on 
with  great  advantage. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  interme¬ 
diate  country  between  the  Elbe 
and  the  mountains  that  feparate  it 
from  Sileda  and  the  county  of 
Glatz,  lay  expofed  on  the  right 
and  left  to  the  ravages  of  the  Pruf¬ 
fian  light  troops,  who  immediately 
fpread  with  their  ufual  activity  to 
colleCt  forage,  and  raife  contribu¬ 
tions.  This  date  of  things  brought 
on  a  number  of  fmall  engagements, 
in  which,  although  the  Pruffian 
parties  were  ufuaily  fuccefsful,  it 
w'ill  not  be  fuppofed  by  thofe  who 
have  any  knowledge  of  the  Aus¬ 
trian  forces,  that  any  ground  or 
advantage  was  relinquifhed  by 
them  without  an  obdinate  difpute. 
It  is  faid,  that  the  two  great  con¬ 
tending  monarchs  have  been  pre¬ 
fen  t  in  fome  of  thefe  Ikirmilhes, 
and  that  the  younger,  who  may  be 
confidered  as  the  rival  in  glory,  as 

well 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [25 


well  as  the  competitor  in  power, 
of  his  illudrious  antagonift,  alfo 
followed  his  example,  by  expofing 
his  perfon  in  a  manner  not  ufual 
with  thofe  of  his  rank. 

This  retrained  date  of  warfare, 
narrowed  to  inconfiderable  actions, 
and  confined  to  dillricfs  of  no  great 
extent  or  value,  was  as  little  fuited 
to  the  aCtive  mind,  and  extenfive 
views  of  his  Pruffian  Majefty,  as 
it  was  to  the  enterprising  fpirit  of 
his  commanders,  and  the  confident 
courage  of  his  troops.  He  accord¬ 
ingly  left  nothing  untried  that 
could  tempt  or  provoke  the  em¬ 
peror  to  an  action,  nor  no  military 
movement  or  dratagem  uneffayed 
which  might  poffibly  circumvent 
him  into  a  fituation  that  would 
render  it  unavoidable. 

Yet,  with  the  vad  force  in  his 
hands,  and  in  contempt  of  the  im- 
petuofity  incident  to  his  time  of 
life,  and  fird  effay  in  war,  fo  fen- 
fible  was  the  emperor  of  that  won¬ 
derful  /uperiority  in  general  field 
actions,  which  had  ever  didin- 
guifhed  his  veteran  rival  from  all 
the  other  commanders  of  his  time, 
that  he  indexibly  adhered  to  his 
original  determination  of  ailing 
upon  the  defenfive  ;  of  converting 
the  natural  drength  of  the  country 
to  every  advantage  which  it  could 
poffibly  afford,  in  blunting  the  ar¬ 
dour  and  exhauding  the  force  of 
the  enemy  ;  and  of  committing  no¬ 
thing  to  fortune,  without  fuch  ap¬ 
parent  odds  in  his  favour,  as  would 
nearly  infure  fuccefs.  Upon  this 
principle,  with  all  the  caution  and 
phlegm  of  an  old  general,  he  fub- 
mitted  tocontraft  his  pods,  to  be¬ 
hold  the  neighbouring  country  ra¬ 
vaged,  and  to  endure  even  the 
threats  of  infulting  his  camp,  with- 
put  his  being  once  furprized  into 


any  a£l  of  intemperance  or  warmth, 
which  could  in  its  confequences  lay 
him  under  a  neceffity  of  hazarding 
a  battle.  A  conduct,  which  equally 
affords  a  proof  of  his  own  judg¬ 
ment  in  military  affairs,  and  a  tef- 
timonial  of  thofe  great  abilities 
in  his  illudrious  adverfary  from 
whence  it  derives  its  merit.  v 

As  the  Pruffian  troops,  from  a 
deference  to  opinion,  and  regard 
to  appearances,  did  not  advance 
into  Saxony,  whild  any  hope  of 
accommodation  remained,  the  ope- 
rations  on  that  fide,  of  courfe, 
commenced  later  than  on  that  of 
Silefia.  Prince  Henry,  however, 
with  the  combined  army,  was  en¬ 
camped  on  the  plains  of  Plauen, 
near  Drefden,  pretty  early  in  the 
month  of  July.  His  fituation  ren¬ 
dered  it  for  feme  time  doubtful  to 
what  quarter  he  intended  to  direct 
his  operations.  The  great  road  to 
Prague  lay  full  in  his  front ;  but 
Auffig,  on  the  Elbe,  with  all  the 
difficult  pods  in  that  line,  as  well 
as  thofe  impracticable  ones  with 
which  the  mountains  on  the  right 
and  left  abound,  and  which  could 
not  be  left  in  the  rear  of  a  march, 
were  occupied  in  great  force  by  the 
Audrians,  whild  Marfhal  Lau- 
dohn  lay  with  a  powerful  army  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Leutmeritz, 
ready  to  fupport  them  with  advan¬ 
tage. 

Another,  but  more  difficult  paf- 
fage,  in  refpeCl  to  natural  impedi¬ 
ments,  lay  a  confiderable  didance 
on  the  right,  by  the  way  of  Ma- 
rienberg,  through  the  Mineral 
Mountains,  to  Commotan  in  Bo¬ 
hemia.  Or  by  keeping  farther  to 
the  right,  to  the  palatinate  of  Egra, 
the  prince  might  eafily  have  re¬ 
duced  that  city,  which  is  the  fe- 
cond  in  the  kingdom,  and  from 

thence 


26]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


thence  have  transferred  the  war  on 
his  fide  into  Bavaria  and  the  Upper 
Palatinate.  But  this  fcheme  would 
have  been  liable  to  many  objec¬ 
tions.  Saxony  mull:  in  that  cafe 
have  been  left  expofed  to  the  ene¬ 
my,  as  nothing  lefs  than  an  army 
equal  to  Laudohn’s,  could  have 
been  fuppofed  capable  of  protect¬ 
ing  the  electorate  from  that  enter- 
prizing  General.  It  would  be  alfo 
removing  at  fuch  a  diftance  from 
the  king’s  army,  as  might  not,  in 
other  refpeCts,  be  unattended  with 
danger.  For  the  Aultrian  Gene¬ 
ral,  by  leaving  Bavaria  to  its  fate, 
(which  he  probably  would)  and 
Saxony  in  quiet  for  the  prefent, 
might  eafily  fall  back  to  join  the 
emperor,  when  there  would  be  too 
much  room  for  apprehenfion,  that 
the  royal  army  could  not  be  lefs 
than  overwhelmed,  when  thus 
abandoned  to  the  encounter  of  fo 
mighty  and  fo  unequal  a  force. 
Nor,  independent  of  more  urgent 
motives,  would  it  have  feemed  a 
wife  or  juit  policy  to  have  removed 
all  the  calamities  of  war  from  the 
enemy,  only  to  transfer  them  to  a 
friendly  people,  who  were  under  a 
neceffity  of  fubmitting  to  a  force 
which  they  were  totally  incapable 
of  refi  lling. 

Whilit  various  doubts  were  thus 
entertained  as  to  the  objects  of 
Prince  Henry’s  defigns  during  his 
encampment  at  Plauen,  that  able 
and  experienced  General  (proba¬ 
bly  to  increafe  them,  and  to  direct 
the  attention  of  the  enemy  to  a 
wrong  quarter)  detached  General 
Moellendorf,  with  a  itrong  fepa- 
rate  corps,  to  the  right,  on  the 
fide  of  Freyberg.  All  expectation 
being  then  awake  on  that  lide,  the 
Prince,  with  the  utmolt  expedition, 
$hrew  three  bridges  over  tiie  Elbe, 


between  Pirna  and  Pilnitz,  and 

equally  fuddenly  and  unexpectedly 

paffed  at  the  head  of  T  ,  , 

K  r  -  „  July  28th. 

60,000  men  acrols  that  J  1 

'river,  from  whence  he  purfued  his 

march  towards  the  Upper  Lufatia, 

leaving  Moellendorf’s  detachment, 

with  feveral  fmall  feparate  Pruffian 

and  Saxon  corps,  amounting  in  the 

whole  to  about  half  that  number, 

to  proteCt  the  electorate  on  the 

fouth  fide  of  the  Elbe. 

For  the  better  comprehenlion  of 
the  fubjeCt,  it  may  not  be  wholly 
unneceffary  to  take  fome  notice  of 
the  motives  which  probably  deter¬ 
mined  the  prince  to  this  malterly 
movement,  as  well  as  of  the  diffi¬ 
culties  to  which  it  was  liable.  By 
penetrating  into  Bohemia  in  that 
narrow  part  of  the  kingdom,  there 
was  not  only  a  probability  of  open¬ 
ing  a  communication  with  the 
king’s  army,  which  was  not  a 
great  deal  lower  on  the  oppolite 
fide,  but  even  of  effecting  a  junc¬ 
tion  with  it,  if  that  meafure  fhould 
at  any  time  become  neceffary.  In 
the  mean  time,  as  it  was  reafonably 
to  be  expected  that  it  would  be  a 
means  of  obliging  the  emperor  to 
change  his  politico,  and  even  to 
abandon  thofe  Itrong  holds  on  the 
Upper  Elbe,  which  now  afforded 
him  fuch  perfeCt  fecurity,  it  would 
of  courfe  extricate  the  king  from 
that  ftraitnefs  of  fituation,  which 
at  prefent  cramped  all  his  opera¬ 
tions.  Whilit  it  produced  thefe 
effeCts  on  the  fide  of  Silefia,  the 
advance  of  Prince  Henry  into  the 
heart  of  the  country,  would  necef- 
farily  oblige  the  Auftrians  to  aban¬ 
don  their  Itrong  polls  on  the  con¬ 
fines  of  Saxony,  fo  that  the  elec¬ 
torate  being  entirely  freed  from 
danger,  thofe  troops  which  were 
left  for  its  protection,  would,  tak- 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


ing  different  routes,  carry  all  be¬ 
fore  them,  until  they  joined  and 
became  a  part  of  the  common  force 
in  the  center.  It  was  likevvife  well 
to  be  hoped,  that  the  imperial  ar¬ 
mies  being  obliged  to  fall  back  to¬ 
wards  Prague  for  the  defence  of 
that  capital,  one  at  leak  of  them 
might  be  brought  to  aflion  in  the 
open  countrv,  where  the  luperio- 
rity  which  the  Pru Ilians  pofiefted 
in  point  of  cavalry,  joined  with 
that  which  their  great  leader,  and 
their  own  admirable  difcipline, 
indifputably  afforded  in  a  held  of 
battle,  would  little  lefs  than  infure 
fuccefs. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  moun¬ 
tains  which  were  now  to  be  pene¬ 
trated,  had  been  deemed  nearly 
impaflable  by  an  army  ;  but  the 
reliance  placed  upon  this  natural 
ftrength,  v/as  fome  drawback  on 
its  effeft,  as  a  lefs  attention  was 
paid  to  guarding  and  fortifying 
the  paffes  in  that  quarter,  than 
in  thofe  parts  where  they  lay  more 
open. 

The  prince  direfted  his  courfe 
to  that  north -weft  mountainous 
corner  of  Bohemia,  which  jutting 
out  in  the  form  of  a  peninfula,  be¬ 
tween  the  confines  of  Mifnia  and 
Lufatia,  is  furrounded  on  three 
fides  by  thefe  countries.  The 
Pruftians  entered  the  mountains  in 
feveral  columns,  and  on  every 
fide;  thofe  on  the  extremity  of  the 
right,  penetrating  the  defiles  of 
Hohenftein  :  the  center  on  the  fide 
of  Newkirch,  and  the  utmoft  point 
of  the  left,  keeping  the  outward 
circle  of  the  mountains  on  the  fide 
of  Lufatia  towards  Zittau,  which, 
with  the  neighbouring  places,  had 
lately  been  laid  under  heavy  con¬ 
tribution  by  the  Auftrians.  In 
thefe  various  courfes  they  encoun- 


[27 

tered  fuch  difficulties,  as  required 
all  the  induftry  and  perfeverance 
incident  to  the  Pruffian  difcipline 
to  be  furmounted.  In  a  word, 
the  roads  were  fo  nearly  impaffa- 
ble,  that  nothing  but  experience 
could  afFord  a  convi&ion  to  the 
contrary  ;  and  the  defies  were  fre¬ 
quently  fo  dangerous,  that  a  hand¬ 
ful  of  men  might  have  flopped  the 
progrefs  of  an  army. 

The  prince  advanced  by  the 
way  of  Hanfpach  in  Bohemia,  to 
Slukenan  and  Romburg.  The 
Auftrian  parties  which  were  fta- 
tioned  among  the  mountains,  were 
fo  amazed  at  the  fudden  appear¬ 
ance  of  the  Pruffians  on  all  Tides, 
and  in  the  molt  inacceffible  places, 
and  fo  bewildered  and  involved 
amidft  their  numerous  detach¬ 
ments,  that  inftead  of  being  able 
to  aftemble  in  any  important  poll 
to  flop  their  progrefs,  they  found 
that  the  advantages  which  they  de¬ 
rived  from  their  iuperior  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  country,  with  the 
ftrength  and  fhelter  which  it  af¬ 
forded,  were  frequently  ineffi¬ 
cient,  either  to  infure  efcape  or 
protection. 

General  Belling,  who  ftrft  com¬ 
manded  the  van,  and  afterwards 
the  left  of  the  Pruffian  army  in 
this  march,  was  fo  highly  diftin- 
guifhed  by  his  ability  and  fuccefs, 
as  not  only  to  engrofs  the  glory 
from  the  other  commanders,  but 
to  eftablifh  his  reputation  on  the 
firmed  bafts,  by  receiving  from  his 
Royal  maker,  the  molt  flattering 
and  honourable  teftimonials  of  his 
approbation.  By  his  celerity  in 
preventing  the  Auftrians,  who  were  • 
on  the  point  of  feizing  the  defiles 
of  Gorgenthal,  at  the  time  that 
Prince  Henry  was  advancing  from 
Romburg,  he  fecured  the  progrefs 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


28] 

of  the  army  by  the  poffeffion  of 
that  important  poll.  He  foon  af¬ 
ter  defeated  General  de  Vins,  near 
Tollenftein,  whofe  rear  fuffered 
greatly  ;  three  or  four  Auftrian 
battalions  being  entirely  ruined, 
and  above  a  thoufand  prifoners, 
with  feveral  pieces  of  cannon  and 
other  trophies  being  taken. 

General  Belling  was  not  lefs  fuc- 
cefsful  afterwards  on  the  fide  of 
Gabel,  where  by  feizing  the  Auf- 
trian  entrenchments  that  covered 
that  important  pafs,  he  opened  the 
way  for  the  left  wing  to  fpread  it- 
felf  in  the  circle  of  Boleflau,  where 
the  Pruffians  poffeffed  themfelves 
of  Krottau,  Kratzau,  and  a  num¬ 
ber  of  other  places,  whilft  Prince 
Henry  advanced  by  the  way  of 
Kamnitz  in  the  circle  of  Leutme- 
ritz,  until  he  had  got  clear  of  the 
mountains,  and  entered  the  level 
country  at  Leypa. 

In  the  mean  time.  General  Mo- 
ellendorf  having  palled  the  Elbe 
near  Schandau,  penetrated  the 
mountains  in  that  quarter,  and 
forced  fome  Auftrian  polls  and  en¬ 
trenchments  in  his  way,  with  no 
lefs  difficulty  or  fuccefs,  than  the 
main  army  had  experienced  in 
their  progrefs ;  and  keeping  the 
courfe  of  the  river,  cleared  the 
country  on  the  right  as  far  as 
Tefchen.  In  thefe  circumllances, 
the  Aullrians  abandoned  all  their 
polls  in  the  confines  of  Saxony  on 
the  other  fide  of  the  Elbe,  upon 
which  the  different  Pruffian  and 
Saxon  corps  in  that  Electorate, 
treading  in  the  Heps  of  the  retiring 
enemy,  entered  Bohemia  on  the 
right  of  the  river,  and  feized  Top- 
litz,  Auffig,  and  all  the  other 
places  in  their  way,  until  they 
effected  a  junction  with  the  right 


of  Moellendorf ’s  party  at  Leutme- 
ritz. 

It  feemed  in  the  courfe  of  thefe 
tranfaCtions,  that  the  keeping  of 
good  company  produced  as  happy 
effects  in  military  affairs,  as  it 
ufually  does  in  the  civil  walks  of 
life;  for  the  Saxon  troops,  who 
formed  a  confiderable  llrength  on 
the  right  and  left  of  the  army, 
and  who  had  obtained  no  great 
renown  in  the  two  lalt  wars,  were 
now  highly  diitinguillied  upon  eve¬ 
ry  fervice,  and  feemed  emulous 
not  only  to  equal,  but  even,  if 
poffible,  to  furpafs  the  Pruffians 
in  hardinefs,  activity,  and  refo- 
lution. 

Whilll  the  combined  armies 
were  thus  fpreading  on  all  hands 
on  the  weltern  fide  of  Bohemia, 
and  fo  far  as  the  enemy  would  en¬ 
dure  the  conflict  were  every  where 
fuccefsful ;  Marfhal  Laudohn  had 
adopted,  (or  perhaps  framed)  and 
moll  tenacioufly  perfevered  in,  that 
cautious  line  of  conduct,  which  fo 
effectually  reftrained  the  progrefs 
of  the  Pruffian  arms,  on  the  ealtern 
confines  of  that  country.  Upon 
this  fyllem,  he  broke  up  his  ftrong 
camp  at  Pleiffwedel,  on  the  ap¬ 
proach  of  Prince  Henry,  and  hav¬ 
ing  removed  his  magazines  to 
Buntzlau,  retired  by  the  back  of 
Mount  Pofig,  and  the  Weifwaffer, 
until  he  arrived  at  the  Ifer,  which 
he  palled,  and  then  took  fuch  a 
pofition  along  that  river,  with  his 
right  at  Munchengratz,  and  his 
left  at  Kofmanos  near  Buntzlau, 
as  mull  bafHe  every  approach  of 
an  enemy. 

By  this  admirably  chofen  fitua- 
tion,  that  great  General,  who  be¬ 
ing  now  in  a  very  bad  Hate  of 
health,  feejns  to  have  added  the 

eoolnefs 


HISTORY  O 

coolnefs  of  Daun,  to  his  own  na¬ 
tural  fire  and  enterprize,  kept  a 
communication,  which  could  not 
be  interrupted,  open  with  the  em¬ 
peror’s  army,  rendered  ajundion 
between  thofe  of  the  King  and 
Prince  Henry  impracticable,  and 
at  the  fame  time,  by  Rationing 
General  Riefe  with  a  ftrong  fepa- 
rate  corps  at  Melnick,  and  Prince 
Charles  of  Litchtenftein,  with 
Gen.  Sauer,  in  other  well  chofen 
ports  on  the  fide  of  Prague,  he  fo 
effectually  covered  that  capital,  as 
to  prevent  its  receiving  the  fmalleft 
infult  from  his  vigilant  and  enter- 
prizing  enemy  during  the  remain¬ 
der  of  the  campaign. 

In  the  mean  time.  Prince  Henry 
advanced  to  Nimes,  from  whence 
his  parties  occupied  Pofig  and 
the  Huperwafier;  the  combined 
army  being  now  thrown  into  fix  or 
feven  divifions,  pofieifing  a  chain 
of  as  many  great  ports  with  eafy 
communications  from  Lowofitz,  to 
the  right  of  the  Elbe  in  thefouth- 
wert,  to  Reichenberg,  which  bor¬ 
ders  on  the  mountains  that  form 
the  confines  of  the  kingdom,  in 
the  north-eaft,  being  an  extent  of 
about  fixty  miles.  In  this  rtate 
did  the  army  continue  for  fome 
confiderable  time,  without  any 
other  occupation,  fave  the  com¬ 
mon  routine  of  duty,  than  the  raif 
ing  of  contributions,  the  collecting 
of  forage,  and  the  weighing  up  of 
thofe  chevaux  de  frize,  and  other 
machines  or  impediments,  which 
the  Auftrians  had  funk  to  choak 
up  the  navigation  of  the  Elbe. 

Thus  did  Bohemia  exhibit  a 
fcene,  which  is  without  example 
or  parallel  in  the  records  of  war¬ 
fare.  She  fhewed  four  mighty 
hortile  armies,  whofe  force  united 
would  have  been  able  to  fhake  any 


F  EUROPE.  [29 

quarter  of  the  globe  to  its  centre; 
they  were  compofed  of  fome  of  the 
bell  trained,  and  mort  warlike 
troops  in  the  world,  and  conduct¬ 
ed  by  fome  of  the  greateft  as  well 
as  the  mort  enterprizing  Generals 
that  ever  lived  ;  thefe  four  vail: 
armies,  which  were,  it  might  be 
faid,  pitted  in  a  fmall  corner  of 
her  not  very  extenfive  domain, 
were  yet  fo  rertrained  in  their  ope¬ 
rations,  by  a  fuperiority  of  refine¬ 
ment  and  fkill,  which  has  not  yet 
been  equalled,  and  which  can  never 
be  exceeded,  but  which  was  at  the 
fame  time  fo  duly  dirtributed,  and 
fo  exactly  poized  between  the  par¬ 
ties,  that  abundantly  furnifhed, 
as  the  combatants  were,  with  every 
inrtrument  of  rage,  and  every  en¬ 
gine  of  deftruCtion,  they  were  not- 
withftanding,  with  the  weapons 
burning  in  their  hands,  compell¬ 
ed,  for  feveral  weeks,  tamely  to 
endure  the  fight  of  each  other* 
without  a  pofiibility  of  fating  their 
enmity;  whilft  the  afiailants  could 
derive  no  advantage  from  the  in- 
adlion  of  their  opponents  on  the 
one  fide,  nor  thefe  from  the  intem¬ 
perance  or  impatience  of  the  af- 
failants  on  the  other.  And  thus  it 
was  (hewn,  thar  an  equal  diltribu- 
tion  of  force,  talents,  military  fkill, 
difcipline,  andcourage,  might  pro¬ 
duce  the  fame  effeCts,  which  ufually 
proceed  from  mutual  weaknefs, 
want  of  fpirit,  defeCt  in  ability, 
and  inexperience  in  war. 

The  Pruffian  monarch,  however, 
was  little  difpofed  to  bear  with  pa¬ 
tience  this  rertraint  upon  his  ope¬ 
rations,  and  to  adopt  this  pacific 
in  de  of  warfare.  He  was  conti¬ 
nually  in  motion,  and  feemed,  on 
horfeback,  to  forget  the  injuries  of 
time,  and  to  be  infenfible  to  the 
infirmities  of  years.  The  conti¬ 
nual 


3 o']  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


nual  a&ion  of  body  and  mind,  not 
only  mended,  bat  by  degrees  ella- 
bliflied  his  health.  All  the  re- 
four  ces  of  his  fertile  genius  were 
explored,  and  all  the  medfures 
which  the  enterprizing  fpirit  of 
the  Prince  of  Brunfwick,  and  his 
other  commanders  could  fugged, 
were  adopted,  in  order  to  force  or 
furprize  the  enemy  into  an  action  ; 
or  at  leaf:  to  compel  them  to  fuch 
a  change  of  polition,  as  might  af¬ 
ford  an  opportunity  for  enlarging 
the  theatre,  and  changing  the  na¬ 
ture  of  the  war. 

Some  ftrange  in  determination, 
feemed,  upon  the  whole,  to  ope¬ 
rate  on  the  fide  of  the  court  of 
Vienna.  Gr  at  leaf:  feveral  dif- 
timCt.  parts  of  her  language  and 
conduCl  feemed  to  have  been  caft 
in  very  different  moulds.  In  her 
general  language,we  have  already 
feen  that  (he  was  high,  haughty, 
decifive,  and  apparently  but  little 
difpofed  to  afford  much  fatisfaClion 
to  her  opponents.  In  feveral  parts 
of  her  conduit  fne  manifelted  the 
fame  fpirit,  with  the  appearance 
of  a  fixed,  and  by  no  means  un¬ 
willing  determination  of  proceed¬ 
ing  to  the  utmofl: extremities,  loan¬ 
er  than  abate  any  one  point  of  pre- 
tenfions  ;  the  extent  of  which  fne 
referved  for  her  own  future  fpecifi- 
cation,  as  circumflances  and  events 
might  direct  their  limits.  Yet, 
when  affairs  came  to  fuch  a  crifis, 
that  war  feemed  inevitable,  fhe 
conflantly  (hewed  a  difpofition  to 
avoid,  or  at  leaf:  to  defer,  that 
final  refort,  and  unexpectedly  pro- 
pofed  to  negociate.  In  that  fate 
again,  fhe  appeared  fo  cold,  fo 
referved,  fo  ambiguous,  and  her 
propofitions,  if  they  might  be 
called  fuch,  were  couched  in  fuch 
doubtful  and  general  terms,  that 


it  could  be  fcarcely  believed  any 
thing  direct  or  ferious  could  be  in¬ 
tended  by  them.  Thefe  contra¬ 
dictions  feemed  to  indicate  great 
divifons  in  the  cabinet  of  that 
court ;  which  probably  varied  her 
conduCt,  as  each  party  happened 
io  prevail  or  lofe  ground.  It  is 
faid,  that  the  Emprefs  Queen  was 
as  frongly  averfe  to  the  war,  as 
the  Emperor  was  difpofed  to  it. 

The  King  of  Prufia  had  been 
no  longer  in  Bohemia,  than  was 
neceffary  for  completing  the  prepa¬ 
rations  for  immediate  action,  when 
propofals  (faid  to  be  direCtly  from 
the  Emperor)  were  made,  for  the 
appointment  of  minifers  to  open 
another  negociation  to  accommo¬ 
date  matters.  The  king  agreed  to 
the  propofals  fo  far  as  related  to 
the  appointment  of  minifers,  and 
the  holding  of  conferences,  but 
rejeCled  the  overtures  that  were 
made  for  a  ceffation  of  arms,  and 
did  not  permit  this  negociation, 
(which  was  as  fruitiefs  as  the  for¬ 
mer)  at  all  to  influence  his  con¬ 
duct,  cr  to  retard  his  operations. 

The  undecifivenefs  of  the  cam¬ 
paign,  had,  as  is  natural  in  fuch 
a  (late,  occafioned  a  prodigious  de¬ 
fer  t  ion  on  both  fides.  It  was  how¬ 
ever  greater  on  that  of  the  king  ; 
it  being  a  difadvantage  to  which 
the  Pruffian  armies  are  particularly 
liable,  from  their  being  princi¬ 
pally  recruited  with  foreigners, 
who  cannot  be  expeCled  to  bear 
that  attachment  to  any  fervice, 
which  native  troops  bear  to  their 
country.  Tradefmen  and  manu¬ 
facturers,  who  are  very  numerous 
in  that  fervice,  are  alfo  much  more 
difpofed  to  defertion,  than  the 
plain  laborious  countrymen  who 
compofe  the  Auflrian  armies.  The 
A  uftrian  Gazettes  however,  though 

their 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [31 


their  own  defertion  far  exceeded 
any  thing  that  could  be  expelled 
upon  the  principle  we  have  laid 
down,  magnified  that  of  the  Pruf- 
lians  in  terms  of  fuch  extrava¬ 
gance,  and  killed  fuch  multitudes 
of  their  men,  in  paltry  rencoun¬ 
ters  of  no  name,  that  had  any  cre¬ 
dit  been  given  to  them,  it  would 
have  brought  no  fmall  degree  of 
imputation  upon  their  own  com¬ 
manders,  and  of  difgrace  upon 
their  troops,  to  have  fuffered  their 
country  to  be  infulted  and  ravaged 
by  fuch  a  handful  of  men,  as  the 
remainder  mult  necelfarily  have 
been. 

Indeed  the  campaign  was  fo 
barren  of  events,  that  it  became 
necelfary  to  catch  at  every  fmall 
matter,  which  could  help  to  fill  up 
the  attention,  or  to  gratify  the  cu- 
riofity  of  the  public.  For  it  may 
be  obferved  in  the  moll  defpotic 
governments,  that  however  the 
people  are  trampled  upon  and  de- 
ipifed  in  the  feafons  of  peace,  and 
of  felicity  to  their  rulers,  yet  the 
ferious  and  doubtful  appeals  to  the 
fword,  always  reffore  them  to  fbme 
part  of  their  natural  confequence, 
and  caufe  a  particular  degree  of 
attention,  however  fhort  its  dura¬ 
tion,  to  be  paid  to  their  opinions 
and  likings.  Thus,  both  parties 
magnified  every  fmall  aCtion  into 
importance  and  the  taking  a  few 
carts  from  a  convoy,  or  the  rout  of 
a  fubaltern’s  command  of  HufTars 
or  Croats,  were  dwelt  upon  as  mat¬ 
ters  of  triumph.  Sucn  circum- 
itances  are,  however,  fortunate  to 
brave  men  delliture  of  intereft,  who 
may  then  pufh  themfdves  into  nc?- 
tice  and  pr^l  rment  by  thofe  Ipirit- 
ed  actions,  which  would  have  been 
overlooked  and  loll  in  the  general 


glare  of  great  deeds  and  of  vie- 
tory. 

The  king  at  length  finding  that 
all  his  efforts  on  the  fide  of  Ko- 
ningfgratz  and  Jaromitz,  whether 
to  provoke  the  enemy  to  an  en¬ 
gagement,  or  to  compel  them  to 
a  change  of  pofition,  proved  equal¬ 
ly  ineffectual,  made,  towards  the 
middle  of  Augult,  a  grand  move¬ 
ment  to  his  right,  leaving  General 
Wunfch,  with  a  flrong  command, 
to  keep  the  communication  open, 
and  to  guard  the  important  poll  of 
Nachod.  Several  motives  concur¬ 
red  to  this  meafure.  It  was  hoped 
that  by  advancing  towards  the 
head  of  the  Elbe,  he  might  turn 
the  enemy’s  left,  and  compel  him 
to  take  new  ground  and  portions. 
The  king  thereby  approached 
nearer  to  Nimes,  and  it  was  to  be? 
expected  that  fo  effectual  a  commu¬ 
nication  might  have  been  opened 
with  Prince  Henry’s  army,  as 
would  afford  an  opportunity  for  a 
fudden  junction,  if  any  great  pro- 
fpedt  of  advantage  fhould  render 
that  meafure  advifeable.  It  was 
taking  new  ground  with  refpect  to 
provihons  and  forage,  which  was -a 
matter  of  no  fmall  consideration 
with  an  army,  when  the  old  was 
already  eaten  to  the  utmoft  degree 
of  barenefs.  It  is  befides,  not  im- 
poflible,  that  as  the  army  was  to 
pafs  the  defiles  of  Kovalkowitz, 
and  other  grounds  equally  dange¬ 
rous,  which  a  leffer  General  would 
not  have  ventured  in  the  face  of  a 
vigilant  and  equal  enemy,  the  king 
on  the  contrary,  confiding  in  his 
own  ability  to  remedy  thofe  difad- 
vantages  which  he  well  forefavv, 
held  them  out  as  lures,  to  tempt 
the  A  ultrian  Generals  to  an  attack. 
At  any  rate,  if  none  of  the  pro- 
*  pofed 


1 1 


32]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


pofed  effe&s  were  produced,  any 
change  of  ground  and  fituation, 
was  better  fuited  to  the  king’s 
temper  and  character,  than  that 
tirefome  famenefs  which  he  had  fo 
long  endured. 

If  any  fnare  was  intended,  the 
enemy  was  too  wary  to  be  entrap¬ 
ped  in  it.  The  king  palled  all 
*  ,  the  defiles  without  ob- 

“  u&*  *4  *  Itruftion,  and  keeping 

to  the  northward,  encamped  at 
Burkerfdorf,  between  Trautenau 
and  Arnau,  his  right  inclining  to 
the  former,  and  his  left  to  the 
latter  of  thefe  places.  The  here¬ 
ditary  Prince  of  Brunfwick  ad¬ 
vanced  with  a  feparate  corps  on  the 
front  of  the  left  to  Langenau,  from 
whence  he  extended  his  polls  to¬ 
wards  Hohen  Elbe.  It  is  impof- 
fible,  without  a  knowledge  of  the 
country,  which  can  only  be  obtain¬ 
ed  by  feeing  it,  or  an  exact  deline¬ 
ation  of  the  various  polls  and  pofi- 
tions  of  the  Auitrian  army,  which 
has  not  yet  in  any  degree  been 
communicated,  to  account  for  fe- 
veral  of  the  movements  which  took 
place  at  this  time,  and  for  a  month 
after,  on  the  king’s  lide.  The 
Prince  of  Brunfvvick’s  advance  to 
Langenau,'  probably  looked  to¬ 
wards  a  delign  of  attacking  Gene¬ 
ral  Dalton,  who  lay  with  a  llrong 
force  at  Arnau  ;  or  perhaps  it  was 
hoped  that  his  feparation  from  the 
main  army,  might  have  enticed 
that  General  to  an  attack  upon 
him.  Neither  of  thefe  events, 
however,  took  place. 

The  kino-  advanced  afterwards 

o 

to  Wiltfchitz,  Hermanfeifen,  and 
LauterwafTer,  and  the  hereditary 
prince  pufhed  on  to  the  high 
grounds  of  the  Schwartzeberg,  al- 
moll  at  the  north -eaft  extremity 
of  Bohemia;  Trautenau,  Branau, 


and  all  the  country  on  the  rights 
as  far  as  Silefia,  being  abandoned 
by  the  Aullrians,  who  kept  their 
polls  on  the  left,  up  towards  the 
fource  of  the  Elbe,  in  great  force. 
All  the  movements  that  were  made, 
whether  in  advancing  or  retiring, 
in  this  rough  and  impracticable 
country,  through  wild  forelts, 
mountains,  and  the  moll  miferable 
roads,  would  have  been  exceed¬ 
ingly  dangerous  under  lefs  able 
commanders,  and  in  cafe  of  mis¬ 
fortune,  would  have  drawn  the 
heavieil  cenfure  from  the  military- 
world,  on  thofe  who  had  involved 
an  army  in  fuch  Braits.  It  is  not 
even  impoffible,  that  both  lides 
built  too  much  upon  the  king’s 
name,  the  fuperiority  of  his  troops, 
and  the  excellency  of  his  officers. 

Nothing  can  more  clearly  Ihew 
the  full  and  certain  confidence 
which  the  Aullrians  repofed  in  the 
fecurity  afforded  by  their  inaccef- 
fible  fituations,  than,  that  the  em¬ 
peror,  with  fo  mighty  an  holtile 
force  full  in  his  view  ;  with  an 
enemy  fo  quick  in  difcerning,  and 
fo  prompt  in  feizing,  all  appear¬ 
ances,  and  every  opportunity  of 
advantage,  with  the  utmoll  vigi¬ 
lance  watching  his  motions,  and 
all  his  fagacity  and  penetration  in 
conliant-  exercife,  to  obviate  the 
llrength  of  his  politions,  to  profit 
by  any  error  in  their  arrangement, 
or  by  the  fmalleft  inattention  to 
the  mutual  connection  and  depen¬ 
dence  of  fo  many  detached  parts  ; 
fhould,  notwithstanding  thefe  cir- 
cuipflances,  venture  to  quit  an 
army  expofed  to  fuch  a  fituation, 
and  as  if  no  enemy  had  been  near, 
pay  a  vilit  of  fome  days  to  that 
under  the  command  of  Marfhal 
Laudohn.  It  will  fcarcely  increafe 
our  furprize  to  know,  that,  upon 

hi* 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE,  [33 


his  return  he  detached  feveral  re¬ 
giments  to  reinforce  that  army. 

In  the  mean  time,  both  armies 
grew  very  fickly,  the  heavy  and 
continued  rains,  incident  to  the 
feafon  in  that  mountainous  coun¬ 
try,  engendering  fevers,  fluxes, 
and  other  putrid  diforders  in  great 
abundance.  It  will  be  eafily  fup- 
pofed  that  the  Grangers  were  the 
greater  fufferers  in  this  general  ca¬ 
lamity.  The  rains  alfo,  rendered 
the  roads  in  the  vallies  fo  deep,  and 
the  hills  fo  flippery,  that,  if  all 
other  obllacles  had  been  removed, 
to  attack,  or  be  attacked,  became 
for  feveral  days  equally  impracti¬ 
cable. 

In  thefe  circumflances,  the  King 
being  fully  convinced,  that  no¬ 
thing  could  provoke  or  induce  the 
enemy  to  venture  an  open  engage¬ 
ment,  finding  that  all  other  means 
had  proved  equally  ineffectual,  and 
that  they  were  fo  covered  with 
woods,  hills,  defiles  and  entrench¬ 
ments,  that  an  attempt  to  force 
them,  whatever  the  fuccefs,  mud 
be  attended  with  the  certain  lofs 
of  the  bed  and  braved  of  his  troops ; 
with  great  judice  thought  it  advi- 
fable  to  preferve  fo  fine  an  army 
for  more  eligible  fervice.  And 
as  the  Winter  was  now  fad  ap¬ 
proaching,  whild  the  ficknefs  of 
the  troops,  and  the  impracticabi¬ 
lity  of  the  roads  was  daily  increaf- 
ing,  he  at  length  determined  to 
evacuate  Bohemia. 

c  .  o ,  1  The  King  according- 
Sept.  8th.  .  ,  •  .9 

r  ly,  having  previouiiy 

fent  off  his  heavy  artillery,  fell 
back  from  the  high  grounds  of  the 
Lauterwaffer,  where  he  had  been 
for  fome  time  encamped,  and  re¬ 
tired  to  his  old  camp  at  Wiltfchitz. 
Nothing  was  ever  conducted  with 
greater  ability  than  this  retreat, 
Vol.  XXI. 


which  was  made  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy,  by  roads  little  lefs  than 
impaffable,  through  an  impradtica-  ' 
ble  country,  and  the  mod  danger¬ 
ous  denies.  The  Audrians  by  no 
means  negleCled  the  opportunity. 
Their  light  troops  made  feveral 
attacks  with  great  vigour  upon 
the  diderent  lines  of  march  in  the 
mod  difficult  grounds,  and  made 
bold  pufhes  to  feize  a  confiderable 
part  of  the  artillery  which  remain® 
ed  with  the  army,  and  which 
feemed  to  be  fo  inextricably  in¬ 
volved  in  the  mud  and  doughs  of 
the  hollow  ways,  that  they  already 
deemed  them  a  certain  prize.  All 
the  movements  were,  however, 
made  with  fuch  judgment,  and 
the  different  columns  fo  effectually 
Supported  and  covered  each  other, 
that  they  were  every  where  rep ulfed 
without  obtaining  the  fmalled  ad¬ 
vantage,  or  taking  a  dngle  piece 
of  cannon  ;  the  lofs  of  men  was 
pretty  equal  on  both  fides.  This 
retreat,  in  fuch  a  country,  and  in, 
the  face  of  fo  powerful  and  nume¬ 
rous  an  enemy,  was  faid  to  be  im¬ 
mediately  directed  in  all  its  parts 
by  the  King,  who  gave  written  di¬ 
rections  for  every  movement ;  fome 
of  which  are  faid  to  have  been  fo 
bold,  and  the  fuccefs  fo  evidently 
depending  upon  the  clock  -  like 
operation  and  coincidence  of  the 
whole,  that  his  oldeft  Generals 
were  liar  tied  at  the  delign.  In  a 
word,  it  is  reprefen  ted  as  a  mailer- 
piece  in  its  kind. 

The  King  continued  near  a  week 
at  Wiltfchitz.  Towards  the  mid¬ 
dle  of  the  month,  the  0  , 

army  moved  to  Al-  l*th/ 

ftadt,  near  Trautenau  ;  and  in 
fome  days  after  to  Schatzlar,  near 
the  frontiers  of  Silefia,  and  on  the 
high  road  to  Landfhut,  where  it 
[C]  conti» 


34]  ANNUAL  RE 

continued  till  about  the  end  of 
October,  when  it  finally  evacuated 
Bohemia.  The  ground  was  little 
lefs  difficult  in  the  two  former  of 
thefe  movements,  than  in  the 
march  to  Wiltfchitz,  and  the  Au- 
flrians,  under  General  Wurmfer, 
being  now  much  more  powerful, 
the  attacks  were  more  frequent 
and  violent ;  which,  however,  pro¬ 
duced  no  other  effeCt  than  a 
greater  lofs  of  men  on  both  fides, 
no  advantage  of  any  value  being 
gained  by  either.  It  is  given  as 
an  inflance  of  the  advantage,  and 
a  proof  of  the  excellency  of  difei- 
pline,  that  a  Fruffian  regiment, 
having  in  one  of  thefe  engage¬ 
ments  been  fo  clofely  preffed  on 
all  fides,  as  to  be  under  a  necef- 
fity  of  throwing  itfelf  into  what  is 
called  a  hollow  or  fquare  batta¬ 
lion,  upon  repelling  the  enemy, 
and  in  all  the  heat  of  a  brifk  en¬ 
gagement,  it  inftantly  recovered 
its  former  order  of  march,  with 
the  fame  eafe  and  regularity,  that 
it  could  have  paraded  from  the 
ground  of  exercife  on  a  held -day. 

During  the  greater  part  of  thefe 
tranfa&ions,  Prince  Henry  con¬ 
tinued  at  Nimes  ;  his  army  occu¬ 
pying  the  pods  we  have  already 
Hated,  and  enjoying  the  molt  pro¬ 
found  tranquillity  ;  being  likewife 
free  from  thofe  incommoditieswhich 
had  diftreffed  the  King’s  forces,  in 
a  miferable  country,  rendered  ftill 
more  wretched  by  the  badnefs  of 
the  weather.  When  it  became  at 
length  apparent,  that  the  caution 
and  fituation  of  the  enemy  mull 
unavoidably  fruflrate  all  the  views 
of  the  campaign  ;  that  the  taking 
np  of  Winter  quarters  in  Bohe¬ 
mia,  was  from  the  fame  caufes 
rendered  utterly  impracticable  ; 
and  that  the  approaching  feafen 


GISTER,  1778. 

would  render  the  evacuation  of 
that  country  without  lofs,  every 
day  more  difficult  ;  the  Prince 
made  feveral  motions  preparatory 
to  that  event,  but  immediately 
tending  to  divert  the  attention  of 
the  enemy  from  his  real  defign, 
and  with  a  hope  of  leading  him 
to  fome  change  of  pofition,  which 
might  either  on  his  own  fide,  or 
on  that  of  the  King’s,  afford  an 
opportunity  for  opening  a  more  fa¬ 
vourable  feene  of  aCtion. 

The  Prince  accord¬ 
ingly  quitting  Nimes, 
and  turning  to  the  light,  advanced 
towards  the  Elbe  by  the  way  of 
Neufchlofs,Pleifwedel,andAufche, 
and  paffing  that  river  at  Leutme- 
ritz,  encamped  not  far  from  thence 
at  Tfchifchkowitz,  on  the  great 
road  to  Prague.  At  the  fame  time, 
a  part  of  the  left  wing,  under  the 
Prince  of  Bernberg,  fell  back  to¬ 
wards  the  upper  Lufatia,  until  it 
had  occupied  the  ftrong  grounds 
on  the  fide  of  Gabel  and  Zittau. 
This  movement  on  the  fide  of  the 
Prince,  obliged  Marihal  Laudohn. 
to  quit  the  Ifer,  and,  paffing  the 
Elbe  and  the  Muldau,  to  encamp 
at  Martinowes,  near  Budin,  to 
prevent  his  advancing  towards 
Prague.  After  a  number  of  fkir- 
miffies  had  taken  place,  and  that 
the  armies  had  for  fome  days  kept 
thefe  pofitions  ;  the  Prince  quit¬ 
ted  his  camp  at  Tfchifchkowitz, 
and  returning  without  lofs  to  the 
confines  of  Saxony,  had  entirely 
evacuated  Bohemia  by  the  end  of 
the  month. 

Nor  was  the  war  on  the  fide  of 
the  Auftrian  Silefia  productive  of 
any  aCtion  of  confequence  ;  for  the 
Fruffian  Generals  being  much  fu- 
perior  in  force  to  the  Marquis  de 
Botta,  he  was  not  able  to  under¬ 
take 

/ 


Sept.  10th. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [35 


take  any  thing  confiderable  to¬ 
wards  the  defence  of  that  country. 
Thus  they  overran  the  Dutchies 
of  Troppaw  and  Iagerndorf  with¬ 
out  much  difficulty,  and  took  fuch 


1 

meafures  with  the  inhabitants,  as 
ftrongly  indicated  a  defign  of  an¬ 
nexing  them  to  the  King’s  domi¬ 
nion,  and  thereby  entirely  round¬ 
ing  his  poffeffion  of  Silefia. 


CHAP.  III. 

State  of  Affairs  previous  to  the  Meeting  of  Parliament.  Confe'quences  of  the 
American  War  voith  refpedi  to  Commerce .  Condudl  of  France.  Stabi¬ 
lity  of  Adminifl ration  equally  fecured  by  good  or  bad  fuccefs.  Sanguine 

hopes  raifed  by  General  Burgoyne’s  fuccefs  at  Ficonderoga,  checked  by  fub - 
fequent  accounts.  Speech  from  the  T ’hr one.  Addreffes .  Amendments 

moved  in  both  Houfes .  Great  Debates .  Protejl. 


NO  equal  fpace  of  time  for 
feveral  years  pad,  afforded 
fo  little  domeftic  matter  worthy  of 
obfervation,  as  that  part  of  the 
year  1777,  which  elapfed  during 
the  recefs  of  parliament.  Neither 
the  town  nor  the  country  prefen  ted 
any  new  object  of  party  conten¬ 
tion.  The  American  war,  and 
many  of  its  confequences,  were 
now  fcarcely  objects  of  curiofity, 
much  lefs  of  furprize  ;  and  being 
in  the  habit  of  deriving  no  benefit 
from  our  colonies,  and  of  cond- 
dering  them  only  in  a  date  of  en¬ 
mity  and1  hoflility,  it  feemed  as  if 
their  total  lofs  would  be  no  long- 
er  a  matter  of  much  wonder  or  con¬ 
cern  ;  but  that  rather,  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  that  event  would  be  felt,  as 
a  ceffation  from  war,  expence  and 
trouble,  ufually  is  felt  in  other 
cafes. 

The  lofs  and  ruin  brought  upon 
numbers  of  individuals,  by  this  fa¬ 
tal  quarrel  between  the  mother 
country  and  her  colonies,  was  lit¬ 
tle  thought  of,  excepting  by  the 
fufferers,  and  had,  as.  yet,  pro¬ 
duced  no  apparent  change  in  the 
face  of  public  affairs.  For  al¬ 
though  our  foreign  commerce,  was 


by  this  time,  confiderably  embar- 
raffed,  and  loaded  with  extraordi¬ 
nary  charges  ;  although  it  was  al¬ 
ready  reduced  in  fome  of  its  parts* 
and  in  others,  fuch  as  the  African 
branch,  nearly  annihilated;  it  had 
not  yet  received  thofe  df-okes,  op 
at  leall  they  were  not  yet  fo  fenfi- 
bly  felt,  which  have  fmee  fhakerx 
the  mercantile  intered  of  this  coun¬ 
try  to  a  degree  which  it  had  nog 
often  before  experienced. 

Indeed  that  commerce,  which, 
had  fo  long  equally  excited  the 
envy  of  other  nations,  and  the 
admiration  of  mankind,  was  fo 
immenfe  in  its  extent,  and  involv¬ 
ed  fuch  a  multitude  of  preat  and 

•  •  o 

material  objects  in  its  embrace, 
that  it  was  not  to  be  fhaken  by  any 
ufual  convuldon  of  nature,  nor  to 
be  endangered  by  any  common  ac¬ 
cident  of  fortune.  It  accordingly 
bore  many  fevere  fhocks,  and  At¬ 
tained  Ioffes  of  a  prodigious  mag¬ 
nitude,  before  they  were  capable 
of  apparently  affe&ing  its  general 
fyflem. 

We  have  formerly  fhewn  that 
the  American  war,  from  its  pecu¬ 
liar  nature,  and  the  greatnefs  of 
the  expence,  with  which  it  was 

[C]  2  conduced 


I 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


36] 

conducted  and  fupplied,  had  pro¬ 
duced  a  new  fpecies  of  commerce, 
which,  however  ruinous  in  its  ul¬ 
timate  effe&s,  had  for  the  prefent 
a  flattering  appearance.  For  this 
iubAitute,  including  all  the  traffic 
appertaining  to  or  confequent  of 
the  war,  as  well  as  the  commercial 
fpeculations  which  arofe  by  li¬ 
cenced  exception  or  evafion  of  the 
feveral  retraining  adts  of  parlia¬ 
ment,  afforded  employment,  like 
a  great  and  legitimate  commerce, 
to  an  infinite  number  of  perfons, 
and  quantity  of  (hipping,  yielding 
at  lead  equal  benefits  to  the  grofs 
of  thofe  who  were  concerned;  and 
far  greater  emoluments,  devoid  of 
rifque,  or  even  of  the  employment 
of  much  capital,  to  the  principals, 
than  the  profits  of  any  real  or  open 
trade  could  pofiibly  admit. 

Thus,  however  frail  its  eAablifn- 
fnent,  and  neceflarily  fhort  its  du. 
ration,  a  new,  powerful,  and  nu¬ 
merous  conneftion  was  formed,  to¬ 
tally  difiinft  from  the  great,  an¬ 
cient,  mercantile  intereA  ;  and 
thus,  although  our  Gazettes  teem¬ 
ed  with  bankruptcies,  generally 
doubling  and  trebling  in  number, 
whatever  had  been  ufually  known, 
in  the  fame  time,  in  this  country, 
yet  the  gainers,  or  the  candidates 
for  gain  in  the  new  adventures, 
were  fo  numerous,  and  prefented 
fuch  an  appearance  of  cafe,  afflu¬ 
ence,  and  content,  that  th  plain¬ 
tive  but  feeble  voice  of  the  unfor¬ 
tunate  was  little  attended  to  ;  and 
the  chearfulnefs  which  the  fplen- 
dour  and  happinefs  of  the  former 
fpread  all  around,  prevented  any 
gloomy  reflections  from  arifing  in 
the  minds  of  thofe  who  had  as  yet 
no  fenfible  feeling  of  the  public 
calamity. 


It  is  true,  that  the  coafts  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  were  infulted 
by  the  American  privateers,  in  a 
manner  which  our  hardieft  enemies 
had  never  ventured  in  our  moll  ar¬ 
duous  contentions  with  foreigners. 
Thus  were  the  inmofl:  and  moil  do¬ 
me  Hi  c  recedes  of  our  trade  render¬ 
ed  infecure  ;  and  a  convoy  for  the 
proteftion  of  the  linen  fhips  from 
Dublin  and  Newry,  was  now  for 
the  firft  time  feen.  The  Thames 
alfo  prefented  the  unufual  and  me¬ 
lancholy  fpe&acle,  of  numbers  of 
foreign  fhips,  particularly  French, 
taking  in  cargoes  of  Englifh  com¬ 
modities  for  various  parts  of  Eu¬ 
rope,  the  property  of  our  own  mer¬ 
chants,  who  were  thus  reduced  to 
feek  that  protection  under  the  co¬ 
lours  of  other  nations,  which  the 
Brklfn  flag  ufed  to  afford  to  all  the 
world. 

A  gain  A  this  mu  A  be  fet,  that 
his  MajeAy’s  fhips  took  a  prodi¬ 
gious  number  of  American  veiTels, 
both  on  their  own  coaAs  and  in  the 
We  A  Indies.  The  perfeverance 
with  which  the  Americans  fup¬ 
plied  the  objects  for  thefe  captures, 
by  continually  building  new  fhips, 
and  feeking  new  adventures,  feem- 
ed  almoA  incredible.  At  a  time 
when  the  whole  of  a  trade,  carried 
on  under  fuch  difeouraging  cir- 
cumAances,  feemed  to  be  extin- 
guifhed,  the  Gazettes  teemed  again 
with  the  account  of  new  captures ; 
which,  though  for  the  greater  part, 
they  were  not  of  much  value  fingly, 
yet  furniAied,  at  times,  fome  very 
rich  prizes  ;  and,  in.  the  aggre¬ 
gate,  were  of  a  vaA  amount.  They 
probably  much  overballanced  the 
Ioffes  which  we  fuAained  from 
their  privateers.  But  it  was,  to  a 
thinking  mind,  melancholy,  that 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


we  had  a  computation  of  that  kind 
to  make. 

The  condu<5l  of  France  during 
this  whole  year,  in  every  thing 
that  regarded  England  and  Ame¬ 
rica,  was  fo  flightlv  covered,  and 
Jo  little  qualified,  that  it  feemed  to 
leave  no  room  for  any  doubt,  (ex¬ 
cepting  with  thofe  who  were  de¬ 
termined  to  place  fo  implicit  a 
faith  in  words,  as  to  admit  of  no 
other  fpecies  of  evidence)  as  to  the 
part  which  (he  would  finally  take 
in  the  conteft.  As  (he  was  not  yet, 
however,  in  fufiicient  preparation 
for  proceeding  to  the  utmoft  ex¬ 
tremities,  nor  her  negociations 
with  the  Americans  advanced  to  an 
abfolute  determination,  (lie  occa- 
fionally  relaxed  in  certain  points, 
when  (he  found  herfelf  fo  clofely 
preffed  by  the  Britilh  minifters, 
that  an  obftinate  perfeverance 
would  precipitate  matters  to  that 
conclufion,  which  fhe  wiflied  for 
fome  time  longer  to  defer. 

Thus,  when  a  bold  American 
adventurer,  one  Cunningham,  had 
taken  and  carried  into  Dunkirk, 
with  a  privateer  fitted  out  at  that 
port,  the  Englifh  packet  from 
Holland,  and  fent  the  mail  to  the 
American  minifters  at  Paris,  it 
then  feemed  neceflary  in  fome  de¬ 
gree  to  difcountepance  fo  flagrant 
a  violation  of  good  neighbourhood, 
as  well  as  of  the  handing  treaties 
between  the  two  nations,  and  even 
of  the  particular  marine  laws  and 
regulations  cfiablifhed  in  France, 
in  regard  to  her  conduct  with  the 
people  of  other  countries.  Cun¬ 
ningham,  and  his  crew,  were  ac¬ 
cordingly  committed  for  fome  Ihort 
time  to  prifon.  Yet  this  appear¬ 
ance  of  fads  faction  was  done  away 
by  the  circumftances  which  attend¬ 
ed  iu  For  Cunningham’s  impri- 


[37 

fonment  was  reprefented  to  the 
Americans,  as  proceeding  merely 
from  fome  informality  in  his  com- 
miffion,  and .  irregularity  in  his 
proceedings,  which  had  brought 
him  to,  if  not  within,  the  verge 
of  piracy,  and  which  were  too 
glaring  to  be  entirely  pa  fled  over) 
without  notice.  And  he  was, 
with  his  crew,  net  only  fpeedily 
releafed  from  their  mock  confine¬ 
ment,  but  he  was  permitted  to 
purchafe,  fit  out,  and  arm,  a 
much  ftronger  vefiel,  and  better 
failer  than  the  former,  avowedly 
to  infelt  as  before  the  Britifh  com** 
merce. 

It  was  in  the  fame  line  of  policy, 
that  when  the  French  Newfound-, 
land  fifhery  w'ould  have  been  to¬ 
tally  intercepted  and  defbroyed  in 
cafe  of  an  immediate  rupture,  and 
that  the  capture  of  their  feamen 
would  have  been  more  ruinous  and 
irreparable,  than  the  lofs  even  of 
the  (hips  and  cargoes.  Lord  Stor¬ 
mont  obtained,  in  that  critical 
fit  nation,  an  order  from  the  mi- 
nifters,  that  all  the  American  pri¬ 
vateers,  with  their  prizes,  fhould 
immediately  depart  the  kingdom* 
Yet,  fatisfadlory  as  this  complin 
ance,  and  conclufive  as  this  order 
appeared,  it  was  combated  with 
fuch  ingenuity,  and  fuch  expe¬ 
dients  practifed  to  defeat  its  elfefts, 
that  it  was  not  complied  with  in  a 
Angle  inftance  throughout  the 
kingdom.  It,  however,  anfvvered 
the  purpofe  for  which  it  was  in¬ 
tended  ,  by  gaining  time,  and  open¬ 
ing  a  fubjedl  of  tedious  and  inde- 
cifive  controverfy,  until  the  French 
(hips  were  fafe  in  their  refpedliye. 
ports. 

It  would  feem,  that  Monf.  de 
Sartine,  the  French  Minifler  of 
the  marine,  and  great  advocate  for 

[Cj  3 


®8]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


the  American  caufe,  was  deter¬ 
mined,  that  whatever  charges  of 
duplicity  might  be  brought  again  ft 
his  country^  they  fhould  not  red 
perfonaliy  with  himfelf.  For  this 
Minifter,  upon  fome  reports  which 
tended  to  difcourage  the  commerce 
with  the  American s,  as  if  the  court 
would  not  prote.fi  its  fubjeCts  in 
conveying  the  produCts  of  that 
continent  in  their  veffels,  which 
would  accordingly  become  legal 
prizes  to  the  Englifh  if  taken,  ab¬ 
jured  the  feveral  chambers  of  com- 
~  ,  1  merce  by  a  public  inflru- 

ju  y  4  ment  and  jn  direft  con- 
///<e  travention  of  all  our  na¬ 
vigation  laws,  that  the  King  was 
determined  to  afford  the  fulled  pro¬ 
tection  to  their  commerce,  and 
would  reclaim  all  fhips  that  were 
taken  under  that  pretext. 

Upon  the  whole,  whatever  eva¬ 
sion  or  duplicity  might  have  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  language  or  profef- 
fions  of  France,  her  conduCt  was 
fo  unequivocal  in  the  courfe  of  this 
fouflnefs,  that  the  only  matter  of 
furprize  would  be,  if  it  could  be 
thought  poffible  that  fhe  impofed 
upon  any  people  by  the  one,  or 
that  they  could  midake  her  defigns 
in  the  other.  It  indeed  required 
lio  great  fagacity  to  difeover,  that 
Jhe  had  now  acquired  fo  thorough 
a  relifh  for  the  Tweets  of  the  Ame¬ 
rican  commerce,  that  nothing  lefs 
than  the  mod  irrefidible  necefiity 
could  induce  her  to  forego  tfye  pof- 
feffion  of  what  die  had  obtained, 
and  the  vad  hopes  with  which  die 
flattered  herfelfin  future.  But  as 
yet  fhe  waited  the  event  of  the 
American  campaign,  and  the  com¬ 
pletion  of  her  naval  equipments, 
(which  were  carried  on  with  the 
greatefl  diligence  and  in  the  mod 
public  manner  at  B*eft  and.  Tou¬ 


lon,)  before  fhe  rifqued  any  deci- 
five  dep. 

No  change  of  any  fort,  whether 
by  death,  removal,  or  internal  ar¬ 
rangement,  had  taken  place  in  ad- 
minidration  during  the  recefs. 
Every  day  of  the  American  war 
rivetted  the  miniders  fader  in  their 
feats.  Good  and  bad  fuccefs  pro¬ 
duced  the  fame  effect  in  that  re- 
fpeCt,  In  the  former  indance,  who 
could  be  deemed  fo  fitting  to  con¬ 
clude  the  buhnefs,  as  thofe  by 
whom  it  was  framed,  and  fo  far 
happily  conduced  ?  In  the  other, 
who  could  be  found  hardy  enough 
to  undertake  the  completion  of  a 
ruinous  fydem,  which,  befides  its 
failure  already  in  the  execution, 
was  originally,  and  in  its  nature, 
clogged  with  infinite  difficulty  and 
danger?  Thus  fituated,  and  fup- 
ported  by  an  uncontrollable  force 
in  parliament,  it  feemed  that  no¬ 
thing  could  difturb  their  repofe, 
until  the  prefent  American  fydem 
was  in  fome  manner  difpofed  of. 

General  Burgoy  tie’s  fuccefs  at 
Ticonderoga,  with  the  total  dif- 
comfiture  and  ruin  which  every 
where  attended  the  Americans  in 
their  precipitate  flight  on  the  bor¬ 
ders  of  Lake  George,  excited  the 
greatefl  triumph  on  the  fide  of  ad- 
minidration  ;  and  whilfl  it  won¬ 
derfully  elevated  the  fpirits,  was 
confidered  nearly  as  crowning  the 
hopes  of  all  thofe  who  had  fup- 
pofted  or  approved  of  the  war.  We 
have  already  feen  that  the  northern 
expedition  was  looked  upon  as  the 
favourite  child  of  government.  The 
operations  on  the  Tide  of  the  Jerfeys 
and  Philadelphia  were  evidently 
confidered  in  a  very  fecondary 
point  of  view.  As  the  noble  Lord 
who  conducted  the  American  af¬ 
fairs  had  all  the  applaufe  of  this 

meafure. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


meafure,  which  was  confidered  en¬ 
tirely  as  his  own,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  that  both  himfelf  and 
his  brethren  in  office,  fhould  be 
deeply  interefted  in  the  event,  and 
value  themfelves  highly  on  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  fuccefs. 

The  fubfequent  difpatches  from 
General  Burgovne  did  not  long 
fupport  the  hopes  which  were 
founded  on  the  firft  fucceffes.  The 
unexpected  difficulties  and  delays 
which  the  army  experienced  in  ad¬ 
vancing  a  few  miles  from  Skenef- 
borougn  to  the  fouthward,  were, 
however,  counterballanced  in  opi¬ 
nion  by  its  arrival  on  the  Hudfon’s 
River,  the  retreat  of  the  enemy 
from  Fort  Edward,  their  abandon¬ 
ing  Fort  George  and  the  Lake,  by 
which  a  free  palfage  was  opened 
from  Ticonderoga,  and  St.  Leger’s 
fuccefs  in  defeating  and  ruining 
the  Tryon  county  militia  near  Fort 
Stanwix. 

All  the  former  and  prefent  fan- 
guine  expectations  which  had  been 
formed,  were,  however,  in  a  great 

„  j,  meafure  overthrown  by 
•  31-  •  the  advices  which  were 
received  fome  time  previous  to  the 
meeting  of  parliament ;  an  event 
which  was  probably  this  year  held 
back,  in  the  full  confidence  of  its 
being  ufhered  in  with  the  particu¬ 
lars  of  fome  great  and  decifive  fuc¬ 
cefs.  Thofe  which  came  to  hand, 
after  a  tedious  feafon  of  expecta¬ 
tion,  bore  a  very  different  com¬ 
plexion.  The  infuperable  diffi¬ 
culties  that  neceffarily  fufpended 
the  operations  of  an  army  in  fuch  a 
country,  and  under  fuch  circum- 
{tances,  were  now  practically  dif- 
covered.  The  double  defeat  of 
Baum  and  Breyman,  by  a  fuppofed 
broken  and  ruined  militia,  in  an 
attempt  to  remove  or  to  lcffen  fome 


t39 

of  thofe  difficulties,  was  ftiil  more 
difpiriting  ;  and  was  not  in  any 
degree  cured  by  the  hope  which  the 
General  expreffed,  of  fupport  and 
affiltance  from  the  co-operation  of 
Sir  William  Howe’s  army  ;  both 
as  it  marked  a  defpondency  of  fuc¬ 
cefs  from  his  own  force,  and  that 
the  minilters  knew  the  impoffibility 
of  his  receiving  any  fupport  from 
that  quarter.  But,  as  if  it  had 
been  to  crown  the  climax  of  ill 
news  and  ill  fortune,  the  fame 
difpatches  were  accompanied  with 
others  from  Sir  Guy  Carleton, 
which  brought  an  account  of  the 
failure  of  the  expedition  to  Fort 
Stanwix,  the  bold  and  unexpected 
attack  of  the  rebels  on  the  fide  of 
Ticonderoga,  and  of  a  Hill  more 
unexpected  and  extraordinary  e- 
vent,  in  a  ffiort  Iketch  of  the  de- 
fperate  and  doubtful  action  which 
was  fought  on  the  19th  of  Septem¬ 
ber  between  General  Burgoyne  and 
Arnold  ;  which,  naked  as  it  was 
of  circumftances,  feemed  to  fhew 
the  latter  to  be  the  affailant,  by 
the  mention  of  his  retiring  to  his 
camp  when  the  darknefs  had  put 
an  end  to  the  combat. 

Although  the  knowledge  of  thefe 
events  feemed  to  open  a  view  to 
fome  of  the  fucceeding  misfor* 
tunes,  and  even  afforded  room  to 
prefage  a  part  of  thofe  unparal¬ 
leled  calamities  which  befel  the 
northern  army,  it  was  kill  hoped, 
bv  thofe  who  were  moil  fanguine  in 
their  expectations,  thatGeneralBur- 
goyne,  being  fo  near  Albany,  could 
not  fail  of  making  his  way  good 
to  that  place  ;  and  that  being  then 
fecurely  lodged,  he  would  have  an 
opportunity  of  concerting  with  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  the  means,  either 
feparately  or  jointly,  of  diftreffing 
the  northern  colouiws  j  or  if  th* 
[C]  4  (eafe* 


4o]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778.' 


feafon  and  other  circum (lances  did 
not  encourage  that  delign,  they 
might  decide  upon  the  propriety  of 
maintaining  the  poft  at  Albapy 
during  the  winter,  or  of  advancing 
to  New  York  if  more  eligible.  In 
the  word;  cafe  that  could  happen, 
they  entertained  no  doubt  of  ef¬ 
fecting  his  retreat  back  to  Canada. 
Others  were  appreheniive  of  fome of 
the  fatal  confequences  that  enfued. 

Such  was  in  general  the  date  of 
affairs,  fo  far  as  they  were  known, 
and  of  public  opinion,  at  the  meet¬ 
ing  of  parliament.  The  accounts 
from  Sir  William  Howe  went  no 
farther  than  the  fuccefsful  landing 
of  the  army  at  the  head,  of  Elk  ; 
Iris  preparation  for  advancing  to¬ 
wards  Philadelphia ;  with  the  Situa¬ 
tion  and  apparent  delign  of  the  ene¬ 
my  to  impede  his  progrefs. 

•at  The  fpeech  from  the 

ov’  9  throne  expreffed  great 
5  777*  fatisfaftion,  in  having 
recourfe  to  the  wifdom  and  fup- 
port  of  parliament  in  this  con¬ 
juncture,  when  the  continuance 
of  the  rebellion  in  America  de¬ 
manded  their  raoft  ferious  atten¬ 
tion.  The  powers  with  which  par¬ 
liament  had  entrufted  the  crown 
for  the  fuppreffion  of  the  revolt, 
were  declared  to  have  been  faith¬ 
fully  exerted  ;  and  &  juft  confidence 
was  expreffed,  that  the  courage 
and  conduCl  of  the  officers,  with 
the  fpirit  and  intrepidity  of  the 
forces,  would  be  attended  with 
important  fuccefs  ;  but  under  a 
perfuafion  that  both  houfes  would 
fee  the  neceffity  of  preparing  for 
fuch  further  operations,  as  the  con- 
iingencies  of  the  war,  and  the  ob- 
ftinacy  of  the  rebels,  might  render 
expedient,  his  Majefty  was,  for 
$hat  purpofe,  purfuing  the  proper 
ipeafures  for  keeping  the  land 


forces  complete  to  their  prefer*  t 
eftablilhment  ;  and  if  he  Ihould 
have  occafion  to  increafe  them,  by 
contraCling  any  new  engagements, 
a  reliance  was  placed  on  their  zeal 
and  public  fpirit  to  enable  him  to 
make  them  good. 

Although  repeated  affurances 
were  received  of  the  pacific  difpo- 
fition  of  foreign  powers,  yet  as  the 
armaments  in  the  ports  of  France 
and  Spain  were  continued,  it  was 
thought  advifeable  to  make  a  con- 
fiderable  augmentation  to  our  na¬ 
val  force  ;  it  being  equally  deter¬ 
mined  not  to  difturb  the  peace  of 
Europe  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  be 
a  faithful  guardian  of  the  honour 
of  the  crown  on  the  other. 

The  Commons  were  informed, 
that  the  various  fervices  which  had 
been  mentioned,  would  unavoida^ 
bly  require  large  fupplies  ;  and  a 
profeffion  was  made,  that  nothing 
could  relieve  the  royal  mind  from 
the  concern  which  it  felt  for  the 
heavy  charge  they  mull  bring  oq 
the  people,  but  a  conviClion  of 
their  being  neceffary  for  the  wel¬ 
fare  and  effential  interefts  of  thefe 
kingdoms. 

The  fpeech  concluded  with  a  re- 
folution  of  fteadily  purfuing  the 
meafures  in  which  they  were  en¬ 
gaged  for  the  re-eftablifhment  of 
that  conftitutional  fubordination, 
which  his  Majefty  was  determined 
to  maintain  through  the  feveral 
parts  of  his  dominions  ;  accom¬ 
panied  with  a  profeffion  of  being 
watchful  for  an  opportunity  of  put¬ 
ting  a  ftop  to  the  effufion  of  the 
blood  of  his  fubjefts ;  a  renewal  or 
continuance  of  the  former  hope, 
that  the  deluded  and  unhappy  mul¬ 
titude  would  return  to  their  alle¬ 
giance,  upon  a  recollection  of  the 
bleiilngs  of  their  former  govern- 

*  menta 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


ment,  and  a  companion  with  the 
miferies  of  their  prefent  fituation  ; 
and  a’declaration,  that  the  reftora- 
tion  of  peace,  order,  and  confidence 
to  his  American  colonies,  would 
be  confidered  by  his  Majedy  as  the 
greatell  happinefs  of  his  life,  and 
the  greatell  glory  of  his  reign. 

The  addrelies  wrere  fo  exactly  in 
the  prefent  ellablifhed  fly le  and 
form,  and  in  fuch  perfeft  unifon 
with  the  fpeech,  that  any  parti¬ 
cular  notice  of  them  would  be 
needlefs.  All  the  meafures  which 
it  held  out,  whether  in  adl  or  de- 
iign,  were  applauded  ;  its  pofitions 
confirmed  ;  and  an  unlimited  con¬ 
currence  agreed.  The  minillers 
received  their  ufual  portion  of 
praife  in  that  lhare  affigned  to  the 
prudence  and  wifdom  of  our  pub¬ 
lic  counfels  ;  and  the  firmnefs, 
dignity,  humanity,  and  paternal 
tendernefs  exprelfed  in  the  fpeech, 
were  highly  extolled. 

The  addrefs  in  the  Houfe  of 
Commons  was  moved  for  by  Lord 
Hyde,  and  fupported,  befides  a 
panegyric  on  the  matter  and  na 
ture  of  the  fpeech,  by  hating  the 
neeeffity  which  originally  induced 
the  war,  and  which  hill  operated 
with  equal,  if  not  greater  force, 
for  its  continuance,  until  the  great 
purpofe  for  which  it  was  under¬ 
taken  was  attained,  by  bringing 
the  Americans  to  a  proper  fenfe  of 
their  condition  and  duty,  and  re¬ 
placing  the  colonies  in  their  due 
hate  of  dependence  on  govern¬ 
ment,  and  fubordination  to  the 
fupreme  legifiature.  It  was  faid, 
that  notwithhanding  the  news-pa¬ 
per  abufe  thrown  upon  our  com¬ 
manders,  the  fulleil  confidence 
was  to  be  placed,  and  the  ilrongeh 
hopes  of  fuccefs  formed,  on  their 
zeal,  ability,  prudence  and  fpirit  ; 


U1 

that  the  fuperior  excellency  and 
intrepidity  of  our  troops,  was  ac¬ 
knowledged  by  all  the  world;  and 
that  with  fuch  commanders  and 
forces  by  fea  and  land,  unrivalled 
as  they  were  by  any  other  coun¬ 
try,  no  doubt  could  be  enter¬ 
tained,  that  the  conteh  would  be 
brought  to  a  happy,  and  not  very 
dillant  conclulion.  But  that  this 
happy  confummation  could  only 
be  attained  by  affording  the  mod 
perfeft  confidence,  and  the  fulled 
fupport  to  government ;  whilil  any  ' 
illiberality  of  thinking,  or  narrow- 
nefs  of  afring  in  either  refpe<!d, 
mull  neceffarily  have  the  word  ef¬ 
fect  on  the  operation  of  ail  the 
meafures  which  tended  to  a  final 
fettlement.  And  that  it  was  evi¬ 
dent,  as  well  from  his  MajedyT 
moil  gracious  declaration,  as  from 
the  humanity  and  general  prudence 
of  government,  that  an  immediate 
Hop  would  be  put  to  the  effufion 
of  blood,  as  loon  as  the  conduct  of 
the  milled  multitude  in  America, 
whether  from  the  fuccefs  of  our 
arms,  or  from  a  due  fenfe  of  their 
own  pail  and  prefent  condition, 
ihould  render  it  confident  with  the 
honour,  the  dignity,  and  the  in- 
tereil  of  the  nation,  to  adopt  mea¬ 
fures  of  lenity,  and  to  redore  that 
tranquillity  and  happinefs  to  all  the 
people,  which  are  the. natural  con- 
iequences  of  fubordination,  order, 
and  a  reverence  for  the  laws. 

A  young  member,  who  feconded 
the  motion  for  the  addrefs,  felt 
himfelf  fo  fully  fatisfied  in  the  wif¬ 
dom  and  re&itude  of  the  govern¬ 
ing  powers,  and  had  fuch  convic¬ 
tion  of  the  utility  of  their  mea¬ 
fures,  that  he  could  not  refrain 
from  being  lod  in  adoniihment, 
if  it  ihould  be  found  that  any  man, 
who  was  a  native  of  this  country, 

and 


42]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


2nd  bred  up  in  due  allegiance  to 
the  throne,  could,  under  any  im¬ 
pure  of  faCtion,  venture  to  hand 
up  in  that  houfe,  and  fo  far  to 
abet  the  American  rebels,  as  to 
exprefs  a  fentiment  contrary  to  the 
fpirit  of  the  meafures  which  were 
adopted  by  government,  and 
which  were  now  fo  gracioufly  com¬ 
municated  to  parliament.  He  si fb 
infilled,  that  the  nation  was  never 
fo  flourifhing  as  at  prefen t  ;  that 
trade  and  manufactures,  indead  of 
declining,  had  increafed  and  thri¬ 
ven  during  the  contell  with  Ame¬ 
rica  ;  and  that  fome  excels  in 
luxury,  the  ufual  concomitant  of 
increafing  riches,  and  effeCt  of 
opulence,  was  the  only  circum¬ 
stance  ofour  condition  which  could 
afford  room  for  regret  or  appre- 
henfion  to  the  mod  audere,  or  the 
mod  defponding.  He  concluded, 
that  thofe,  if  any,  who  held  a 
difference  of  opinion  upon  thofe 
fuhjeCts,  mud  be  under  the  imme¬ 
diate  influence  and  domination  of 
the  mod  perverfe  and  factious  fpi¬ 
rit. 

The  conclulions  involved  in  this 
declaration  or  opinion  had  no  ef¬ 
fect  in  deterring  the  marquis  of 
Granby,  from  immediately  avow¬ 
ing  thofe  very  principles  and  that 
conduCt  which  had  been  fo  loudly 
condemned.  This  young  noble¬ 
man,  who  from  his  fird  coming 
into  parliament,  had  uniformly 
oppofed  the  whole  fydem  of  Ame¬ 
rican  meafures,  introduced  his 
motion  for  an  amendment  to  the 
propofed  addrefs,  by  dating  and 
lamenting,  in  a  concife  manner, 
but  pathetic  terms,  the  ruinous  and 
melancholy  effeCts  which  the  pre¬ 
fen  t  unnatural  war  had  produced 
both  in  England  and  America ; 
reprefenting  and  enforcing  at  the 


fame  time  the  dill  more  fatal  con- 
fequences  which  mud  neceffarily 
enfue  from  its  continuance.  He 
declared,  with  great  humanity, 
that  he  felt  himfelf  nearly  equally 
intended  in  all  the  calamities 
which  it  had  or  would  fpread 
among  the  Englifh  on  either  fide 
of  the  Atlantic  ;  that  it  made  but 
little  difference,  in  point  of  effeCt, 
on  which  fide  the  expence  of  blood 
or  treafure  feemed  more  particu¬ 
larly  to  lie  ;  it  was  on  either,  a 
leiTening  of  the  common  dock,  an 
exhaudure  of  the  common  drength, 
and  a  further  diffclution  of  that 
union,  the  federation  of  which 
could  only  again  render  us  happy, 
as  well  as  great. 

Under  thefe  perfuafions  he  felt 
the  mod  ardent  delire  for  grafping 
at  the  prefent  moment  of  time, 
and  having  the  happinefs  even  to 
lay  the  groundwork  of  an  accom¬ 
modation.  He  obferved,  that  all 
the  force,  all  the  powers,  all  the 
foreign  and  domedic  refources  of 
this  country,  had  for  three  years 
been  ineffectually  exerted,  in  order 
to  obtain  peace  with  that  conti¬ 
nent  at  the  point  of  the  fword. 
That  allowing,  as  he  mod  willing¬ 
ly  did,  under  the  fulled  convic¬ 
tion,  and  with  the  greated  fatis- 
faftion,  ail  the  merit  that  was  at¬ 
tributed  to  our  commanders,  and 
all  the  intrepidity  to  our  troops,  it 
was  now  evident,  from  thofe  very 
circumdances,  that  there  muff 
have  been  either  fome  egregious 
mifconduCl  in  the  plan  and  ma¬ 
nagement  of  the  war,  or  that  it 
was  attended  with  fuch  inherent 
and  infurmountable  difficulties  as 
it  would  be  a  folly  to  contend  with 
any  longer.  In  either  cafe,  the 
effeCt  was  the  fame  ;  for  if  the 
failure  even  proceeded  from  the 

inabilitv 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


inability  of  thofe  who  were  in- 
trufted  with  theconduCt  of  our  pub¬ 
lic  affairs,  we  were  not  now  in  a 
condition  to  engage  in  a  new  ex¬ 
periment,  under  any  change  or  abi¬ 
lity  of  guidance. 

As  we  had  then  fo  full  an  expe¬ 
rience  of  the  impracticability  of 
coercion,  it  was  time  to  abandon 
fo  ruinous  a  projeCt,  and  apply  to 
gentler  methods  for  attaining  an 
objeCt,  which  was  fo  effential  to 
our  well  being,  that  our  deareft  in- 
terefts,  our  greatnefs,  and  perhaps 
even  our  exigence,  were  entwined 
in  its  fubftance.  He  would  there¬ 
fore  recommend  it  to  the  minifters 
to  forge  bonds  of  amity  for  the 
minds,  inftead  of  chains  for  the 
bodies  of  the  Americans,  and  flat¬ 
tering  himfelf  that  the  prefent  mo¬ 
ment  of  uncertainty,  with  refpeCt 
to  the  fuccefs  of  our  arms,  would 
be  a  right  and  moft  proper  feafon 
for  giving  an  unafked  and  unequi¬ 
vocal  mark  of  cordiality  and  kind- 
nefs,  he  would  move  an  amend¬ 
ment  to  the  addrefs;  the  fubftance 
of  the  amendment  being — “  To 
<(  requeft  of  his  Majeity  to  adopt 
<c  fome  meafures  for  accommodat- 
“  ing  the  differences  with  Ame- 
<(  rica  ;  and  recommending  a  cef- 
fation  of  all  hoftilities,  as  ne- 
f(  ceffary  for  the  effectuating  of  fo 
<s  defireable  a  purpofe  ;  with  an 
t(  affurance,  that  the  Commons 
<c  were  determined  to  co-operate 
te  with  him  in  every  meafure  that 
could  contribute  to  the  re-efta- 
<c  blilhment  of  peace,  and  the 
<e  drawing  fuch  lines  as  fhould 
“  afford  fufficient  fecurity  to  the 
*c  terms  of  pacification. ” 

The  motion  for  the  amendment 
was  feconded  by  Lord  John  Caven- 
difh,  and  fupported  in  general  by 


[43 

the  oppofition  upon  the  following 
grounds.  That  three  years  war,  at 
an  immenfe  expence,  with  55,000 
land  forces,  and  a  hundred  fhips  of 
war,  had  only  left  us  in  nearly  the 
fame  fituation  that  we  begun.  We 
had  loft  Bofton,  and  we  gained 
New  York.  The  lofs  of  one  army 
was  too  much  to  be  apprehended; 
its  efcape  indeed,  in  any  manner, 
and  with  any  lofs,  was  the  utmoft 
that  could  be  hoped.  If  the  other 
army  fhould  even  fucceed  againft: 
Philadelphia,  what  profpeCt  would 
that  afford  of  bettering  our  affairs  ? 
On  the  contrary,  was  there  not  eve¬ 
ry  reafon  to  apprehend,  that  fuch 
afeparation  of  our  forces  would  be 
attended  with  the  moft  alarming 
confequences,  and  even  endanger 
the  lofs  of  the  whole. 

Every  hope  of  obtaining  a  reve¬ 
nue  from  America  had  been  long 
over ;  the  country  gentlemen  were 
called  upon,  to  know  if  anyone  of 
them  would  ftill  avow  the  enter¬ 
taining  of  fo  frantic  an  idea.  Yet 
in  that  blind  purfuit,  theoffspring, 
they  faid,  of  folly,  ignorance,  ob- 
ftinacy,  and  injuftice,  we  had  al¬ 
ready  fquandered  above  fifteen  mil¬ 
lions  of  money,  which  was  finally 
funk,  and  every  fhilling  of  it  for 
ever  loft  to  the  nation.  If  peace 
were  at  this  moment  concluded, 
they  faid,  without  contradiction, 
that  by  the  time  we  had  brought 
home  and  difbanded  our  forces,  got 
rid  of  our  German  connections, 
with  all  the  other  incumbrances, 
incident  to,  or  confequent  of  the 
war,  we  fhould  have  increafed  the 
national  debt  above  thirty  millions 
more  than  it  had  been  at  the  com¬ 
mencement  of  the  troubles  ;  which 
would  then  far  exceed  all  calcula¬ 
tions  that  had  ever  been  made  re¬ 
lative 


44]  ANNUAL  RE 

lative  to  the  ability  of  the  nation, 
and  the  degree  of  burthen  which  it 
was  capable  of  fupporting. 

They  obferved,  that  the  fpeech 
did  not  in  any  degree  look  towards 
peace.  Untaught  by  experience 
and  lofs,  it  {hewed  an  obftinate 
determination  to  perfevere  to  the 
laft  in  the  fame  fatal  meafures, 
which  had  already  funk  us  to  our 
prefent  Hate  of  humiliation,  mis¬ 
fortune,  and  difgrace  ;  that,  in  a 
word,  it  led  to  an  eternity  of  war  ; 
or  to  fuch  a  continuance  of  it  as 
was  only  to  receive  a  period,  from 
our  not  having  a  (hilling  left  to 
fupport  it  longer.  That  frefh 
hopes  of  fuccefs  were  continually 
held  out  from  the  throne,  and  the 
coming  year  has  conilantly  been 
announced,  as  that  which  fhould 
conclude  our  misfortunes,  and  fix 
a  period  to  our  infanity.  The  fea- 
fons  are  not  m  ore  con  flan  t  in  their 
fucceffion,  than  the  renewal  of  ex¬ 
pectation,  and  the  failure  of  fuc¬ 
cefs  in  every  year.  Will  then,  faid 
they,  no  unremitted  fucceffion  of 
failures  in  hopes  and  promifes,  no 
repetition  of  difappointment,  nor 
feries  of  calamity,  prove  fufficient 
to  reflore  us  to  our  reafon,  or  to 
awaken  us  to  a  fenfe  of  our  condi¬ 
tion  ? 

The  boafled  fentiments  of  hu¬ 
manity  which  had  been  fo  highly 
extolled,  were  faid  to  be  very  be¬ 
coming,  fo  far  as  they  went,  from 
a  prince  to  his  people  ;  but  unfor¬ 
tunately,  they  were  openly  and 
palpably  contradicted,  as  well  by 
every  part  of  the  conduCt  of  the 
miniflers  in  other  matters,  as  by 
the  requihtions  made  in  the  fpeech* 
itfelf.  They  were  to  judge  of  their 
intentions  by  other  tells,  than  by 
the  particular  profefBons  which 
they  held  out  at  certain  feafons  for 


G1STER,  177S. 

the  attainment  of  certain  purpofes ; 
thefe  fentiments  were  faid  to  come 
under  that  defcription,  and  that, 
in  fad,  they  were  intended  merely 
to  renew  the  deception  which  had 
been  fo  fuccefsfully  pra&ifed  two 
years  before,  when  both  the  nation 
and  parliament  were  amufed  with 
the  hopes  then  held  out,  of  pro- 
pofing  a  rational  fcheme  for  an  ac¬ 
commodation  with  the  colonies  ; 
infiead  of  which,  they  found  them- 
felves  laughed  at  feveral  months 
after,  when  the  miniflers  had  ob¬ 
tained  all  they  wanted  under  that 
colour,  by  the  mockery  of  fending 
ccmmiffioners  out  to  offer  pardons 
to  the  Americans. 

It  was  faid,  that  the  language 
held  out,  of  the  profperity  of  the 
nation,  was,  exclufive  of  its  being 
totally  unfounded,  little  lefs  than  a 
mockery  of  its  di  ft  refs..  The  rife 
ofintereft,  the  fall  of  flocks,  and 
of  real  eflates  in  their  value  at 
market,  were  political  barometers 
of  fuch  a  nature  as  left  no  room  to 
doubt  of  their  accuracy.  If  other 
proofs  were  wanting,  our  Gazettes, 
however  defective  in  other  refpeCls, 
prefented  long  memorials,  the  au¬ 
thenticity  of  which  would  not  be 
doubted,  of  private  calamity  arifing 
from  public  misfortune  and  diflrefs. 
Nor  were  the  caufes  incompetent  to 
the  effects.  The  lofs  of  our  vail 
American  import  and  export  com¬ 
merce,  was  in  itfelf  fuch  a  detrac¬ 
tion  of  national  opulence  and 
flrength,  as  mull  have  feverely  and 
vifibly  affected  the  ceconomy  of 
the  greateil  and  vvealthiefl  date  that 
ever  exilted.  But  when  to  this  is 
added  the  confequent  ruin  brought 
upon  our  Weit-India  iflands  and 
trade  ;  the  near  annihilation  of  our 
African,  Mediterranean,  and  Le¬ 
vant  commerce,  with  the  ruin  in  a 

great 


| 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


great  degree  of  our  fifheries,  the 
abfurdity  of  fuppofmg  that  we  are 
thriving  under  fuch  circumftances, 
is  fo  obvious  as  not  to  merit  an 
anfwer.  We  are  now  in  the  ftate 
of  fubftantial  traders  fu fieri ng  great 
Ioffes  in  a  bad  feafon,  who  are 
ftill  enabled  to  fupport  for  a  time 
their  former  port  and  appearance, 
from  the  property  and  credit  which 
they  had  eftablifhed  in  better 
times. 

It  was  afked,  whether  the  de- 
ftruftion  of  our  home  trade,  by  the 
fwarms  of  American  privateers 
which  had  during  the  Summer  in- 
ffefted  and  infulted  our  coafts,  the 
terror  Into  which  the  metropolis  of 
Ireland  had  been  thrown,  and  the 
fortifying  for  the  fir  ft  time  in  all 
our  wars  of  its  harbour  ;  with  the 
confignment  to  foreigners  of  the 
freight  of  our  native  commodities, 
from  the  incompetency  of  the  Bri- 
tifh  flag  to  the  protection  of  its  own 
commerce;  whether  thefe  circum¬ 
ftances  were  to  be  adduced  merely 
as  evidences  of  national  ftrength 
and  profperity,  or  whether  the 
credit  of  tnem  was  to  be  applied 
to  the  general  wiftiom  of  our 
counfels,  and  to  the  particular  abi¬ 
lity  with  which  the  war  was  con¬ 
duced?  If  fuch  are  already  the 
confequences  of  an  American  con- 
teft  with  our  revolted  colonies  only, 
what  are  we  to  expeft  when  an 
European  war  is  brought  home  to 
cur  doors  by  the  junction  of  the 
whole  Houfe  of  Bourbon  with 
thofe  colonies,  whom  we  now 
feem  incapable  of  contending  with 
to  effect  fingly?  This  fatal  event, 
faid  they,  has  been  long  forefeen 
and  repeatedly  foretold  by  the  op- 
pofition,  as  the  certain  refult  of 
the  folly,  injuftice,  and  violence  of 
counfels,  and  the  infatuated 


[45 

blindnefs  and  obftinacy  of  govern^ 
ment.  Thefe  predictions  had  been 
the  conftant  jeft  of  the  Minifters, 
whole  ill  timed  and  ill  fated  ridi¬ 
cule,  was  confirmed  by  thofe  hand¬ 
ing  majorities,  who  have  uniformly 
fupportcd  them  in  theirmoftruinous 
meafures  ;  but  if  there  were  any 
deficiency  of  other  confirmations, 
the  verity  of  thefe  predictions  is 
now  eftablifhed  by  the  fpeech  be¬ 
fore  us;  nor  will  the  unvvillingnefs 
with  which  the  acknowledgement 
is  made,  nor  the  necefFity  by  which 
it  is  extorted,  leften  the  validity  of 
that  teftimony. 

The  Houfe  was  repeatedly  called 
upon,  and  exhorted  in  the  moft 
urgent  terms,  to  reflect  ferioufty 
upon  the  prefen t  critical  ftate  of 
public  affairs  ;  that  they  were  in¬ 
volved  at  this  moment  in  fuch  a 
fituation  of  difficulty  and  danger, 
as  they  had  never  before  experien¬ 
ced  ;  that  it  therefore  behoved 
them  to  aft  with  the  greateft  cir- 
cumfpeftion,  and  by  the  prudence 
and  wifdom  of  their  prefent  con¬ 
duct  to  atone  for  paft  errors,  and 
to  afford  a  remedy  to  their  confe- 
quent  evils,  fo  far  as  they  were 
yet  capable  of  being  cured.  And 
they  were  warned,  not  by  a  blind 
and  precipitate  vote,  without  a  Tin¬ 
gle  ray  of  information  on  public 
affairs  for  their  guidance,  to  pafs 
an  add  refs,  which,  befides  an  ap¬ 
probation  of  all  their  paft  conduct, 
would  afford  a  fanftion  to  the  Mi¬ 
nifters  for  a  perfeverance  in  the 
fame  deftruftive  meafures  which 
had  involved  us  in  the  prefent  moft 
unhappy  fituation. 

Upon  the  whole  it  was  faid,  that 
they  were  now,  in  the  language 
which  had  been  fo  often  ufed  on 
the  other  fide,  to  pafs,  or  not  to 
pafs  the  Rubicon;  they  were  to 

caft 


46]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


ca$  the  die,  in  their  prefent  re- 
folution,  which  was  to  determine 
War  or  peace,  fafety  or  deflruc- 
tion.  They  were  not  only  to 
vote  war  or  peace  with  America, 
but  war  or  peace  with  the  Houfe 
of  Bourbon.  The  addrefs,  and  the 
amendment,  afforded  either  alter¬ 
native.  A  gentleman  whofe  pow¬ 
ers  of  eloquence,  have  been  uni- 
Verfally  celebrated,  fupplicated  the 
Houfe  in  the  mofi  pathetic  terms, 
to  feize  the  prefent  happy  moment 
for  attempting  an  accommodation, 
when  neither  elated  with  infolent 
vi&ory,  nor  debafed  with  abje£t 
defeat,  we  could  with  honour  to 
ourfelves  make  fuch  propofals  to 
our  colon  ills,  as  they  could  without 
difhonour  accept. 

On  the  other  fide  the  Minifter 
faid,  that  he  fuppofed  there  was 
not  a  fecond  opinion  in  the  nation 
with  refpeft  to  peace,  nor  a  wifh 
that  did  not  tend  to  its  accom- 
plifhment  j  that  no  man  in  or  out 
of  the  Houfe  wifhed  more  fervently 
for  that  happy  event  than  he  did 
himfelf;  that  the  only  difference  of 
opinion  which  could  arife,  was  on 
the  means  of  attaining  that  wifhed- 
for  objedl  ;  but  that  the  proper 
moment  for  chalking  out  the  lines 
of  an  accommodation  was  not  yet 
arrived  :  that  happy  moment  could 
only  be  found  in  the  feafon  of  vic¬ 
tory  ;  the  attempt  would  be  as 
futile,  as  it  would  be  productive 
of  ridicule,  difgrace  and  contempt, 
at  any  other.  He  feemed  tacitly 
to  give  up  the  idea  of  taxation, 
by  not  confidering  it  as  a  bar  in 
the  wav  of  accommodation  ;  and 
objected  to  a  ceffation  of  arms,  as 
it  would  feem  a  diredt  admiffion 
of  the  American  claim  of  inde¬ 
pendency  ;  but  he  faid  that  the 


Commiffioners  were  enabled  to 
grant  a  ceffation  whenever  they 
deemed  it  expedient,  and  that  fuch 
overtures  were  made  or  accepted  on 
the  other  fide,  as  afforded  any  fair 
ground  for  opening  a  negocia- 
tion. 

To  remove  the  vifible  impreffion. 
which  had  been  made  by  the  lan¬ 
guage  and  opinion  of  a  foreign  war 
held  out  by  the  oppofition,  he  faid, 
that  from  the  information  he  had 
been  able  to  colled,  there  was  no 
reafon  to  apprehend  fuch  an  event. 
France  and  Spain  held  out  the  lan¬ 
guage  of  friendfhip,  and  he  be¬ 
lieved  they  were  fmcere.  As  it 
was  not  their  interefl  now  to  quar¬ 
rel  with  us,  he  could  not  believe 
that  it  was  their  intention.  The 
prefent  contefl  exhibited  a  new 
and  very  doubtful  cafe.  For  if 
America  fhould  grow  into  a  fe pa- 
rate  empire,  it  muft  of  courfe  caufe 
fuch  a  revolution  in  the  political 
-fy hem  of  the  world,  that  a  bare 
apprehenfion  of  the  unknown  con- 
fequences  which  might  proceed 
from  fo  untried  a  hate  of  public 
affairs,  would  be  fufficient  to  flag¬ 
ger  the  resolution  of  our  moil  de¬ 
termined  or  enterprizing  enemies. 
It  was,  however,  acknowledged, 
that  ilrong  remonftrances  on  our 
fide  had  been  neceffary  to  obtain 
explanation  or  rearefs,  at  times 
that  the  language  or  conduft  of 
France  had  appeared  unintelligible 
or  equivocal ;  and  that,  as  only  a 
limited  confidence  could  with  pru¬ 
dence  be  placed  on  any  promifes 
whatever  in  the  political  intercourfe 
of  nations,  and  that  the  two  pow¬ 
ers  in  queflion  had  thought  proper 
to  keep  up  great  armaments  in 
their  refpedlive  ports,  he  had  deem¬ 
ed  it  prudent  to  put  this  country  in 

an 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [47 


an  equal  ftateof  defence,  and  there¬ 
by  to  guard  againll  the  poillbility 
of  a  furprize. 

It  was  further  advanced  on  the 
fame  fide,  that,  independent  of 
arms,  there  was  every  reafon  for 
hoping  that  the  troubles  in  Ame¬ 
rica  would  be  brought  to  a  happy 
conclufion  ;  that  the  great  bounties 
which  the  Congrefs  offered  to  fol- 
diers,  was  an  irrefragable  proof 
of  the  difficulty  which  they  expe¬ 
rienced  in  endeavouring  to  recruit 
their  forces ;  that  the  hardfhips 
which  the  people  actually  buffered 
at  prefent  under  the  defpotifm  of 
their  tyrants,  compared  with  that 
mild  and  happy  government  which 
they  had  withdrawn  themfeives 
from,  and  under  which  they  had 
rifen  to  fuch  a  degree  of  power 
and  greatnefs,  had  already  nearly 
brought  them  to  a  fenfe  of  their 
error,  and  would  boon  make  them 
fck  of  rebellion.  That  the  pro- 
pofed  amendment,  ifcarried,  would 
only  tend  to  revive  and  keep  up 
that  wild  fpirit  of  independence, 
by  which  the  people  had  fo  long 
been  hurried  away  from  the  right 
ufe  or  application  of  their  reafon  ; 
and  that  they  could  not  therefore 
but  confider  themfeives  as  enemies 
to  their  country,  were  they  not  to 
(lamp  a  direct  negative  upon  the 
amendment. 

Some  others  went  fo  far  as  to 
infill, that  the  con  tell  now,  was  not 
whether  America  fhould  be  de¬ 
pendent  on  the  Britifh  legiflature ; 
but  whether  Great  Britain  or  Ame¬ 
rica  fhould  be  independent  ?  Both, 
they  faid  could  not  exift  in  that 
ftate  together.  For  fuch  were  the 
fources  of  wealth  and  power  in 
that  vaft  continent,  from  its  ex¬ 
tent,  its  products,  its  fe as,  its  ri¬ 
vers,  its  unparalleled  growth  in 


population,  and  above  all,  its  in- 
exhauftible  fund  of  naval  treafures, 
that  this  fmall  ifland,  which  had 
hitherto  fupported  its  greatnefs  by 
commerce  and  naval  fuperiority, 
would  be  fo  cramped  in  its  own 
peculiar  refources,  and  overlayed 
upon  its  proper  and  natural  ele¬ 
ment,  that  it  muft  in  a  few  years 
fink  to  nothing,  and  perhaps  be 
reduced  to  that  molt  degrading  and 
calamitous  of  all  poffible  fituations, 
the  becoming  a  vaffal  to  her  own 
rebellious  colonies.  If  they  were 
once  permitted  to  eftablifh  their 
independence,  and  of  cou'rfe  their 
power. 

Thefe  gentlemen  laughed  at  the 
idea  of  a  ceffation  of  arms,  which 
they  reprefented  as  the  moft  abfurd 
that  could  poffibly  be  conceived* 
How  faid  they,  is  it  to  be  obtain¬ 
ed?  Is  a  herald  to  be  lent  to  the 
rebel  camp  with  the  propofition  ? 
If  they  refufe  to  comply  with  it, 
how  are  we  to  ad  ?  Muff  our 
troops  lie  upon  their  arms,  and 
buffer  themfeives  to  be  beaten  and 
iheir  throats  cut,  only  to  give  the 
world  a  fpecimen  of  their  forbear¬ 
ance,  and  fhew  that  their  paffive 
is  equal  to  their  aftive  valour  ? 
The  Congrefs  have  already  refufed 
to  negociate  or  treat  with  our 
Commiffioners  upon  any  terms, 
without  a  previous  and  abfolute 
acknowledgment  of  their  inde¬ 
pendency.  This  indeed  would  cut 
off  at  one  flroke  all  the  matters  in 
conteft  ;  but  then  it  would  leave 
nothing  behind  to  treat  about. 

As  the  oppofition  entered  into  a 
rigorous  ferutiny  of  the  conduct  of 
adrniniftration  with  refpeft  to  Ame¬ 
rican  meafures  in  general,  as  well 
as  to  what  related  more  particular¬ 
ly  to  the  profecution  of  the  war, 
the  debate  was  of  courfe  traced 
i  from 


4B]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177S. 


from  Its  original  ground  ;  fo  that 
the  immediate  fubjedt  of  the 
fpeechj  the  addrefs  or  the  amend¬ 
ment,  feemed  to  be  in  fome  degree 
forgotten  or  abandoned,  during 
the  eagernefs  of  charge,  and  the 
feverity  of  cenfure  on  the  one  fide, 
or  the  folicitude  of  perfonal  de¬ 
fence,  and  the  vexation  of  recur¬ 
ring  to  a  j unification  of  pad  mea- 
fares  on  the  other. 

In  this  courfe  of  dridture  and 
cenfure,  in  which  a  more  than 
common  degree  of  acutenefs  and 
afperity  were  difjdayed,  a  gentle¬ 
man  highly  celebrated  for  his  abi¬ 
lity,  and  not  lefs  diftinguifhed  by 
his  conitant  oppofition  to  the  Mi- 
niliers,  than  by  the  feverity  with 
which  hefcrutinizes  their  meafu res, 
laid  a  double  portion  of  that  gene¬ 
ral  blame  and  reproach  which,  he 
faid,  was  due  for  our  prefent  ca¬ 
lamitous  iituation,  to  the  fhare  of 
the  noble  lord  who  prefides  at  the 
head  of  the  American  depart¬ 
ment.  To  his  adminidration  he 
principally  attributed,  belides  the 
moll  ruinous  meafures,  and  did 
gracefnl  confequences  of  the  war, 
the  final  lofs  of  our  colonies.  To 
him  he  alfo  attributed  the  inhuman 
meafure  of  employing  the  favages, 
not,  he  faid,  tofubdue,  but  to  ex¬ 
terminate  a  people  whom  we  dill 
pretended  to  call  our  fubjefils  ;  a 
meafure,  which  he  defcribed,  as  a 
warfare  againd  humannature,  with 
out  its  being  capable  of  producing 
any  real  military  advantage  ;  and 
calculated  merely  for  the  dedruc- 
tion  of  the  weak  or  the  peaceable, 
for  the  murder  of  old  men,  women 
and  children. 

It  required  no  lefs  than  the  ac¬ 
knowledged  ability  of  the  noble 
Minifter,  to  withdand  the  torrent 
of  wit  and  eloquence,  in  which 


thefe  charges  and  cenfures  were  In¬ 
volved,  and  in  fome  degree  to 
deaden  the  effefl  of  that  brilliance 
of  colouring  with  which  the  pic¬ 
ture  was  charged.  He  entered  into 
a  defence  of  feveral  parts  of  his 
condudl  in  the  American  war,  in  a 
fpeech  much  longer  than  was  ufual 
from  him  ;  and  as  to  the  particular 
charge  of  employing  the  Indians, 
he  aderted  that  it  was  a  matter  of 
neceffity  on  the  part  of  govern¬ 
ment  ;  for  that  the  Americans  had 
before  tampered  with  them,  and 
had  drained  every  nerve  to  induce 
them  to  take  an  active  part  againd 
the  royal  caufe ;  (o  that  in  this 
meafure  which  had  been  defcribed 
in  fuch  colours  of  horror,  and  re¬ 
probated  with  fuch  warmth  of  in¬ 
dignation,  we  only  fuccefsfully  co- 
pied  the  example  which  had  beer! 
fet,  though  it  failed  in  the  execu¬ 
tion,  by  the  immaculate  and  in¬ 
fallible  Congrefs. 

O 

The  whole  weight  of  debate  on 
that  fide,  fell  upon  the  Miniders 
therofelves,  or  upon  a  very  few 
official  men.  The  country  gentle¬ 
men  were  u n  ufual ly  blank.  T hey 
faw  not  only  an  end  to  all  their 
hopes  of  obtaining  a  revenue  from 
America,  but  they  found  them¬ 
felves  faddled  with  the  burthen  of 
a  war,  which  in  point  of  expence, 
proportional  to  the  fervice  or  force 
employed,  was  infinitely  more 
ruinous  than  any  other  in  which 
the  nation  had  ever  been  involved, 
without  even  a  remote  profipedt  of 
its  being  brought  by  any  means  to 
a  conclufion.  For  the  hope  of  at¬ 
taining  that  end  by  arms  was  novy 
pretty  well  done  away,  whild  the 
unalterable  determination  of  go¬ 
vernment  to  continue  the  war  was 
evident;  fo  that  the  only  refort 
left  for  its  accomplifhment,  mud 

have 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


have  been  by  a  direct  and  total  re¬ 
nunciation  of  all  their  former  pro¬ 
fessions  and  principles. 

This  was  a  degree  of  practical 
philofophy.  which  could  fcarcely  be 
expected.  That  party,  however, 
thinking  it  right  to  perfevere,  at 
lead  until  the  fate  of  the  campaign 
fhould  become  more  explicit,  l'a- 
crificed  to  its  opinion  ofconfiftency, 
by  giving  their  iilent  votes,  but 
nothing  more  than  their  filent 
votes  to  the  Minifter.  The  motion 
for  the  amendment  was  according¬ 
ly  rejected  by  a  majority,  which 
was,  at  leaft,  nothing  inferior  to 
what  had  been  ufual  upon  fuch  oc- 
cahons,  the  numbers  being  243, 
to  86  who  fupported  the  amend¬ 
ment  to  the  addrefs.  The  debate 
was  renewed  in  the  Houfe  on  the 
enfuing  day  upon  bringing  up  the 
report  from  the  committee,  and  a 
motion  made  for  recommitting  the 
addrefs.  The  report  was  however 
received,  and  the  addrefs  coniirm- 
ed,  on  a  divifion  at  1 1  o’clock, 
by  a  dill  greater  majority  than 
before. 

The  addrefs  in  the  Houfe  of 
Lords  was  moved  for  by  Earl 
Percy,  who  had  lately  fucceeded 
to  that  Barony  by  the  death  of  his 
mother  the  Duchefs  of  Northum¬ 
berland,  and  the  motion  was  fe- 
conded  by  the  young  Earl  of  Chef- 
terfield.  An  amendment  was  mov¬ 
ed  by  the  Earl  of  Chatham,  which 
accorded  in  matter  and  defign  with 
that  propofed  in  the  other  Houfe, 
a  ceffation  of  hodilities  being  re¬ 
commended  as  preparatory  to  the 
opening  of  a  treaty  for  the  redo- 
ration  of  peace  in  America,  and 
the  final  fettlement  of  the  tranquil¬ 
lity  of  thofe  invaluable  provinces, 
by  a  removal  of  the  unhappy  caufes 
of  this  ruinous  civil  war,  and  by 
Vql.  XXL 


[49 

a  juft  and  adequate  fecurity  againd 
a  return  of  the  like  calamities  in 
times  to  come.  With  an  affurance, 
that  the  Lords  would  chearfully 
co-operate,  in  fuch  explicit  and 
mod  folemn  declarations  and  pro- 
vifions  of  fundamental  and  irre¬ 
vocable  laws,  as  might  be  judg¬ 
ed  neceffary  for  afcertaining  and 
fixing  for  ever  the  refpe&ive 
rights  of  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies. 

The  noble  Earl  introduced  and 
fupported  his  amendment  with  a 
fpeechofconiiderablelength,  which, 
notwith  dandingthepreffure  ofyears 
and  infirmities,  afforded  no  equi¬ 
vocal  tedimony  of  that  command¬ 
ing  eloquence,  which  had  once 
been  fo  renowned  ;  and  of  thofe 
great  abilities,  which  fhone  with 
fuch  luftre  in  the  days  of  the  pros¬ 
perity  and  glory  of  his  country. 
He,  however,  experienced,  upon 
this,  as  upon  feveral  fucceeding  oc- 
cafions,  a  change  of  condition, 
which  to  a  man  of  his  high  and 
unconquered  fpirit,  who  dill  Taw 
frefh  in  recollection  the  time,  when 
the  fortune  of  Europe  feemed  to 
hang  upon  his  voice,  and  that  he 
appeared  the  great  arbiter  of  peace 
or  war  to  mankind,  could  not  fail 
of  being  exceedingly  mortifying 
and  grievous.  His  friends  ob- 
ferved  that  it  was  a  melancholy 
proof,  that  no  powers  of  eloquence 
or  ability  can  attain  their  objeCt, 
nor  extent  of  merit  or  fervices  pre- 
ferve  a  due  weight  ©r  regard,  any 
longer  than  they  are  conne&ed 
with  and  fupported  by  power  ;  and 
they  remarked,  that  it  feemed  to 
become  fafhionable,  if  not  a  rule 
of  conduft,  with  the  Court  Lords, 
not  only  to  treat  his  fpeeches  and 
proportions  with  an  afreCted  indif¬ 
ference,  which  feemed  to  border 

[/)]  too 


so]  ANNUAL  REG 

too  nearly  upon  contempt,  but  to 
thwart,  and  endeavour  to  overbear 
him  on  fmaller  matters,  in  a  man¬ 
ner,  which  in  other  places,  would 
have  probably  been  confidered, 
at  lealt,  as  captious  and  petu¬ 
lant. 

The  noble  Earl  found  great 
fault,  both  as  to  matter  and  man¬ 
ner,  with  the  fpeech  from  the 
throne.  He  faid,  it  had  been  cuf- 
tomary  on  fimilar  occafions,  not 
to  lead  parliament,  but  to  be  guid¬ 
ed  by  it ;  it  had  been  ufual  to  a  Ik 
the  advice  of  that  Houfe,  the  he¬ 
reditary  Great  Council  of  the  na¬ 
tion,  not  to  didate  to  it.  But  the 
prefent  fpeech,  faid  he,  tells  of 
meafures  already  agreed  upon,  and 
very  cavalierly  defires  your  con¬ 
currence.  It  indeed  talks  of  wif- 
dom  and  fupport ;  and  it  counts  on 
the  certainty  of  events  yet  in  the 
womb  of  time  ^  but  in  point  of 
plan  and  delign  it  is  peremptory 
and  dictatorial.  This  he  infilled, 
was  treating  them  in  the  mod  con¬ 
temptuous  manner  ;  it  was  a  lan¬ 
guage  not  fit  to  be  endured,  and 
for  which  the  Minifters  who  ad- 
vifed  it  deferved  the  fevered  re¬ 
prehen  fion.  It  was  befides  the  lan- 
guageof  an  ill-founded  confidence, 
fupported  only  by  a  fucceffion  of 
difappointments,  difgraces,  and 
defeats.  It  required  them  to  place 
an  unlimited  confidence  in  thofe, 
who  had  hitherto  mifguided,  de¬ 
ceived,  and  milled  them  ;  and  to 
grant,  not  what  they  might  be  fa- 
tisfied  was  necefifary,  but  what  the 
Minifters  might  think  fo  ;  troops, 
fleets,  treaties,  and  fubfidies,  not 
yet  revealed.  If  they  fhould  agree 
to  the  propofed  addrels,  they  would 
Hand  pledged  for  all  thefe,  what¬ 
ever  their  extent  ;  they  could  not 
retreat ;  whatever  they  might  be. 


IS  TER,  1778. 

they  muft  Hand  bound  to  the  c on* 
fequences. 

In  dating  his  arguments  for  the 
amendment,  he  afierted  feme  faCts, 
and  predicted  the  fame  con  fe¬ 
quences,  which  were  forefeen  in 
the  Houfe  of  Commons.  He  de¬ 
clared,  that  the  Houfe  of  Bourbon 
would  break  with  us  ;  that  he 
knew  their  intentions  to  be  hoftile  5 
and  that  the  prefent,  was  the  only 
time,  in  which  parliament  or  the 
nation  would  have  it  in  their  pow¬ 
er  to  treat  with  America.  That 
France  and  Spain  had  done  a  great 
deal  ;  but  they  had  declined  to  do 
all  that  America  defired.  That 
America  was  at  that  time  in  an 
ill  humour ;  and  might  then  be 
detached  from  her  connections 
with  thofe  powers,  if  reafonable 
terms  of  accommodation  were  held 
out  to  her  ;  but  if  not,  the  op¬ 
portunity  would  be  loft ;  an  oppor¬ 
tunity,  which  he  foretold ,  we  fhould 
never  again  have.  And  deferibing 
the  war  with  its  confequences  in 
that  ftrong  and  comprehenfive  lan¬ 
guage,  by  which  he  was  fo  parti¬ 
cularly  diftinguifhed,  after  declar¬ 
ing  that  the  plans  of  the  Minifters 
were  founded  in  deftruCtion  and 
difgrace,  he  laid  further,  “  It  is, 
my  Lords,  a  ruinous  and  deftruc- 
tive  war ;  it  is  full  of  danger  ;  it 
teems  with  difgrace,  and  muft  end 
in  ruin.53 

The  motion  for  the  amendment 
was  fupported  by  nearly  all  the 
eloquence  and  ability  on  that  fide 
of  the  Houfe  ;  moft  of  the  diftin¬ 
guifhed  fpeakers  having  taken  fo 
fall  and  aCtjvq  a  fhare  in  the  de¬ 
bate,  as  to  render  it  exceedingly 
interefting.  As  the  immediate 
danger  of  a  foreign  war,  and  our 
inability  to  fupport  it  whilft  we 
continued  involved  in  our  unhappy 

domeftk 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


domestic  conteft,  was  one  of  the 
Strongeft  new  grounds  of  argument 
taken  by  the  opposition,  in  fupport 
of  all  other  and  former  motives  for 
an  accommodation,  the  noble  lord 
at  the  head  of  the  Admiralty,  to 
obviate  any  effeft  founded  upon 
that  apprehension,  drew  a  moll 
flattering  representation  of  ourthen 
Hate  of  naval  force  and  prepara¬ 
tion.  That  Minister  is  faid  to 
have  declared,  that  we  had  at  that 
inftant  a  naval  force  in  readinefs 
for  immediate  Service,  Superior  to 
any  thing  which  the  whole  HouSe 
of  Bourbon  could  then  oppofe  to 
it ;  that  we  were  So  forward  in 
point  of  preparation,  as  to  infure 
to  a  certainty  a  continuance  of 
that  fuperiority  ;  that  he  Should 
be  wanting  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duty  if  it  were  otherwife  ;  and 
that  happy  in  giving  the  prefent 
information,  he  wifhed  it  to  be  ge¬ 
nerally  known,  that  we  had  no¬ 
thing  to  dread  from  France  and 
Spain,  but  Should  be  at  full  liberty 
to  profecute  this  war,  to  a  fair, 
honourable,  and  happy  iSTue. 

The  noble  Lord  who  moved  the 
amendment,  had  alfo  dwelt  long, 
and  with  much  Severity  of  animad- 
verSion,  not  only  on  the  war  and 
on  its  conSequences,  but  on  the 
mode  of  carrying  it  on,  by  which 
he  faid  all  remains  of  brotherly 
love  towards  us,  mutt  be  eradicat¬ 
ed  from  the  bofoms  of  our  country, 
men  in  America.  That  the  to- 
mohawk  and  the  Scalping  knife, 
were  difgraceful  weapons  for  en¬ 
forcing  Britilh  authority.  That 
the  calling  on  the  favages,  whofe 
way  of  making  war  is  to  murder 
women  and  children,  and  to  burn 
their  prifoners  of  war  alive  by  Slow 
hres,  and  then  to  eat  their  fleSh, 
was  a  Scandalous  proceeding  in  a 


[5* 

civilized  and  Christian  nation.  A 
noble  Duke  long  celebrated  in  op- 
polition,  after  calling  on  the  right 
reverend  Bench  to  qSlilt  in  the 
Christian  purpofe  of  Slopping  the 
effufion  of  Christian  Proteftant 
blood,  reminded  them  that  their 
temporal  concerns  were  only  a  Se¬ 
condary  objeft  of  their  Sitting 
there  ;  that  their  nrft  duty  was, 
by  example,  mildnefs,  and  per- 
Suafion,  to  Soften  the  public  deli¬ 
berations  ;  and  particularly  in  cafes 
which  So  materially  affeft  the  ob¬ 
ject  of  all  religion,  as  the  mora¬ 
lity  of  adlions,  and  were  of  fuch 
extent  as  that  now  under  delibera¬ 
tion.  That  it  became  a  mere  jell, 
to  retire  from  that  Houfe  when  a 
poor  criminal  was  at  their  bar,  be- 
caufe  they  could  not  bring  them- 
felves  to  vote  in  a  cafe  of  blood, 
and  yet  to  advife  the  moil  fangui- 
nary  meafures,  in  which  the  lives 
of  thoufands  were  involved. 

To  all  this  the  MiniSlry  an- 
Swered,  that  a  Slate  of  war  was  as 
little  defired  by  them  as  by  the 
Lords  in  oppofition  ;  but  that 
when  they  were  at  war,  they  muft 
ufe  the  instruments  of  war.  Much 
declamation  they  faid  had  been 
poured  out ;  and  much  artifice 
ufed  to  foften  us  into  a  falfe  ten- 
dernefs,  by  dwelling  on  the  ufe  of 
the  Scalping  knife  and  tomohawk  ; 
but  that  the  mufquet  and  the  bay¬ 
onet  were  far  more  terrible  wea¬ 
pons.  If  the  lavages  destroyed 
more  than  they  were  wilhed  to  de¬ 
stroy,  and  that  women  and  chil¬ 
dren  fell  (contrary  to  the  wiShes 
and  endeavours  of  thofe  who  em¬ 
ployed  the  favages)  in  the  com¬ 
mon  havock,  they  alone  were  to. 
be  blamed,  who  by  their  unpro¬ 
voked  rebellion  firSt  brought  on  the 
neceSTity  of  arms,  and  then  by  tarn- 

[D]  z  pering 


52]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


pering  with  the  favages,  had 
thought  fit  to  fet  the  example  from 
which  they  fuffered.  That  it  was 
not,  however,  of  importance,  who 
flrd  fet  the  example  of  the  em¬ 
ployment  of  that  people.  They 
were  found  in  the  country,  and 
whoever  made  war  there,  mud  have 
them  for  friends  or  enemies.  That 
they  had  been  ufed  in  the  late  war 
between  the  French  and  Englifh 
indifcriminately,  as  each  couldob- 
tain  their  abidance,  both  having 
equally  endeavoured  at  it.  That 
the  very  terror  of  their  mode  of 
making  war,  renders  them  the  mod 
eligible  indrument  for  fpeedily  ex- 
tinguifhing  the  rebellion,  as  it 
would  operate  more  powerfully  on 
the  minds  of  thofe  who  were  at  a 
didance  and  yet  untouched  ;  and 
iince  war  cannot  be  made  without 
bloodfhed,  it  ought  to  be  confider- 
ed  as  merciful  rather  than  cruel ; 
as  it  tended  to  fhorten  the  calami¬ 
ties  of  that  dreadful  date— and  one 
of  the  miniders  concluded  with 
faying  that  he  thought  the  mea- 
fure  perfectly  jud  and  wife;  and. 
that  the  adminidration  would  be 
highly  cenfurable,  if,  entruded  as 
they  were,  with  the  fuppreffion  of 
fo  unnatural  a  rebellion,  they  had 
not  ufed  all  the  means  which  God 
and  nature  had  put  into  their  hands. 

The  whole  of  thefe  arguments, 
but  particularly  the  lad  expreffion. 


rekindled  the  dame  of  Lord  Chat¬ 
ham’s  eloquence;  and  he  had  been 
feldom  known  fo  brilliant  as  in  the 
fevere  animadverfions  he  made  on 
the  hypothefis  of  the  noble  Lord, 
that  the  indifcriminate  daughter  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  and 
the  torturing  and  devouring  of 
captives,  were  the  means  of  war 
furnilhed  by  God  and  nature,  which 
notions,  he  faid,  danding  fo  near 
the  throne,  mud  pollute  the  ear  of 
Majedy. 

In  this  manner,  and  with  vehe* 
ment  altercations,  the  whole  con¬ 
duit  and  principle  of  the  war,  and 
ot  the  oppofition  to  it,  was  torn  to 
pieces.  The  quedion  being  at  length 
put  towards  eleven  at  night,  the 
amendment  was  rejected  by  a  ma¬ 
jority  of  97,  including  13  proxies, 
to  28  Lords  who  fupported  the 
motion.  The  main  quedion  on  the 
addrefs  being  then  put,  was  car¬ 
ried  without  a  divifion.  A  ihort 
proted  was  entered  by  the  Duke 
of  Richmond  and  Earl  of  Effing¬ 
ham,  which  contained  their  dident 
only  in  thefe  words— — — Becaufe 
this  addrefs  is  a  repetition  of,  or 
rather  an  improvement  on,  the  ful- 
fome  adulation  offered,  and  the 
blind  engagements  entered  into 
on  former  occafions  by  this 
Houfe,  relative  to  this  unhappy 
civil  war.” 


CHAP- 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [53 


CHAP.  IV. 

Parliamentary  enquiries  into  the  fate  of  public  affairs,  adopted  ly  the  Qppo- 
ftion  in  loth  Houfes.  Motion  for  60,000  J'eamen.  Animadverfions  on 
the  fate  of  the  navy.  Debates  on  the  motion  for  a  nevo  bill ,  to  conti¬ 
nue  the  p  onvers  granted  by  the  former ,  for  the  fvfpenfon  in  certain  cafes 
of  the  Habeas  Corpus  lavs.  Progrefs  of  the  bill.  Debates  on  the  mo¬ 
tion  for  four  Jhillings  in  the  pound,  land  tax.  Motion  by  Mr.  Fox  for 
an  enquiry  into  the  Jlate  of  the  nation .  Subfquent  motions.  Motion 
for  certain  papers ,  after  long  debates  rejected  upon  a  divifion.  Circum- 
Jlances  attending  the  dij'clofure  of  the  unhappy  event  at  Saratoga.  Debates 
upon  the  magnitude  of  the  fum  granted  in  the  committee  of  f upply  for  the 
ordnance  fervice.  Motion  by  Colonel  Barre  for  papers ,  rejected.  Mr. 
Hartley's  motions  relative  to  the  American  vear ,  rejected.  Motion  by 
Mr.  Wilkes  for  the  repeal  of  the  declaratory  lavs,  rejected  upon  a  divi- 
fion.  Great  debates  upon  the  motion  of  adjournment.  Amendment  moved 
by  Mr.  Burke.  Original  motion  carried  upon  a  divifion  by  a  great  ma¬ 
jority.  Franf actions  in  the  Houfe  of  Lords,  fmilar  to  thofe  of  the  Com¬ 

mons.  Duke  of  Richmond' s  motion  for  an  enquiry  into  the  fate  of  the 
nation ,  agreed  to.  Lord  Chatham' s  motion  for  the  orders  and  infrac¬ 
tions  to  General  Burgoyne,  after  confderable  debates ,  rejected  upon  a  di¬ 
vifion.  Debates  upon  a  fecond  motion  by  the  fame  noble  lord ,  relative  to 
the  employment  of  the  favages  in  the  American  vsar.  Motion  rejeded  on 
a  divifion .  Debates  upon  the  quefion  of  adjournment .  Motion  carried 
upon  a  divifion , 


FROM  this  time  to  the  reeefs, 
and  indeed  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  feffion,  enquiry  into 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs,  whe¬ 
ther  particular  or  general,  became 
the  great  objeft  of  oppolition  in 
both  houfes.  Neither  the  highly 
pleafing  reprefen tation  of  the  date 
of  our  navy,  both  in  point  of  im¬ 
mediate  effetff,  and  forwardnefs  of 
preparation  for  future  fervice, 
which  had  been  laid  before  the 
lords,  nor  the  further  confirma¬ 
tion  of  that  date,  which  was  given 
by  the  board  of  admiralty  in  the 
houfe  of  commons,  were  in  any 
degree  capable  of  curing  the  infi¬ 
delity  of  thofe,  who  either,  from 
what  they  dated  as  direft  informa¬ 
tion,  or  for  other  reafons,  held 


a  drong  and  determined  opinion, 
that  the  navy  was  fhamefully  and 
dangeroufly  deficient  in  both  re- 
fpefts. 

Indeed  that  favourable  repre- 
fentation  produced  effe&s,  very 
different  from  what  were  probably 
vvifhed  or  expended  ;  for  indead  of 
removing  doubt,  or  filencing  en¬ 
quiry,  it  increafed  the  one,  and 
added  a  fpur  to  the  other.  At  the 
fame  time  it  involved  the  admi¬ 
ralty  in  a  kind  of  dilemma,  which 
it  was  not  eafy  to  get  clear  of. 
For  if  our  navy  was  in  that  power¬ 
ful  and  flourifhing  date  which  had 
been  deferibed,  it  was  not  eafy  to 
affign  any  colourable  reafon  for 
concealment  ;  and  to  oppofe  with 
a  good  grace  enquiries,  tending 

[Z>]  3°  to 


V 


54]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177 


to  the  eftablifhment  and  promul¬ 
gation  of  a  faCl,  which  it  was  our 
intereft  that  all  mankind  fhould  be 
acquainted  with ;  and  which  would 
hold  out  the  only  effeftual  bar  to 
reflrain  the  defigns  of  our  enemies, 
if  they  intended  to  profit  of  our 
intelHne  troubles. 

The  unhappy  news  which  ar¬ 
rived  from  America,  opened  alfo 
an  ample  field  for  enquiry,  as 
well  with  refpeft  to  the  plans  and 
fcheme  of  the  war  framed  at 
home,  as  to  the  conduit  and  means 
which  were  ufed  for  their  accom- 
plifhment  abroad.  It  feemed  ne- 
ceffary  to  know,  whether  the  fail¬ 
ure  of  fuccefs  lay  with  the  defign 
or  the  execution  ;  or  if  with  nei¬ 
ther,  but  proceeding  merely  from 
fuch  inherent  obftacles  as  it  was 
impoffible  to  furmount,  to  devife 
the  fpeediell  meafures,  with  the 
leafl  poffible  lofs  or  difhonour,  for 
withdrawing  from  fo  unfortunate 
and  ruinous  a  purfuit. 

Nov.  26th.  Upon  a  motion  in 
the  committee  of  iup- 
ply,  that  60,000  feamen  fhould 
be  voted  for  the  fea  fervice  of  the 
enfuing  year  1778,  as  the  com- 
miffioner  of  the  admiralty  who 
made  the  motion,  was,  in  purfuance 
of  a  call  upon  him  for  that  pur- 
pofe,  entering  into  fome  detail  of 
the  difpofition  and  date  of  the 
navy,  fo  far  as  related  to  the  fhips 
upon  fervice  abroad,  and  in  com- 
xniffion  at  home,  the  firft  law  offi¬ 
cer  of  the  crown  in  that  houfe, 
excited  fome  furprize,  by  object¬ 
ing  to  his  proceeding  in  that  offi¬ 
cial  explanation  of  matters  apper¬ 
taining  to  his  own  department, 
and  immediately  relative  to  the 
queftipn  before  them,  although  it 
had  been  freely  entered  into  as 
fbon  as  it  was  propofed  by  the 


lord  of  the  admiralty,  and  who 
feemed  naturally  to  be  the  compe¬ 
tent  judge  of  its  propriety.  The 
learned  gentleman  contended,  that 
the  difclofure  of  particular  flrength 
or  weaknefs  which  fuch,  a  detail 
muff  afford  to  our  enemies,  would 
be  equally  improper  and  perni¬ 
cious  ;  that  if  any  hoflile  inten¬ 
tions  were  entertained,  it  would 
be  in  faCt,  pointing  out  and  in- 
flru&ing  them,  where  and  in  what 
manner  to  direCl  their  operations  ; 
that  fecrecy  wa?  the  very  life  and 
fpirit  of  all  military  enterprize  5 
that  the  difclofure  of  fuch  fecrets 
to  enemies,  would  be  an  aCt  of  the 
moft  unparalleled  infanity  ;  and 
that  the  honourable  gentleman 
mull  undoubtedly  have  miftaken 
the  nature  of  the  queflion,  when 
he  indicated  a  difpofition  to  an 
official  compliance. 

Such  a  check  upon  information, 
from  fo  unexpected  a  quarter,  and, 
to  which  the  matter  feemed  fo  en¬ 
tirely  foreign,  brought  out  much 
fevere  obfervation  on  the  other 
fide,  and  gradually  extended  the 
debate  to  a  great  variety  of  mat¬ 
ter.  They  faid,  that  to  refufe 
official  information  relative  to  the 
hate  and  flrength  of  the  navy,  at 
a  time  that  fo  vaft  a  demand  was, 
made  upon  them  for  its  fupport, 
was  a  procedure  contrary  to  the 
known  rules  and  ufages  of  parlia¬ 
ment  ;  that  they  had  a  right  to 
know,  as  well  what  they  were 
voting  for,  as  what  they  were 
voting  ;  and  that  they  trufted, 
however  compliant  the  houfe  had 
been  upon  every  matter  relative  to 
the  American  war,  they  would  not 
endure  fuch  a  refufal  without  pro¬ 
per  animadverfion. 

They  faid  that  the  French  were 
well  acquainted  both  with  the 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [55 


ftate  and  diftribution  of  our  naval 
force  ;  but  that  foreigners,  whe¬ 
ther  hoftile  or  friendly,  were  no 
obje&s  of  concealment  with  the 
minifters  ;  they  were  not  fo  to¬ 
tally  ignorant  of  themfelves,  and 
of  the  nothingnefs  of  their  coun* 
fels  in  refped  to  other  nations, 
not  to  know  that  they  were  inca¬ 
pable  of  producing  any  fecrets, 
which  could  be  worth  the  fmalleft 
purchafe  to  an  enemy.  It  was  par¬ 
liament,  and  parliament  only,  that 
the  wretched  policy,  the  conceal¬ 
ments  and  fecrets  of  the  minifters 
reached  to.  If  they  could  with¬ 
hold  all  means  of  information  from 
the  reprefentatives  of  the  people, 
and  from  the  hereditary  guardians 
of  the  nation,  and  thus  lead  them 
In  the  dark,  from  one  fcene  of 
public  error,  delufton,  and  impo¬ 
sition  to  another,  as  they  had  hi*» 
therto  fuccefsfully  pradifed  from 
the  commencement  of  the  Ame¬ 
rican  conteft,  their  defigns  were 
accomplifhed,  and  they  arrived  at 
the  fummit  of  all  their  wifhes. 
Their  fyftem  of  fecrecy  went  no 
further.  It  might  be  retailed  in 
foreign  and  domeftic  gazettes, 
without  giving  them  the  fmalleft 
uneafinefs,  provided  that  it  were 
withheld  from  parliament,  or  that 
a  majority  would  accept  the  terms 
official  information y  and  fecrets  of 
government ,  as  a  bar  to  every  fpe- 
cies  of  information  and  enquiry, 
and  a  plea  for  the  moll  obftinate 
blindnefs,  and  unpardonable  igno¬ 
rance. 

They  concluded,  that  there 
could  not  be  a  ftronger  evidence 
of  the  bad  condition  of  the  navy, 
and  of  the  mifapplication  of  the 
vaft  and  unufual  fums  of  money, 
which  had  of  late  years  been 
granted  for  its  fupport  and  in- 


creafe,  than  that  dread  which  the 
minifter  conftantly  ftiewed,  of  all 
enquiry  into  its  real  ftate.  If  it 
had  been  in  that  which  they  pre¬ 
tended,  they  would  have  been  as 
eager  to  particularize  and  difplay 
its  ftrength,  as  they  are  now  ftu- 
dious  to  keep  every  thing  relative 
to  it  in  darknefs.  And  with  great 
reafon,  faid  they,  for  befides  the 
honour  which  it  would  do  to  them¬ 
felves  as  minifters,  and  the  love 
and  gratitude  with  which  it  would 
jnfpire  their  country  ;  it  would 
afford  the  belt  fecurity  which  they 
could  poftibly  obtain,  for  the  good 
faith  and  pacific  condud:  of  the 
houfe  cf  Bourbon.  They  would 
then  have  no  occafion  to  tremble 
at  the  thoughts  of  a  war,  nor  to 
degrade  under  that  apprehenfion, 
as  they  have  done  for  fever al  years, 
the  majefty  of  this,  country,  by 
crouching  to  every  infult,  indig¬ 
nity,  and  real  injury,  offered  by 
foreign  nations. 

On  the  other  fide,  fome  gentle¬ 
men  did  not  think  that  fuch  en¬ 
quiries  were  parliamentary.  Others 
did  not  recoiled  that  details  of  the 
fort  had  been  ufually  entered  into 
upon  fimilar  occafions.  Thofewho 
particularly  defended  the  admi¬ 
ralty  faid,  that  they  wifhed  for 
nothing  more  than  to  lay  open  a 
true  ftate  of  the  navy,  in  every 
particular,  to  the  whole  world. 
That  its  formidable  condition 
would  ftrike  terror  in  foreign  na¬ 
tions  ;  it  would  put  domeftic  fac¬ 
tion  to  fhame,  and  give  real  com¬ 
fort  to  every  well  wifher  to  his 
country.  But  if  it  once  came  to 
be  a  pradice  to  lay  thefe  matters 
before  the  public  when  it  was 
thought  expedient  to  make  a  dif¬ 
play  of  our  ftrength,  there  may 
be  times,  when  a  prudent  conceal- 

[D]  4  *  ment. 


56]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


ment,  would  be  argued  as  a  proof 
of  weaknefs.  It  was  in  contem¬ 
plation  of  fuch  future  occafions, 
and  as  a  general  principle  of  po¬ 
licy,  and  not  from  a  confcioufnefs 
of  any  prefen t  defedft,  that  the 
Hate  of  the  navy  was  wifhed  to  be 
held  back  from  parliamentary  in- 
fpeelion,  The  commiffioners  of 
the  admiralty,  however,  being  very 
clofely  prefled,  at  length  consented 
to  enter  into  the  detail  under  cer¬ 
tain  modifications. 

A  ftatement  of  the  navy  being 
accordingly  given,  feveral  of  its 
parts  were  controverted,  and  fonie 
laid  to  be  in  a  great  degree  srn- 
founded.  The  afiertion  of  the 
firft  lord  in  the  other  houfe,  and 
which  was  confirmed  by  his  col¬ 
leagues  in  this,  that  we  had  35 
fhips  of  the  line  for  home  defence, 
fully  manned,  and  fit  for  imme¬ 
diate  fervice,  befides  feven  more, 
which  only  wanted  fuch  a  number 
of  their  complement  of  men,  as 
might  be  fupplied  with  the  great- 
eft  eafe  and  expedition,  was  con¬ 
tradicted  in  the  moil  exprefs  and 
unqualified  terms.  Indeed  that  af- 
fertion  had  the  fortune  to  expe¬ 
rience  the  fame  fate  in  the  other 
houfe  ;  and  it  was  ftrongly  infill¬ 
ed  upon  in  both,  from  what  was 
laid  to  be  undoubted  information, 
that  our  whole  force  in  condition 
for  immediate  fervice  on  the  home 
defence,  did  not  at  moft  exceed 
20  fail  of  the  line. 

Thefe  ftrong  charges  on  the  one 
iide,  were  combated  by  afiertions 
equally  ftrong  on  the  other.  It 
was  infilled  by  the  commiffioners, 
that  the  Britifli  navy  had  never- 
been  in  a  more  refpeftable  or  flou- 
rifhing  ftate  than  at  prefent ;  and 
that  whether  it  was  considered  with 
relation  to  immediate  ftgvice,  or- 


preparation  for  future,  it  was  in 
either  refpedt,  far  fuperior  to  the 
united  maritime  force  of  the  houfe 
of  Bourbon. 

Some  few  of  the  oppofition  oh- 
jefted  to  the  motion  for  60,000 
feamen,  merely  as  tending  to  the 
fupport  of  the  war,  the  principle 
and  objeft  of  which  they  detefted, 
and  which  they  faid  could  never 
be  brought  to  a  conclufion,  under 
the  inability  with  which  it  was 
conduced.  Others  objected  to 
the  enormity  of  the  fupply,  at 
a  time  when  we  were  at  peace 
with  all  the  world,  excepting  only 
the  trouble  we  had  in  chaftifing  a 
few  of  thofe  ragged  mobs  in  our 
own  colonies,  who  had  fo  long 
been  the  objects  of  our  contempt 
and  ridicule.  They  obferved,  that 
when  the  famous  French  arma¬ 
ment  was  deftreyed  at  La  Hogue, 
we  employed  but  little  more  than 
half  the  number  of  feamen  which 
was  now  required.  That,  in  the 
glorious  year  1759,  the  naval  eftat 
blifhment  did  not  exceed  by  a  firm 
gle  man  the  number  which  was 
now  demanded  ;  and  the  whole 
expence,  including  naval  ordnance, 
(lores,  and  a  large  debt  of  a  miL 
lion,  amountedonly  to  5,200,000!, 
though  the  peace  eflablifliment  for- 
the  year  1778,  will  exceed  five  mil¬ 
lions.  And  that  if  France  could 
thus  ruin  us  by  an  in fuppor table 
expence  under  the  name  and  delu- 
five  appearance  of  peace,  any  ftate 
of  war  would  be  preferable  to  fuch 
a  condition. 

As  a  conviction  of  the  neceffity 
of  a  ftrong  naval  protection  was 
much  fuperior  on  ail  fides,  to  any 
confidence  repofed  in  a  good  dif- 
pofition  which  the  minifters  attri¬ 
buted  to  foreign  powers,  the  rc~s 
fo  Union  for  60,000  feamen  was 

accordingly 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


accordingly  agreed  to  in  the  com¬ 
mittee  without  any  divifion. 

Upon  receiving  the  report  next 
day  from  the  committee,  thofe 
gentlemen  who  had  more  particu¬ 
larly  and  directly  attacked  the  ad¬ 
miralty  board  on.  the  fcore  of  its 
conduct,  having  now  obtained 
fome  frefh  information  as  to  fafts, 
renewed  their  charges  with  a  de¬ 
gree  of  vehemence,  which  brought 
on  much  heat  and  perfonal  afpe- 
rity  on  both  fides.  The  report  be¬ 
ing  however  received  and  palled 
without  a  divifion.  Mr.  Luttrel, 
in  order  to  fupport  his  charges, 
moved  that  the  laft  weekly  returns 
received  at  the  admiralty,  from  the 
commanders  in  chief  at  the  home 
ports  and  ftations,  fhould  be  laid 
before  the  houfe.  This  was  at 
firft  oppofed,  on  the  old  ground  of 
affording  improper  intelligence  to 
our  enemies  ;  but  it  being  per¬ 
ceivable,  that  the  fenfe  of  the 
houfe,  with  which  the  minifter 
alfo  coincided,  feemed  to  lean  to 
the  other  fide,  the  lords  of  the 
admiralty  at  length  acquiefced, 
and  the  motion  was  agreed  to. 

The  bill  of  the  preceding  fefiion 
for  the  fufpenfion  in  certain  cafes 
of  the  Habeas  Corpus  law  being 
now  near  expiring,  the  Attorney 
General,  premifing  that  the  fame 
caufe  dill  continued,  namely  the 
rebellion  in  America,  which  had 
at  firft  rendered  that  meafure  ne- 
ceffary,  moved  for  leave  to 
bring  in  a  bill  to  renew  the 
powers  of  the  former  during  a  cer¬ 
tain  limited  term. 

This  revival  of  an  aft  which  they 
had  originally  deemed  fo  obnoxi¬ 
ous,  renewed  the  activity  of  fome 
of  the  gentlemen  in  oppofition, 
who  contended  that  it  was  firft  ne- 
^efihry  to  know  what  effect  the  for- 


[57 

mer  bill  had  produced,  before  they 
confented  to  a  renewal  of  its  pow¬ 
ers.  Upon  this  ground  Mr.  Baker 
moved  for  and  carried  an  addrefs, 
requiring  a  correct  return  and  full 
description  of  all  the  prifoners, 
with  an  account  of  the  prifons, 
whether  in  Great  Britain  or  Ame¬ 
rica,  in  which  they  were  confined, 
together  with  copies  of  their  fe- 
veral  commitments,  an  account  of 
the  bail  offered  for  their  enlarge¬ 
ment,  and  all  other  proceedings 
whatever  of  the  privy  council,  in 
confequence  of  the  powers  veiled 
in  them  by  the  late  bill,  to  be  laid 
before  the  houfe.  This  motion 
was  afterwards  amended  and  en¬ 
larged  by  the  fame  gentleman,  fo 
as  to  include  all  perfons  who  had 
been  taken  up  for  high  treafon, 
from  the  day  after  the  battle  of 
Lexington,  being  the  18th  of 
April  1775,  to  the  date  of  the  late 
aft. 

The  new  ground  taken  on  that 
fide,  in  the  different  debates  that 
arofe  during  the  progrefs  of  the 
bill,  was,  that  as  the  paft  aft  had 
produced  no  manner  of  effeft,  and 
of  courfe  could  have  remedied  no 
evil,  it  was  evidently  ufelefs  in  the 
firft  inftance,  and  confequently  un~ 
ncceffary  by  a  renewal  in  the  fe- 
cond  ;  that  the  tampering  wan¬ 
tonly  with  a  matter  of  fo  much 
confequence  to  the  people,  as  the 
fufpenfion  of  any  part  of  a  law,  the 
full  operation  of  which  was  their 
only  fecurity  for  life  and  liberty, 
and  that  without  any  plea  of  ne- 
ceftity,  or  even  room  now  left  for 
the  pretence  of  utility,  was  a  pro¬ 
ceeding  of  a  moft  dangerous  na¬ 
ture. 

With  refpeft  to  the  operation  of 
the  bill  on  the  American  prifoners 
of  war,  the  conduft  of  adminiftra- 

tion 


58]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


tion  was  faid  to  be  in  the  higheft 
degree  inconfiftent.  Our  generals 
on  the  other  fide  of  the  Atlantic 
have  eftablifhed  a  public  cartel, 
fuch  as  is  agreed  to  with  an  alien 
enemy,  for  the  exchange  of  pri- 
foners  with  the  colonifts.  In  Eu¬ 
rope,  the  conduct  is  totally  re- 
verfed.  His  MajeHy’s  minifter  at 
the  court  of  France,  when  a  pro- 
pofal  is  made  to  him  by  the  Ame¬ 
rican  delegates  there,  to  lefien  the 
miferies  of  war,  on  this,  as  well  as 
the  other  fide  of  the  Atlantic,  by 
the  eftablifhment  of  a  fimilar  car¬ 
tel,  anfwers  them  in  lofty  terms, 
that  he  receives  no  applications 
from  rebels,  excepting  they  come 
to  implore  for  mercy.  The  anfwer 
was  undoubtedly  fpirited,  and  be¬ 
coming  the  reprefentativeofa  great 
nation  ;  but  where  is  the  con- 
iiftency  on  the  fide  of  the  mini- 
Hers  ? 

On  the  other  fide  it  was  argued, 
that  the  fame  caufes  hill  continued, 
which  had  rendered  the  original 
bill  neceffary.  That  the  matter 
ihould  be  confidered  in  a  much 
more  favourable  light  than  that  in 
which  it  was  reprefented.  The 
bill  was  inftituted,  not  fo  much  to 
punifii,  as  to  prevent  rebellion. 
Nothing  could  more  clearly  lliew 
the  excellency  of  its  defign  and  ef¬ 
fect,  than  the  very  reafons  which 
were  brought  to  prove  its  being 
unneceffary,  from  the  little  fccpe 
that  had  been  afforded  for  its  ope¬ 
ration.  If  fcarcely  any  perfons 
had  fuffered  confinement  or  incon- 
veniency  from  the  powers  which 
It  lodged  in  the  crown,  it  only 
ihewed  that  thofe  crimes  had  not 
been  committed,  to  the  prevention 
of  which  they  were  directed .  That 
there  was  no  room  to  doubt,  but 
the  terrors  held  out  by  the  former 


bill,  had  awed  numbers  of  difaf- 
fedled  people  into  obedience  and 
fidelity,  and  thereby  fhut  the  door 
again!!  domeftic  rebellion;  that  as 
it  had  thus  in  its  paft  operation 
prevented  the  commiflion  of  num» 
berlefs  crimes,  and  the  hard  but 
neceffary  exercife  of  juftieein  their 
confequent  punifhments,  there  was 
no  reafon  to  doubt  but  it  would 
produce  the  fame  happy  effects  in 
its  future  ;  and  that  it  was  the  cha- 
ra&eriftic  of  good  government  to 
provide  in  the  fir  ft  inftance  fcr  the 
prevention,  not  the  punifhment  of 
crimes. 

This  avowal  of  fufpending  the 
liberty  of  the  fubjedt,  and  admi- 
niftering  terror,  like  Prior’s  phy- 
iick,  (t  by  fway  of  prevention ,5? 
rouzed  all  the  fpirit  and  ability  of 
one  of  the  rnoft  diftinguifhed  leaders 
of  oppofition  in  that  houfe.  He 
obferved,  that  the  fame  arguments 
might  hold  good  to  eternity,  and 
the  fufpenfion  of  the  Habeas  Cor-, 
pus  law  be  continued  upon  that 
ground  to  the  end  of  time ;  that  if 
that  mode  of  reafoning  fhould  pre¬ 
vail  in  the  houfe,  the  fence  of  li¬ 
berty  might  be  cut  down,  and 
Britons  be  at  once  deprived  of  their 
moft  valuable  privileges ;  the  fame 
caufe  for  which  the  bill  is  paffed  in 
this  feflion,  will  hold  equally  good 
in  the  next,  and  in  every  other. 
The  land-tax,  faid  he,  was  intro¬ 
duced  as  a  temporary  revenue,  and 
through  that  means  granted  by  the 
houfe  ;  the  army  was  at  firft  voted 
for  one  year  only ;  but  now  your 
army  is  a  Handing  army  ;  your 
land-tax  is  a  Handing  revenue  to 
maintain  this  Handing  army  ;  and 
this  fufpenfion  may  be  considered, 
like  them,  as  a  Handing  meafure 
of  government,  and  thus  confe- 
quently  become  an  eternal  fufpen- 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [59 


fion  and  deftrudtion  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  law. 

The  minifters  denied  the  con- 
clufions  drawn  by  this  gentleman 
to  be  in  any  degree  fairly  deduci- 
ble  from  the  premifes,  and  totally 
difclaimed,  on  their  own  fide,  any 
defigns  inimical  to  the  liberties  of 
the  people,  or  intention  of  conti¬ 
nuing  the  fufpenfion  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Adt,  any  longer  than  the 
particular  circumftances  of  the 
times  rendered  the  meafure  necef- 
iary,  and  that  its  utility  continued 
evident. 

Notwithftanding  the  oppofition 
in  point  of  argument  which  this 
bill  encountered,  it  was  carried 
through  without  a  divilion  until 
the  laft  reading,  which  happened 
on  the  4th  of  December,  when  it 
was  pafted  by  a  majority  of  116 
to  60. 

~  ,  On  amotion  in  the  com- 

t  mittee  of  Ways  and  Means, 
for  granting  a  land-tax  of  four 
Ihillings  in  the  pound,  it  was  ob- 
fervea,  on  the  fide  of  oppofition, 
that  in  all  this  difpofal  of  the  pub¬ 
lic  money,  not  a  fingle  country 
gentleman  had  rifen  to  fpeak  of 
peace,  or  to  complain  of  the  war. 
That  their  fupinenefs,  or  their  ac- 
quiefcence,  deferved  the  fevereft 
reprehenfion.  If  they  were  afleep 
to  the  diftreffes  of  their  country, 
they  ought  to  be  awakened  ;  if 
they  were  ignorant,  they  ought  to 
be  informed  ;  or  if  they  were 
merely  indolent,  they  fhould  be 
rouzed.  In  purfuing  this  train  of 
obfervation,  the  gentleman  entered 
into  fome  detail  of  the  hitherto 
nearly  unparalleled  expences  of  the 
war,  and  of  the  hill  greater,  which 
they  were  to  provide  for  in  the  en- 
fuing  year.  In  contraft  to  thefe 
sffedfs  of  the  war,  he  enquired  into 


the  flate  of  expedition  with  which, 
it  was  attended.  Were  we  to  be 
relieved  by  conquHl  from  this  bur¬ 
den  of  taxation  ?  By  no  means, 
there  is  no  conqueh  aimed  at ;  our 
adminihrators  fay,  that  the  draw¬ 
ing  of  a  revenue  from  the  colonies 
by  that  means  is  not  the  objedt  of 
the  conteh,  and  they  acknowledge 
that  if  it  were,  the  Americans 
would  not  be  able  to  bring  any  re¬ 
venue  into  our  exchequer.  Thus, 
faid  he,  we  are  irrecoverably  ruin¬ 
ing  ourfclves,  merely  upon  a 
pundtilio  of  honour,  only  to  have 
it  to  fay  that  we  exceeded  the 
Americans  in  obhinacy,  and  that 
in  an  abfurd  and  unjuh  conteh, 
commenced  and  forced  into  being 
by  ourfelves,  we  nobly  perfevered 
in  violence  and  injuhice,  until,  at 
the  expence  of  abfolute  dehrudlion 
to  both  parties,  we  may  have  the 
glory  of  compelling  our  colonies 
to  acknowledge  the  wifdom,  po¬ 
licy,  and  equity  of  our  proceed¬ 
ings. 

This  attack  called  up  two  gen¬ 
tlemen,  who  are  more  particular¬ 
ly,  or  avowedly,  attached  to  the 
court,  than  others  of  that  party. 
They  entered  upon  the  old  quehion 
of  the  right  of  taxation  ;  faid,  we 
were  contending  for  a  right, 
which,  if  relinquifhed  in  the  man¬ 
ner  that  was  propofed  and  wilhed 
on  the  other  fide,  would  terminate 
in  the  lofs  of  America,  and  the 
confequent  ruin  of  this  country. 
That  a  right  eftablifhed,  and  not 
exercifed,  was  in  fad:  no  right. 
And  that,  as  we  were  heavily  tax¬ 
ed  ourfelves,  it  was  but  reafonable, 
that  when  we  had  compelled  the 
colonies  to  return  to  their  duty, 
they  fhould  contribute  in  common, 
with  the  reft  of  their  fellow-fub- 
je&s  to  the  fupport  of  that  govern¬ 
ment. 


6o]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177S.' 


ment,  of  whofe  protection  they 
were  to  be  equally  partakers.  That 
if  we  were  now  tamely  to  give  them 
up  to  their  own  madnefs,  we 
fhould  do  them  the  greated  of  all 
injuries;  we  fhould  deprive  them 
of  the  benefit  of  the  bed  confuta¬ 
tion  in  the  world.  A  tame  dere¬ 
liction  of  the  rights  of  that  condi- 
tution,  would  dedroy  the  bed 
hold  we  had  upon  their  affeCtions, 
snd  judly  forfeit  all  their  confi¬ 
dence. 

The  fecond  of  thefe  gentlemen 
charged  the  whole  American  war, 
with  all  its  confequences  and  mif- 
fortunes,  to  the  oppofition  made 
to  government  in  this  country, 
both  within  doors  and  without ; 
and  then  recurring  to  his  ground 
©f  debate,  and  borrowing  the  ideas 
and  phrafeology  of  a  great  law  lord 
in  the  other  houfe,  faid,  that  the 
quedion  now  was,  whether  the 
Americans  fhould  kill  us,  or  we 
kill  them  ;  fo  that  we  were  aCting 
entirely  at  prefen t  upon  the  defen- 
£ve. 

A  gentleman  on  the  other  fide, 
after  obferving  that  he  confidered 
what  had  fallen  from  the  two  lad 
fpeakers  as  the  fentiments  of  their 
party,  faid,  he  would,  upon  their 
own  ground,  propofe  two  queiiions 
as  a  ted  to  adminidration,  and  a 
third  to  thofe  who  were  confidered 
as  their  principal  fupporters  in  the 
prefent  meafures,  viz.  Would  any 
minider  dand  up  in  his  place,  and 
venture  to  fix  a  time  for  the  termi¬ 
nation  of  the  prefent  con  ted,  that 
is,  when  the  right  now  fo  warmly 
contended  for  will  be  edablifhed  ? 
Will  any  minider  fay,  that  upon  a 
fuppofition  of  the  greated  fuccefs 
on  our  part,  and  the  mod  thorough 
reconciliation,  or  fubmifiion  on  the 
Qther,  we  are  to  cxpeCt  a  revenue 


from  America  ?  If  then,  faid  he, 
neither  a  period  is  pretended  to  be 
fixed  to  the  prefent  wade  of  blood 
and  wade  of  treafure  ;  and  though 
it  could,  if  no  revenue,  either  to 
replace  the  immenfefums  we  have 
already  fpent,  or  the  more  enor¬ 
mous  expence  which  we  are  likely 
to  incur,  X  wifh  to  know  from  any 
of  thofe,  who  with  an  unlimited 
attachment  to  every  court  mea- 
fure,  choofe  to  call  themfeives 
country  gentlemen,  how  they  can. 
judify,  even  on  their  own  ground, 
to  themfeives,  or  to  their  condi¬ 
ments,  the  perfiding  in  meafures, 
which  do  not  promife  the  attain¬ 
ment  of  a  fingle  objeCt  for  which 
they  odenfibly  give  them  their  fup- 
port. 

A  gentleman  who  reprefents  the 
mod  extenfive  landed  property, 
and  the  mod  numerous  body  of 
freeholders,  under  any  collective 
defcription  in  the  kingdom,  after 
placing,  with  his  ui'ual  refine¬ 
ment,  the  odenfive  motives  to  the 
war  in  feveral  ludicrous  points  of 
view,  and  adding  to  thofe  already 
avowed,  that  it  was  perfevered  in 
merely  to  gain  the  confidence  of 
the  Americans,  and  that  we  were 
to  beat  them  only  to  fecure  their 
affeCtions  ;  farther  c-bferved,  that 
there  had  been  more  money  al¬ 
ready  expended  in  this  ruinous 
purfuit,  from  the  conclufion  of 
which  the  fmalled  benefit  was  not 
even  expelled,  than  would  ferve  to 
have  purchafed,  inclofed,  cleared, 
manured,  cultivated,  fown,  and 
planted,  all  the  wade  lands  in  Bri¬ 
tain  more  than  would  have  con¬ 
verted  all  the  heaths,  hills,  and 
wades  in  the  kingdom  into  gar¬ 
dens.  Such  he  faid  were  the  mo¬ 
tives,  and  fuch  the  e deeds  of  this 
war  :  and  fuch  the  ground  upon 

which 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [61 


which  they  were  called  to  grant 
the  prefent  fupply. 

Thefe  difputes  gave  rife  to  an 
enquiry  into  the  Hate  of  the  nation. 
It  was  faid,  that  it  was  in  vain  to 
wafte  time  in  general  declamation 
upon  a  fubjedt  which  could  only 
be  determined  by  an  exadt  deduc¬ 
tion  of  particulars.  The  great 
queftion  of  the  propriety  of  carry¬ 
ing  on  this  American  war,  could 
only  be  fettled  by  a  view  of  the 
experience  we  have  had  ;  and  a 
calculation  of  the  means  which  re¬ 
main  to  the  nation  for  the  attain¬ 
ment  of  this  favourite  objedt.  On 
j  thefe  grounds  Mr.  Fox 

ec*  2  *  having  moved  for  a 
committee  of  the  whole  houfe  to 
confider  of  the  Hate  of  the  nation, 
gave  a  fhort  (ketch  of  the  matters 
which  he  propofed  to  lay  before 
them  as  the  principal  objedls  of 
their  confideration,  under  the  fol¬ 
lowing  heads ; — iH,  The  expences 
of  the  war,  and  the  refources 
which  the  nation  pofTefled,  to  raife 
the  fupplies  neceffary  for  its  con¬ 
tinuance  ; — zdly.  The  lofs  of  men 
from  that  war; — 3dly,  The  fitua- 
tion  of  trade,  both  with  refpedt  to 
America  and  the  foreign  markets; 
— 4-thly,  The  prefent  Htuation  of 
the  war  ;  the  hopes  that  might 
be  rightly  entertained  from  its 
continuance  ;  the  condudt  and 
meafures  of  the  prefent  admini- 
Hration  ;  the  means  of  obtaining  a 
lafting  peace  ;  and  our  prefent 
fituation  with  regard  to  foreign 
powers  ; — 5  thly.  What  progrefs 
the  commiflioners  had  made,  in 
confequence  of  the  powers  with 
which  they  were  entrulted,  for  the 
purpofeof  bringing  about  a  peace 
between  Great  Britain  and  her  co¬ 
lonies. 

Under  thefe  general  heads,  he 


obferved,  that  many  other  enqui¬ 
ries  would  arife,  and  it  would  be 
the  bufinefs  of  the  committee  to 
follow  every  path  that  tended  to 
lead  to  a  thorough  invefligation 
and  difcovery  of  the  Hate  of  the 
nation.  If  it  Hrould  appear,  faid 
he,  that  the  nation  is  in  a  bad 
Hate,  and  that  the  late  and  prefent 
meafures  of  adminiHration  had  re¬ 
duced  us  to  an  extremity  of  dan¬ 
ger,  which  he  was  afraid  they  cer¬ 
tainly  had,  a  new  fyHem  muH  be 
introduced,  and  a  new  fet  of  mi- 
niHers  appointed  ;  but  if,  on  the 
contrary,  the  nation  fhould  be 
found  in  a  flourifhing  Hate,  and 
the  prefent  meafures  likely  to  prove 
fuccefsful,  the  prefent  fyHem. 
fhould  by  all  means  be  continued, 
and  the  prefent  miniHers  remain  in 
power ;  for  he  was  convinced  that 
none  but  the  prefent  miniHers, 
would  profecute  the  prefent  fyf- 
tem. 

The  miniHer  agreed  to  the  mo¬ 
tion  with  great  appearance  of  cor¬ 
diality,  and  faid  he  would  do  every 
thing  in  his  power  to  fecond  the 
defign  of  the  mover,  and  to  pro¬ 
mote  the  great  end  which  he  had  in 
view.  That  nothing  could  render 
him  more  happy,  than  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  convincing  the  houfe, 
that  the  nation  was  in  a  much  more 
Hourifhing;  Hate,  than  many  of  the 
other  fide  either  actually  did,  or 
affedled  to  believe  it.  He,  how¬ 
ever,  referved  tohimfelf  the  right 
of  withholding  any  fuch  papers 
from  the  houfe,  as  it  might  be 
inconvenient,  dangerous,  or  preju¬ 
dicial  to  government  to  expofe. 

Mr.  Fox  followed  his  motion 
with  feveral  otherr — For,  An  ac¬ 
count  of  all  the  troops  foreign  and 
domeHic,  that  had  been  employed 
fince  the  year  1774; — JLifts  of  all 

the 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


62] 

the  fhips  of  war  that  had  been  em¬ 
ployed  in  that  time,  and  of  thofe 
that  had  been  loft,  taken,  or  de- 
flroyed,  with  exaft  returns  of  the 
men  that  had  been  killed  or  taken 
pri {oners  - -The  laft  general  re¬ 
turns  of  all  the  hofpitals  in  North 
America  Copies  of  the  laft  re¬ 
turns  of  the  troops  in  Great  Bri¬ 
tain,  Ireland,  North  America,  and 
the  Weft  Indies; — With  lifts  of  the 
ihips  of  war  employed  as  convoys 
to  proteft  the  trade  of  this  coun¬ 
try.— And  in  order  to  afford  time 
for  procuring  the  papers,  lifts,  and 
accounts  required,  as  well  as  for 
their  being  feparately  examined, 
and  their  matter  duly  weighed  by 
the  members,  he  propofed  that  the 
meeting  of  the  committee  fhould 
be  fixed  for  the  zd  of  February. 

All  thefe  motions  having  paffed 
without  oppofttion,  he  moved  for 
an  addrefs  to  lay  before  them  co¬ 
pies  of  all  fuch  papers  as  related  to 
any  fteps  taken  for  the  fulfilling  of 
that  claufe  of  the  prohibitory  aft  of 
the  1 6th  of  his  prefen  t  Majefty, 
by  which  perfons  appointed  and 
authorized  by  him,  for  certain 
purpofes  therein  fpecified,  were 
empowered,  under  certain  condi¬ 
tions,  to  declare  any  colony,  pro¬ 
vince,  diftrift,  port,  or  place,  to 
be  at  the  peace  of  his  Majefty  ; 
and  alfo,  for  returns  of  thofe  co¬ 
lonies,  or  places,  which  had,  in 
conformity  with  their  compliance 
to  the  propofed  conditions,  and 
purfuant  to  the  powers  of  the  faid 
aft,  been  declared  to  be  at  the 
king’s  peace. 

This  motion  put  an  end  to  the 
acquiefcence  of  the  minifter,  who 
oppofed  it  ftrongly,  upon  the 
ground  that  the  producing  and  ex- 
pofing  of  any  papers  relating  to  a 
jiegociation  during  its  exigence. 


would  be  a  proceeding  not  only 
contrary  to  all  eftablifhed  forms 
and  praftice,  but  totally  fubver- 
five  of  the  bufinefs  in  hand,  and 
probably  attended  with  the  greateft 
prejudice  to  the  caufe  in  general. 
He  declared  himfelf  ready  and 
willing  to  grant  every  reafonable 
information  in  his  power  ;  but  he 
alfo  declared,  that  he  neither  could 
nor  would  confent  to  make  difco- 
veries,  which  would  not  be  lefs  in- 
confiftent  with  all  found  wifdom. 
and  true  policy,  than  prejudicial 
to  government,  and  contrary  to 
the  real  interefts  of  this  coun* 
try. 

This  refufal  called  up  all  the 
powers  of  debate  on  both  ftdes. 
It  was  further  urged  in  oppofttion 
to  the  motion,  that  negociations 
with  rebels  in  arms,  could  not  be 
entered  into  with  the  people  at 
large,  but  muft  be  privately  con- 
dufted  with  feleft  bodies  of  men, 
perhaps  with  individuals,  and  the 
greateft  fecrecy  obferved  in  the 
whole  tranfaftion,  as  any  difcovery 
might  draw  the  vengeance  of  thofe 
who  held  different  principles,  upon 
fuch  particular  bodies  or  indivi¬ 
duals.  But  that,  in  truth,  they 
did  not  know  that  any  negociation 
had  been  entered  into.  It  was  im- 
poftible  that  any  treaty  of  con¬ 
ciliation  could  be  opened  with 
rebels  in  arms  (landing  up  for  in¬ 
dependence.  The  very  aft  would 
be  an  acknowledgment  of  their  in¬ 
dependence. 

Thefe  reafons  were  very  lightly 
treated  on  the  other  fide.  The 
only  injury,  they  faid,  which  could 
poflibly  arife  from  the  motion,  and 
indeed  the  only  that  was  appre¬ 
hended,  was  to  the  minifters  them- 
felves,  by  a  difclofure  of  their  con- 
duft  to  parliament.  The  Ameri¬ 
cans 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [63 


Cans  were  thoroughly  informed  on 
the  fpot,  and  in  the  firft  inftance, 
of  every  particular  relative  to  the 
fubjeft.  They  were  not  them- 
felves  feeking  to  pry  into  fecrets  of 
ftate,  or  to  difcover  the  private  in¬ 
telligence,  which  government,  by 
political  means,  might  receive  from 
particular  perfons.  The  motion 
went  only  to  public  tran factions, 
with  public  perfons  or  bodies  of 
people,  in  their  public  capacity. 
No  others  could  be  enabled  to  give 
efficacy  to  any  negociation  or 
treaty. 

It  was,  they  faid,  merely  a  par¬ 
liamentary  enquiry  into  the  refult 
of  a  parliamentary  aft.  The  com- 
miffion  to  Lord  and  Sir  William 
Howe  was  the  confequence  of  an 
aft  which  originated  with  them  ; 
and  it  was  not  only  a  propriety, 
but  a  duty,  to  examine 'into  thofe 
tranfaftions  which  had  followed 
their  appointment.  Some  parts  of 
the  fubjeft  were  already  publickly 
known,  and  difclofed  fo  much  of 
the  matter  as  was  fufficient  to  ffiew 
that  the  enquiry  was  not  only  pro¬ 
per,  but  neceffary.  It  appears  by 
thefe,  faid  they,  that  neither  New 
York,  Longlfland,  Staten  Illand, 
or  any  other  territory  we  have 
gained  poffeffion  of  in  America, 
have  as  yet  been  reftored  to  the 
king’s  peace.  It  is  alfo  known, 
that  Governor  Tryon  has  written 
to  General  Sir  William  Howe,  one 
of  the  commiffioners,  for  the  pur- 
pofe  of  reftoring  New  York  to  that 
fecurity  and  benefit  ;  but  that  the 
General  returned  for  anfwer,  that 
it  was  not  in  his  power  to  do  any 
thing  in  the  bufinefs,  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  noble  lord  who 
prefided  in  the  American  depart¬ 
ment.  This  was  accordingly  a 
matter  which  came  of  courfe  within 


the  care  and  inveftigation  of  the 
committee  ;  they  were  to  enquire 
how  far  the  meafures  purfued  by 
the  minifiers  at  home,  and  by  the 
commiffioners  abroad,  tended  to 
fulfil  the  intentions  of  the  houfe  3 
and  whether  any  part  of  the  failure 
in  effieft  lay  with  the  one  or  the 
other. 

Whilft  the  debate,  notwith- 
flanding  the  frequent  calls  for 
the  queftion  on  the  fide  of  the 
majority,  was  yet  kept  up  in  ful! 
heat  and  vigour,  and  that  the  fir  ft 
law  officer  of  the  crown  was  in  the 
midft  of  a  fpeech,  wherein  he  was 
with  the  greateft  ability  ftating  the 
ill  policy  which  it  would  be  in  the 
minifiers,  and  the  danger  with 
which  it  would  be  attended  to  the 
flate,  to  difclole  information  of 
fuch  importance  at  this  critical 
period  of  time,  intelligence  was 
received  from  the  other  houfe,  that 
the  fame  motion  had  been  made  by 
the  Duke  of  Grafton,  and  was 
agreed  to  by  the  lords  in  adminL 
ftration. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  era- 
barraffment  into  which  the  mini- 
Iters  were  thrown  upon  this  unex- 
pefted  intelligence.  Nor  did  the 
oppofition  mils  the  opportunity  of 
improving  it.  Wit,  ridicule,  and 
the  moil  pointed  obfervation,  be¬ 
ing  alternately  applied  to  fupport 
the  advantage  which  it  afforded. 
The  minifler  was  rallied  on  the 
awkwardnefs  of  his  fituation,  and 
the  flrange  dilemma  in  which  he 
was  involved,  of  either  recording 
by  a  refolution  of  the  houfe,  that 
the  Commons  of  England  were  not 
worthy  of  being  entrufled  with  fe¬ 
crets  which  were  freely  communi¬ 
cated  to  the  lords,  or  of  being 
under  a  neceffity  to  intreat  a  large 
part  of  thofe  numerous  friends  and 

fup- 


10 


Hi  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778V 


fupporters,  who  had  fo  long  car¬ 
ried  him  triumphantly  through  all 
©ppofftion,  to  abandon  their  co¬ 
lours  upon  this  occafion,  and  un¬ 
willingly  to  leave  their  leader  to 
undergo  the  difgrace  of  voting  in 
a  cabinet  minority.  The  mini  Her 
was  humouroufly  advifed,  as  the 
only  means  of  extricating  himfelf 
from  that  dilemma,  and  as  afford*, 
ing  the  only  falvo  in  his  power  for 
the  indignity  offered  to  that 
houfe,  to  impeach  thofe  miniiters, 
who  in  defiance  of  that  wifdom  and 
found  policy,  which  he  had  juft 
laid  down  as  the  motives  for  his 
refufal,  had  dared  to  betray  the 
king’s  fecrets  to  the  houfe  of 
lords  ;  a  meafure  of  juftice,  in 
which  the  opposition,  affured  him 
of  their  moft  hearty  fupport. 

But  they  entered  with  more  fe- 
rioufnefs  and  feverity  into  the  con- 
temptuoufnefs  of  the  treatment, 
and  faid,  that  to  grant  a  motion 
for  papers  to  be  laid  before  one 
houfe,  and  refufe  it  to  another, 
was  fuch  an  indignity  as  it  was 
hoped  no  Britifh  houfe  of  commons 
would  ever  fubmit  to.  The  majo¬ 
rity  were  called  upon  to  con  lid  er 
the  manner  in  which  they  were 
treated;  they  were  held  unworthy 
to  be  trulled  with  a  fecret  ;  they 
were  told  it  would  be  fatal  to  trull 
them  ;  and  yet  this  mighty  fecret 
was  thrown  upon  an  open  table  in 
another  place,  from  whence  the 
news- papers  would  entruft  all  thofe 
with  it,  in  whatever  quarter  of  the 
world,  who  were  only  capable  of 
reading  Englilh.  Was  this  a  treat¬ 
ment,  they  faid,  for  free  rnen, 
and  the  reprefentatives  of  free  men 
to  bear  ?  They  are  not  to  be 
trulled  ;  they  mull  not  know  fe¬ 
crets;  their  fuperiors  might  fearch 
into  the  ftate  of  the  nation,  but 


they  were  either  too  inflgniiicanS 
to  be  confulted,  or  too  dangerous 
to  be  trulled.  They  were  defired 
to  refleC  on  the  importance  of  the 
fituation  in  which  they  were 
placed  ;  on  their  refponflbility  to 
that  great  body  of  free  and  inde¬ 
pendent  electors,  to  whom  they 
owed  their  political  exigence;  and 
to  bear  in  mind  the  regard  due  to 
their  own  honour,  whether  as  men, 
or  as  members  of  a  Britifh  parlia¬ 
ment. 

The  miniiler  felt  himfelf  fo 
goaded  on  all  fides,  and  the  at¬ 
tacks  were  rendered  fo  extremely 
vexatious  by  the  diveriity  of  man¬ 
ner  with  which  they  were  conduc¬ 
ed,  that  he  could  not  refrain  from 
growing  warm,  and  feemed  for  a 
ihort  time  to  be  furprized  out  of 
his  ufual  good  humour.  He  faid, 
that  whatever  effeCl  the  prefent 
anecdote  might  have  upon  the 
houfe  at  large,  he  Ihould,  for  his 
own  part,  adhere  to  his  former 
opinion.  He  could  not  indeed 
bring  himfelf  to  believe,  that  an 
unauthenticated  anecdote  could 
pofiibly  produce  any  change  in 
their  fentiments.  He  reprobated 
in  terms  of  great  afperity,  and 
condemned  as  exceedingly  difor- 
derly,  the  introducing  of  any 
thing  that  paffed  in  the  other 
houfe,  with  a  view  of  influencing 
the  determinations  of  that.  What 
the  other  had  done,  or  might  do, 
was  nothing,  he  faid,  to  them. 
The  houfe  of  commons  were  not  to 
be  guided  in  their  deliberations  by 
any  extrinflc  confideration  what¬ 
ever;  much  lefs  by  the  aft  or  con¬ 
duit  of  any  other  body.  If  they 
Ihould  fubmit  to  any  influence  or 
direction  of  that  fort,  it  would  be, 
indeed,  a  dereli&ion  of  their  im¬ 
portance  and  dignity.  But  they 

never 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


never  had,  and  he  truded  they 
never  would.  He  concluded,  that 
the  king’s  fervants  in  tine  other 
houfe  were  certainly  entrufted  with 
the  fecrets  of  government,  and 
were  competent  judges  for  them- 
felves,  of  what  ought,  and  what 
ought  not  to  be  difclofed.  That 
he  alfo,  having  the  fame  right  of 
judging  for  himfelf,  held  his  firffc 
opinion,  that  the  motion  was  of 
2,-n  extent  which  , neither  wifdom 
nor  found  policy  could  agree  with : 
and  that  it  was  dangerous  and  un¬ 
precedented  to  give  fuch  papers  to 
the  public  as  were  now  demanded, 
pending  a  negociation. 

The  debate,  as  ufual,  wandered 
over  a  great  part  of  the  American 
affairs;  but  the  ground,  however 
wide  in  extent,  had  been  already 
fo  frequently  traverfed,  that  it 
could  not  afford  much  novelty.  A 
federal  commercial  union  was  talk¬ 
ed  of  by  fome  as  the  only  hope  now 
left  with  regard  to  America.— 
Others  Hill  thought,  that  an  ac¬ 
commodation  was  not  yet  impoffi- 
ble.  That  if  propofols  really  ami¬ 
cable,  accompanied  by  equally 
good  difpofitions,  were  made;  and 
,that  thefe  were  fupported  by  that 
unfeigned  fmcerity,  that  fairnefs 
of  defign  and  opennefs  of  conduct, 
which  can  alone  reftore  confidence, 
and  which  would  even  in  fome  de¬ 
gree  regain  affeflion,  the  Ameri¬ 
cans  might  Hill  be  induced  to  coa- 
lefce  with  this  country  in  fuch  a 
degree  of  union,  as,  along  with 
fecuring  all  their  own  rights, 
might  preferve  to  her  a  monopoly 
of  their  trade  ;  the  only  advantage 
which  in  juftice  or  wifdom,  they 
infilled,  that  Great  Britain  lhould 
ever  have  fought  from  her  colo¬ 
nies.  But  to  the  want  of  thofe 
difpofitions,  of  that  fincerity,  foir- 
Vol.  XXI, 


[% 

nefs,  and  opennefs,  they  attributed 
the  failure  in  eyery  fcheme  of  ac¬ 
commodation  which  had  been  hi¬ 
therto  adopted. 

A  renewal  of  the  fevere  cen- 
fures,  which  the  mover  of  the  pre¬ 
fen  t  motion  had  in  a  late  debate 
palled  upon  the  conduct  of  the 
noble  lord  at  the  head  of  the  Ame¬ 
rican  department,  and  which  now 
feemed  to  be  directed  with  new 
fervour,  called  that  miniller  again 
to  enter  into  fome  defence  or  j uni¬ 
fication.  of  his  meafures.  In  the 
warmth  incident  to  fuch  a  fitua- 
tion,  the  noble  miniller  was  led  or 
furprized  in  to  an  acknowledgment, 
that  notwithilanding  the  great 
power  and  vail  refources  of  this 
country,  the  bravery  of  our  fleets 
and  armies,  and  the  ability  of  our 
officers,  he  began  to  defpair  of  the 
practicability  of  reducing  the  Ame¬ 
ricans  to  obedience  by  force  of 
arms,  if  they  lhould  continue  to 
preferve  their  union  entire. 

He  alfo  acknowledged,  that  he 
had  great  reafon  to  doubt  the  va¬ 
lidity  of  much  of  the  information 
which  he  had  received  from  that 
quarter  ;*  but  infilled,  that  his  mea¬ 
fures  would  be  found  perfeflly  juf- 
tifiable,  when  candidly  compared 
with  the  information  on  which  they 
were  founded  ;  and  that  it  would 
appear,  they  muil  neceffarily  have 
been  crowned  with,  fuccefs  if  that 
had  been  true.  He,  notwith¬ 
ilanding  thefe  acknowledgments, 
perfilled  in  his  opinion,  as  to  the 
propriety  of  continuing  the  war, 
and  of  the  moll  decifive  exertion 
in  its  profecution  ;  reprobated  the 
idea  cf  a  federal  union  with  rebels ; 
declared  America  to  be  nearly 
ruined,  and  fuffering  under  every 
fpecies  of  human  mifery  and  cala¬ 
mity  ;  and,  building  much  upon 
[E]  the 


66]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


the  difunion  of  the  feveral  colonies, 
as  well  as. of  the  people  in  each, 
and  on  the  accounts, which,  though 
not  fufiiciently  authenticated,  he 
had  reafon  to  believe  to  be  true, 
of  the  great  fuccelfes  of  Sir  Wil¬ 
liam  Howe,  he  hill  entertained  an 
expeflation,  that  if  means  were 
deviled  to  prevent  the  fecret  affift- 
ance  which  they  received  from 
fome  of  the  European  powers,  the 
Americans  might  hill  be  compell¬ 
ed  to  return  to  their  duty. 

This  unexpected  acknowledg¬ 
ment  of  matters  which  had  been 
fo  often  urgCd  on  the  other  iide,  to 
fhew  the  impolicy  of  the  conted  in 
its  origin,  with  the  hopeleffnefs  of 
fuccefs,  and  the  ruinous  confe- 
quences  of  the  purfuit,  coming 
from  fuch  a  quarter  feemed  at 
once  a  dereliction  of  all  the  ttrong 
ground  of  argument,  and  to  afford 
the  moll  incontrovertible  evidence 
of  the  wifdom  and  neceffity  of 
bringing  the  troubles  to  that  fpeedy 
con  cl  u  lion,  which  was  fo  much 
contended  for  on  the  other  fide. 

In  taking  this  ground,  the  ap¬ 
portion  animadverted  on  the  fup- 
pofed  incongruity  of  feveral  parts 
of  his  lordfhip’s  fpeech  and  con- 
-clufions.  He  acknowledges,  faid 
they,  the  impracticability  of  fub- 
duing  the  colonies,  if  they  continue 
united  1  he  does  not  pretend  that 
he  is  certain  that  they  are  not 
united  ;  and  yet  he  urges  the  pro- 
fecution  of  the  war,  although  up¬ 
on  his  own  date  of  the  queftion, 
there  is  not  the  final  led  hope  of 
fuccefs.  They  infilled,  that  it  was 
not  yet  too  late  for  an  accommo¬ 
dation,  founded  upon  clear,  per¬ 
manent,  and  con  dilutions!  princi¬ 
ples,  which,  though  not  affording 
all  the  advantages  we  enjoyed, 
before  they  wore  fcattered  by  our 


folly  and  injudice,  would  dill  be 
of  the  greated  utility  to  this  coun¬ 
try.  But  that  if  the  miniders  per- 
fided  any  longer  in  their  fydem  of 
devadation  and  carnage,  and  placed 
their  trud  of  fubduing  minds  and 
affections  in  the  tomahawk  and 
fcalping  knife,  there  could  be  no 
doubt  but  the  temper  and  minds 
of  the  Americans  would  become  fo 
foured  and  alienated,  by  repeated 
cruelties  and  renewed  lodes,  that 
they  would  never  after  liden  to  any 
terms  of  accommodation,  nor  agree 
to  hold  any  political  relation  what¬ 
ever  with  this  country.  One  of 
the  noble  lord’s  grounds  of  hope 
(fuch  hope  as  it  was)  confided  in 
keeping  from  them  the  clandeftine 
aid  of  foreign  powers.  What  rea¬ 
fon  had  they  to  think  that  fuch 
aid  would  not  be  continued,  in. 
creafed,  and  avowed  ?  The  mi¬ 
niders  would,  however,  adf  now, 
they  faid,  as  they  had  done  in 
many  former  parts  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  budnefs.  They  fird  predicted 
events,  and  then  purfued  fuch  a 
line  of  conduct,  as  of  neceflity  ve¬ 
rified  their  predictions.  Thus  they 
afferted,  that  independency  was  the 
foie  and  original  aim  of  the  colo¬ 
nies  ;  but  finding  that  the  people 
were  exceedingly  backward  in  ap¬ 
plying  to  that  lad  and  fatal  refort, 
they  adopted  fuch  effectual  mea- 
fures  of  violence  and  injudice,  as^ 
drove  them  headlong  into  inde¬ 
pendence.  They  now  affert,  that 
the  Americans  will  not  Jiden  to  any 
terms  of  accommodation  ;  and 
they  will  accordingly  purfue  the 
fame  effectual  meafures,  until  they 
have  driven  them  fo  fad  into  the 
arms  of  France,  that  it  will  not  be 
in  their  power,  if  they  were  even 
fo  difpofed,  ever  to  look  back, 
much  lefs  to  return,  to  their  an- 

t  cient 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [67 


cient  political  connections  with  this 
country. 

The  quedion  being  at  length 
put,  it  foon  appeared  that  the  mi- 
nifter  had  not  adopted  that  part  of 
the  alternative  which  had  been  pro- 
pofed  to  him  on  the  other  fide,  of 
voting  in  a  minority  ;  and  Mr. 
Fox’s  motion  for  laying  thofe  pa¬ 
pers  before  the  Commons,  which 
had  been  granted  to  the  Lords, 
was,  in  a  manner  which  in  other 
feafons  would  have  been  deemed 
incredible,  rejected  upon  a  divifion , 
by  a  majority  of  178  to  89. 

^  The  fucceeding  day 

ec*  3  •  was  marked  by  the  dil- 
clofure  of  the  melancholy  cata- 
itrophe  of  General  Burgoyne’s  ex¬ 
pedition,  and  the  unhappy  fate  of 
the  brave  but  unfortunate  northern 
army  at  Saratoga.  A  difclofure, 
which  excited  no  lefs  conderna- 
tion,  grief,  and  adonifhment  in 
both  houfes,  than  it  did  of  difmay 
©n  the  fide  of  the  minifters.  The 
noble  lord  at  the  head  of  the  Ame¬ 
rican  department,  being  called 
upon  by  a  gentleman  in  oppodtion 
for  the  purport  of  the  difpatches 
which  were  received  from  Canada, 
was  the  unwilling  relater  of  that 
melancholy  event,  in  the  houfe  of 
commons. 

This  of  courfe  brought  out, 
with  frefh  fervour,  and  additional 
afperity,  all  the  cenfures  and 
charges  that  ever  had  been,  or 
that  could  be,  palled  or  made, 
whether  relative  to  the  principle 
or  policy  of  the  contefc,  the  con¬ 
duct  of  the  war,  or  the  general  in¬ 
capacity  of  the  minifters.  After 
condemning  and  reprobating  the 
latter  in  terms  of  the  utmoft  feve- 
rity,  the  oppofition  applied  the  moft 
pathetic  expreffions  which  our  lan¬ 
guage  affords,  tp  deplore  the  fate 


of  the  gallant  General  and  his 
brave  army,  who,  they  faid,  after 
furmounting  toils,  dangers,  and 
difficulties,  which  fhould  have 
crowned  them  with  lading  glory 
and  honour,  and  fhevving  them- 
felves  fuperior  to  every  thing,  ex¬ 
cepting  onlv  the  injuftice  of  the 
caufe  in  which  they  were  engaged, 
and  the  inherent  fatality  of  that 
ill-darred  direflion  under  which 
they  afted,  were  fo  overwhelmed 
in  the  joint  operation  of  thefe  con¬ 
curring  caufes,  as  not  only  to  be 
plunged  into  irretrievable  ruin, 
but  alfo,  what  had  never  before 
happened  to  fuch  men,  nor  could 
ever  again  be  the  reward  of  fuch 
actions,  they  were  finally  funk  into 
difgrace. 

They  condemned  the  whole 
plan  and  defign  of  the  expedition 
in  themod  unqualified  terms.  Said, 
that  it  was  an  abfurd,  an  incon¬ 
fident,  and  an  impra&icablefcheme 
unworthy  of  a  Britifh  minifler,  and 
which  the  chief  of  a  tribe  of  fa- 
vages  would  have  been  afhamed  to 
acknowledge.  They  reminded  the 
American  minifler  that  they  were 
not  judging  from  events,  but  how 
often  and  earnellly  they  had  warn¬ 
ed  him  of  the  fatal  confequences 
of  his  favourite  plan.  When  they 
had  truly  foretold  the  event,  they 
were  only  laughed  at,  and  told, 
they  were  fpeaking  in  prophecy  ; 
was  he  yet  finished  of  the  truth  of 
their  predictions  ? 

Ignorance,  they  faid,  had  damp¬ 
ed  every  dep  taken  during  the  ex¬ 
pedition  ;  but  it  was  the  ignorance 
of  the  Minider,  not  of  the  Gene¬ 
ral  ;  a  minider  who  would  venture, 
fitting  in  his  clofet,  to  direCl,  not 
only  the  general  operations,  but 
all  the  particular  movements,  of  a 
war  carried  on  in  the  interior  de- 
[E]  z  farts 


68]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


farts  of  America,  and  at  a  diflance 
of  three  thoufand  miles.  A  junc¬ 
tion  between  Howe  and  Burgoyne 
was  the  objed  of  this  expedition  ; 
a  meafure  which  might  be  effeded 
without  difficulty  %  fea  in  lefs 
than  a  month  ;  but  the  minifler 
choofes  it  fhould  be  performed  by 
land,  and  what  means  does  he  ufe 
for  the  accomplifnffient  of  this 
purpofe  ?  Why  truly,  faid  they, 
as  it  was  neceffary  for  the  armies 
to  meet,  it  might  have  been  reafon- 
ably  imagined,  that  the  northern 
army  would  have  advanced  to  the 
fouthward,  or  the  fo.uthern  to  the 
northward  ;  or  if  it  were  intended 
that  they  fhould  meet  any  where 
about  the  center,  that  they  would 
both  have  fet  out  in  thofe  directions 
about  the  fame  time  ;  but  the  mi¬ 
nifler  defpising  fuch  fimple  and 
natural  means  of  effecting’  a  junc¬ 
tion,  difpatches  one  army  from 
New  York  ltill  farther  fouth,  and 
fends  the  other  to  follow  it  from 
Canada  in  the  fame  direction  ;  fb 
that  if  they  both  continued  their 
courfe  till  doomfday,  it  would  be 
impoflible  for  them  to  meet. 

But  the  noble  lord,  they  faid, 
was  the  implicit  dave  of  report, 
and  the  continual  dupe  to  the  falfe 
informations  of  men,  who  were,  in¬ 
here  fled  in  his  deception  ;  men 
who  profited  of  the  common  cala¬ 
mities  of  England  and  America. 
Thus,  on  one  day  we  had  only  a 
trifling  mob  to  quell ;  nine-tenths 
of  the  people  were  not  only  zea- 
loufly,  but  violently  attached  to 
government;  and  yet,  moil  drange 
to  tell,  this  vad  majority  of  the 
people,  as  if  loyalty  had  deprived 
them  of  all  the  powers  and  pro¬ 
perties  of  men,  fuffered'themfelves 
to  be  fleeced  and  driven  like  ffieep, 
by  that  ragged  handful  of  their 


own  rabble.  The  next  day,  when 
we  were  to  ranfack  Europe  for 
troops,  and  exhaud  Great  Britain 
to  maintain  them,  the  Americans 
were  fuddenly  become  numerous 
and  powerful.  The  delufion  was 
then  become  highly  contagious  ; 
and  they  were  to  be  brought  to 
their  fenfes  by  nothing  fhort  of  the 
exertion  of  the  whole  drength  of 
this  country.  Again,  we  were 
told  that  the  Americans  were  all 
cowards  ;  a  grenadier’s  cap  was 
fufficient  to  throw  whole  provinces 
into  panics  ;  it  feemed,  however, 
odd  enough,  that  55,000  men, 
with  an  immenfe  naval  force, 
fhould  be  fent  to  reduce  poltrons. 
Will  the  minider  now  venture  to 
fay,  that  the  gallant  army  at  Sara¬ 
toga,  with  a  noble  artillery,  and 
conduced  by  officers  of  the  mod 
didinguifhed  merit,  were  compell¬ 
ed  to  the  difgrace  of  refigning 
their  arms  and  their  liberty,  by  a 
wretched  contemptible  rabble, 
without  fpirit  or  difeipline  ?  But 
fuch,  they  faid,  was  the  mifrepre- 
fentation  and  falfehood,  which, 
partly  intended  to  impofe  upon  the 
nation,  and  partly  operating  upon 
the  wretched  folly,  credulity,  and 
incapacity  of  the  miniders  them- 
felves,  had  already  led  to  the  lofs 
of  America,  and  to  our  prefen t 
date  of  calamity  and  difgrace;  and 
which,  under  the  fodering  influ¬ 
ence  of  that  perverfe  blindnefs  and 
obilinacy,  which  have  been  fo  long 
the  bane,  and  at  the  fame  time  the 
only  diftindion  of  our  public  coun- 
fels,  would  terminate  in  the  final 
deftrudion  of  this  country. 

The  time  and  occafion  did  not 
ferve  for  bold  words  or  lofty  lan¬ 
guage  on  the  fide  of  adminiftra- 
tion.  The  miniders,  indeed,  were 
fufficiently  humbled.  The  noble 

lord 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [69 


lord  at  the  head  of  affairs,  ac¬ 
knowledged  that  he  was  unfortu¬ 
nate.  He,  at  the  fame  time,  j uni¬ 
fied  his  intentions  ;  and  declared 
that  he  was,  and  would  be  ready, 
whenever  the  general  voice  of  the 
houfe  defired  it,  to  enter  into  an 
explanation  of  his  conduft,  and 
a  defence  of  his  meafures.  He 
alfo  declared,  that  no  man  from 
the  beginning  had  vvifhed  more 
earneftly  for  peace  than  he  had 
done  himfelf,  nor  would  do  more 
to  obtain  it  now  ;  and  that  if  the 
laying  down  of  his  place  and  his 
honourscould  accomplifh  that  vvifh¬ 
ed  for  purpofe,  he  would  gladly 
refign  them  all.  He  faid,  that  he 
had  been  dragged  to  his  place 
againft  his  will  ;  but  that  how¬ 
ever  difagreeable  it  might  be, 
whilll  he  continued  in  poffelhon, 
he  would  fupport  it  to  the  bell;  of 
his  power.  He  concluded  by  ob- 
ferving  (the  houfe  being  then  in 
a  committee  of  fupply)  that  what¬ 
ever  their  future  determination  as 
to  peace  or  war  might  be,  it  was 
neceffary  they  fhould  grant  the 
fupplies  which  were  now  demand¬ 
ed  ;  as,  if  even  a  ceffation  of  arms 
■fhould  take  place,  the  expences 
mult  (till  continue,  until  the  armies 
were  brought  home  and  difeharged 
or  reduced. 

The  American  minifter  declar¬ 
ed,  that  he  was  ready  to  fubmit 
his  conduct  in  planning  the  late 
expedition  to  the  judgment  of  the 
houfe.  If  it  appeared  impotent, 
weak,  and  ruinous,  let  the  cen- 
fure  of  the  houfe  fall  upon  him. 
He  was  ready  to  abide  it,  as  every 
minilfer  who  had  the  welfare  of 
his  country  at  heart,  fhould  at  all 
times,  he  faid,  be  ready  to  have 
his  conduct  ferutinized  by  his 
♦ountry.  But  having  alfo  faid 


fomething,  of  wifhing  that  the 
houfe  would  not  be  over  hafly  in 
condemnation,  that  they  would 
fufpend  their  judgment  on  the 
conduct  both  of  the  General  and 
of  the  Minifter  relative  to  this 
unhappy  event;  hoping  that  the 
conduft  of  both  would  appear  free 
from  guilt ;  thefe  expreffions,  or 
fome  others  of  the  fame  nature. 


being  conftdered  as  tending  to  cri¬ 
minate,  or  infmuate  blame  on  the 
General,  were  highly  refented  on 
the  other  fide,  and  contributed  not 
a  little  to  that  feverity  of  cen- 
fure  which  he  experienced  on  this 
day. 

On  the  following  day  feveral 
motions  for  papers  and  accounts, 
deemed  neceffary  for  the  informa¬ 
tion  of  the  future  committee  into 
the  ftate  of  the  nation,  were  made 
by  Colonel  Barre,  and  agreed  to 
by  the  houfe.  Thefe  took  in  an 
account  of  all  the  grants  for  the 
payment  of  national  and  foreign 
troops  from  the  29th  of  Sept.  1 774 : 
— of  the  officers  appointed  to  col- 
left  the  (lamp  duties  in  America: 
-—of  the  recruits  raifed  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,— -and  of  the 
perfons  appointed  to  aft  in  the 
Commiffariate  of  America  ;  all 
within  the  time  firft  given. 

Upon  receiving  the  report  , 
from  the  committee  of  fup-  ^ 
ply,  that  682,816!.  fhould  be 
granted  for  the  ordinaries  and  ex¬ 
traordinaries  of  the  office  of  ord¬ 
nance  in  the  enfuing  year  ;  the 
magnitude  of  the  fum  rouzed  the 
oppofttion  into  aftion,  and  occa- 
fioned  a  motion  by  Sir  P.  Jen¬ 
nings  Clerke,  to  recommit  the 
report.  In  the  fpeech  made  by 
that  gentleman  in  fupport  of  his 
motion,  he  charged  the  perfeve- 
rance  of  the  minifters  in  their  pre- 
[1]  3  feat 


70]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


fent  mad  and  deftru&ive  fyftem, 
to  the  mofi:  unworthy  of  all  mo¬ 
tives,  the  mere  covetcufnefs  of  re¬ 
taining  their  places ;  for  as  they 
knew,  he  faid,  that  they  were  fo 
exceedingly  odious  to  the  Ameri¬ 
cans,  that  they  never  would  enter 
into  any  treaty,  much  lefs  conclude 
a  peace  with  them,  fo  the  greedi- 
nefs  for  their  prefen t  emolument, 
fuperfeding  all  other  conhdera- 
tions,  induced  them  to  perfift  in 
war  to  the  final  deftrufUon  of  their 
country.  To  avert  this  fuppofed 
danger,  he  made  a  ludicrous  pro- 
pofal.  That  as  in  a  promotion  of 
admirals,  old  captains,  of  lefs  fup¬ 
pofed  capacity  than  others,  were 
promoted  but  not  employed,  and 
vulgarly  called  Admirals  of  the 
Yellow  Flag,  being  admitted  to 
the  pay  of  the  rank— -fo,  that  a 
fimilar  eftablifliment  ihould  be 
made  for  mini  hers  who  ihould 
be  allowed  to  continue  the  pay  and 
name,  whilft  men,  more  fit,  fhould 
execute  the  employment. 

The  enormity  of  the  fum  pro- 
pofed  for  the  ordnance  fervice, 
(though  fince  much  increafed)  oc- 
cahoned,  however,  much  ferious 
animadveriion.  The  oppofition 
faid  that  it  exceeded  the  ordinaries 
and  extraordinaries  of  the  ordnance 
in  the  year  1759,  by  no  lefs  than 
140,0001.  that  glorious  year  which 
faw  us  at  the  zenith  of  our  power 
and  glory,  when  we  had  250,000 
men  in  arms,  and  that  the  thun¬ 
der  of  our  artillery  by  fea  and 
land,  was  heard  with  terror  and 
effect  in  every  quarter  of  the 
globe  ;  when  we  made  war  in 
Europe,  Aha,  Africa,  the  Weft 
Indies,  and  North  America.  Yet 
in  the  year  for  which  this  vaft  fum 
is  demanded,  we  employ  but 
80,000  men,  and  thefe  engaged 


only  in  a  petty  conteft  with  our 
own  people.  They  afked  if  fuch 
glaring  impofitions  on  the  public 
were  fit  to  be  endured  ;  and  in 
what  manner  the  reprefen ratives 
could  face  their  conflituents  after 
fubmitting  to  them. 

On  this  fubjeft  they  were  parti¬ 
cularly  preffed  by  Mr.  Burke,  who 
for  fome  time  receiving  no  an- 
fwer,  and  the  fpeaker  proceeding 
to  put  the  queftion,  declared  he 
would  not  fuffer  the  queftion  to  be 
put,  until  fome  explanation  was 
given.  He  looked  upon  order  as 
contemptible,  when  inhead  of  for¬ 
warding,  it  Food  in  oppofition  to 
the  fubhance  of  their  duty.  That 
here  was  a  comparative  expence, 
which.  Hated  again  ft  thq  compa¬ 
rative  fervice,  was  at  hrh  view  ut¬ 
terly  unaccountable.  Fie  called 
flrongly  cn  the  gentlemen  of  the 
board  of  ordnance  for  an  anfwer. 
At  length,  the  gentlemen  of  that 
board  who  were  prefent,  faid  that 
they  were  not  judges  of  the  fer¬ 
vice.  They  had  punflually  exe¬ 
cuted  the  orders  which  they  had 
received,  and  that  the  utmoft 
ceconomy  prevailed  in  their  feveral 
departments.  One  gentleman  at¬ 
tributed  much  of  the  extraordi¬ 
nary  expence  to  the  extreme  and 
peculiar  hoilility  of  the  country  in 
which  the  train  was  acting;  which 
was  fo  bitter,  beyond  the  example 
of  other  wars,  that  fupplying  no¬ 
thing  whatever  towards  the  fer¬ 
vice,  the  number  of  articles  to  be 
fent  from  hence  became  prodi¬ 
gious.  Another  faid,  that  the 
charge  was  much  increafed,  by 
the  artillery  adling  in  different  bo¬ 
dies  on  diftindl  and  remote  fervices. 
He  alfo  faid,  that  the  foreign 
troops  in  Britifh  pay  in  the  late 
war  found  their  own  ammunition, 

which 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


winch  being  provided  for  in  their 
refpe&ive  contracts,  lelfened  the 
official  edimates  of  the  ordnance 
expence  prodigioully.  This  ground 
was  accordingly  taken  by  the  mi- 
nilter,  who  contended,  that  though 
we  employed  2 $0,000  men  in  that 
year,  the  Britilh  forces,  for  whom 
the  edimates  were  made,  confti- 
tuted  only  an  inconliderable  part 
of  that  number.  B  ut  as  he  was  not 
prepared  for  the  queltion,  and  had 
neither  compared  the  edimates, 
nor  provided  the  neceffary  docu¬ 
ments,  the  matter  of  fa<5t  was  left 
to  be  afcertained  on  another  day, 
and  the  report  of  the  committee 
of  fupply  was  agreed  to  without  a 
divifion. 

On  the  enfuing  day.  Colonel 
Barre  having  moved.  That  copies 
or  extra&s  of  all  letters  relating  to 
reinforcements,  of  the  fhips,  the 
mariners,  or  the  land  forces,  re¬ 
ceived  by  the  fecretaries  of  date 
from  General  Gage,  Lord  Howe, 
General  Howe,  and  General  Car- 
leton,  from  the  $thof  July,  1775, 
fhould  be  laid  before  the  houfe  ; 
the  American  minider  objected  to 
it,  from  his  not  being  fufficiently 
aware  of  its  confequences.  He 
faid  it  extended  to  a  period  before 
his  introduction  into  office.  It 
contained  the  intelligence  of  feve- 
ral  years,  and  he  confefied  he  was 
fo  unprepared,  that  he  could  not 
fuddenly  anfwer  on  the  propriety 
of  fubmitting  them  to  the  houfe. 
But  he  promifed,  that  the  purport 
of  thofe  papers  fhould  be  laid  be¬ 
fore  them  on  the  day  of  general 
enquiry.  After  fome  confiderable 
debate, 'the  motion  was  rejected 
by  the  previous  queltion  without  a 
divifion. 

Mr.  Hartley  then  made  feveral 
motions,  which  he  intended  to  be 

r  » 


bi 

palfed  as  refolutions  of  the  houfe, 
upon  the  following  grounds.  That 
the  farther  profecution  of  the  Ame¬ 
rican  war  mull;  be  attended  with 
an  enormous  expence  : — That  the 
expences  of  another  campaign, 
added  to  thofe  already  incurred, 
would  probably  amount  to  be¬ 
tween  30  and  40  millions  llerling, 
which  mult  create  an  alarming 
increafe  of  the  principal  and  in- 
tereft  of  the  national  debt  ;  and 
mud  require  many  additional  heavy 
and  burthenforne  taxes,  land-taxes, 
as  well  as  others,  upon  the  Britilh 

fubjefls  to  defray  : - -That  the 

further  profecution  of  this  war, 
mud  be  deftructive  of  the  naviga¬ 
tion,  commerce,  riches,  and  re- 
fources  of  this  country,  as  well  as 
of  the  lives  of  his  Majefty’s  fub- 
jefts ;  and  that  it  will  leave  us  in 
an  exhauded  date,  with  our  land 
and  fea  forces  at  the  didance  of 
3,000  miles,  open  to  the  infult  or 
attack  of  any  fecret  or  inlidious 
enemy; — -and,  that  it  is  unbe¬ 
coming  the  wifdom  and  prudence 
of  parliament,  to  proceed  any  fur¬ 
ther  in  the  fupport  of  this  fruit- 
lefs,  expenlive,  and  deftruftive 
war;  more  efpecially  without  any 
fpecific  terms  of  accommodation 
being  declared. 

Mr.  Hartley  had  prepared  efti- 
mates  to  fupport  the  portions  laid 
down  in  his  motions,  if  the  houfe 
would  enter  into  the  enquiry ;  and, 
if  the  refolutions  were  agreed  to, 
he  propofed  to  follow  them  with 
an  addrefs  to  his  Majedy,  being 
the  fame,  or  fimilar  to,  that  which 
he  had  laid  before  the  houfe  in  the 
preceding  feffion,  recommending 
an  immediate  celfation  of  hodili- 
ties,  with  fuch  other  meafures  as 
appeared  to  that  gentleman,  to  be 
the  molt  effie&tial  towards  bring- 

[£]  4  inS 


72]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


ing  about  a  final  accommoda¬ 
tion. 

The  minifter  made  light  of  the 
matter.  He  faid  the  motions  were 
out  of  time  and  improper.  They 
were  only  fitting  for  the  cogni¬ 
zance  of  a  committee,  not  of  q 
houfe.  Every  body  mull  acknow¬ 
ledge,  and  he  himfelf  among  the 
foremoft,  the  truth  of  the  fir  ft  re- 
folution,  that  the  profecution  of 
the  war  mud  be  attended  with 
enormous  expence ;  but  he  thought 
it  impofiible  for  the  houfe  to  de¬ 
cide  on  the  fecond,  before  the  day 
of  general  enquiry,  when  having 
all  the  matter  in  any  degree  rela¬ 
tive  to  the  fubjed  before  them, 
they  would  be  able  to  determine 
upon  it  with  propriety.  As  the 
opposition  did  not  enter  much  into 
the  bufinefs,  the  debate  was  lan¬ 
guid  ;  and  foon  wandered  from 
the im mediate queftion  to  converfa- 
tions  or  bickerings  upon  different 
parts  of  the  general  fubjed.  The 
motions  were  all  feparately  rejected 
without  a  divifion. 

Dec.  10th.  ?he  Ia‘]  day.of 

the  Sitting  of  parlia¬ 
ment  previous  to  the  Chriftmas 
irecefs  ;  Mr.  Wilkes  moved  for  a 
repeal  of  the  declaratory  law  of 
the  year  1766,  as  introdudory  to 
feveral  other  motions  which  he  in¬ 
tended,  if  the  firfii  paffed,  for  the 
repeal  of  all  the  laws  obnoxious  to 
the  Americans  which  had  been 
paffed  Since  the  year  1763.  He 
faid  that  the  repeal  of  thefe  laws 
was  required  as  a  fine  qua  non  by 
the  Americans  ;  and  that  in  par¬ 
ticular,  they  had  reprobated  that 
declaratory  aft  as  a  fountain  from 
whence  every  evil  had  flowed. 
The  previous  queffion  was  imme¬ 
diately  moved  by  a  noble  lord  on 
the  Treafury  Bench,  and  feconded 


by  the  minister,  who  alfo  cnterecl 
into  feme  confiderable  difeuffion  of 
the  fubjed  of  the  motion.  Al¬ 
though  a  debate  of  fome  length 
enfued,  the  oppofition  in  general, 
were  more  taken  up,  with  a  de¬ 
fence  of  the  ground  and  principle 
on  which  the  declaratory  law  had 
been  founded,  againft  the  attacks 
made  upon  it  by  the  mover  and  a 
few  others ;  and  in  flating  the  par¬ 
ticular  fituation  of  affairs,  which, 
they  infilled,  had  at  that  time 
rendered  it  not  only  a  wife,  but 
an  abfolutely  neceffary  meafure, 
than  in  Supporting  the  motion, 
although  they  would  now  readily 
give  up  that  bill,  or  any  bill,  as 
an  opening  to  conciliation.  They 
faid,  that  the  great  teft  of  the 
goodnefs  or  badnefs  of  a  law, 
namely,  its  good  or  ill  effed,  had 
decided  on  that  ad.  That  Ame¬ 
rica  had  never  complained  of  it 
until  it  was  made  an  hofiile  ufe 
of,  and  in  that  cafe,  the  bed  ads. 
might  become  a  caufe  of  offence. 
That  things  were  now  on  a  new 
bottom.  Other  things  befides  the 
repeal  or  the  making  of  ads  muff 
be  done.  The  previous  queftion 
being  put,  was  carried  on  a  divi- 
fion  by  a  majority  of  160  to  12. 

As  the  firft  objed  of  govern¬ 
ment  in  all  parliaments,  namely, 
the  obtaining  of  money,  was  now 
pretty  well  attained,  '  near  nine 
mil  lions  fterling  having  been  al¬ 
ready  granted  in  fupplies,  during 
only  about  fixteen  days  aduai 
fitting  upon  bufinefs,  and  that 
the  ministers  were  by  this  time,  as 
heartily  Sick  of  enquiry,  as  they 
were  fufficiently  fore  with  cenfure; 
it  was  determined  to  procure  a 
fuffident  breathing  time,  in  order 
to  an  Ever  the  different  purpofes, 
of  a  recovery  from  paft  fatigue, 

a  re- 


HISTORY  O 

a  relief  from  prefent  toil,  and  due 
preparation  for  the  future  hard 
fervice  which  was  expected,  by  an 
early  and  long  recefs  for  the  holi¬ 
days.  Another  objedt  of  no  fmall 
importance,  which  it  is  fuppofed 
the  court  had  at  that  time  in  con¬ 
templation,  and  which  would  have 
been  fully  fufheient  in  itfelf  for 
the  adoption  of  this  meafure,  will 
be  explained  in  the  next  chap¬ 
ter. 

As  foon,  accordingly,  as  Mr. 
Wilkes’s  motion  was  difpofed  of, 
the  noble  lord  who  had  moved  the 
previous  queftion,  moved  alfo  for 
an  adjournment  to  the  20th  of 
January,  and  fupported  his  motion 
on  the  following  grounds  ;  that 
the  fupplies,  at  prefent  neceffary, 
were  voted  ;  the  ufual  bufinefs  be¬ 
fore  the  Chriftmas  recefs  was  gone 
through,  that  nothing  farther 
could  be  done  until  the  event  of 
the  campaign  in  America  was 
known  ;  that  if  it  were  even  other- 
wife,  the  houfe  was  never  attend¬ 
ed  at  that  feafon  ;  that  no  new 
events  were  likely  to  happen, 
which  could  render  the  advice  or 
affiftance  of  parliament  neceffary 
within  that  time  ;  that  however 
eager  fome  perfons  were  to  expa¬ 
tiate  on,  or  to  enhance,  the  mif- 
fortune  of  the  Canada  expedition, 
nothing  could  be  done  in  that  bu¬ 
finefs,  until  the  arrival  of  infor¬ 
mation,  and  of  the  neceffary  docu¬ 
ments  from  America  ;  and,  that 
as  a  general  enquiry  was  appoint¬ 
ed,  it  was  equally  fair  and  necef- 
fary  to  allow  the  fervants  of  the 
crown  time  for  preparation. 

On  the  other  fide,  the  propofal 
for  fo  early  and  long  a  recefs  was 
reprobated  in  the  ftrongeft  terms. 
They  faid  that  an  adjournment  of 
fix  weeks  in  fo  critical  and  dan- 


F  EUROPE.  [73 

gerous  a  fituation  of  public  af¬ 
fairs,  when  all  the  collective  pow¬ 
ers  and  wifdom  of  parliament 
might  be  neceffary  for  the  imme¬ 
diate  prefervation  of  the  nation, 
would  be  a  moft  rafh  and  hazar¬ 
dous  proceeding.  That,  taken  in. 
all  its  circumftances,  it  was  un¬ 
precedented  in  all  the  records  of 
parliament.  That,  in  a  feafon  of 
the  greateft  public  danger  we  ever 
experienced  ;  involved  in  the  molt 
lamentable  fpecies  of  all  wars,  a 
civil  war  ;  attended  as  that  was, 
with  circumltances  of  expence, 
lofs,  ruin,  and  difgrace,  before 
unheard  of ;  and  at  the  eve  of  a 
rupture  with  the  whole  united 
houfe  of  Bourbon  ;  for  parlia¬ 
ment  to  be  affembled  fo  late  as 
the  20th  of  November,  and  to  pro- 
pofe  a  long  adjournment  of  more 
than  fix  weeks  on  the  10th  of  De¬ 
cember,  was  a  meafure  of  fo  ex¬ 
traordinary  and  dangerous  a  na¬ 
ture,  that  they  could  not  refrain, 
they  faid,  from  being  loft  in  afto- 
nifhment,  how  any  perfon  that 
was  honoured  with  the  royal  con¬ 
fidence,  could  dare  to  abufe  it  with 
fuch  an  advice.  But  daring  and 
abfurd  as  the  meafure  was,  it  was 
attended  with  one  circumftance, 
which,  they  faid,  muft  afford  the 
greateft  pleafure  to  every  real 
friend  to  his  country.  It  por¬ 
tended  the  falling  of  the  curtain, 
and  the  exit  of  thofe  weak,  obfti- 
nate,  and  improvident  minifters, 
who  had  driven  us  into  our  pre¬ 
fent  diftrefsful  fituation.  They 
are  no  longer  able,  faid  they,  to 
face  their  adverfaries  in  parlia¬ 
ment.  They  fly  from  public  ob- 
fervation  and  enquiry,  and  brood 
over  their  approaching  difgrace  in 
a  kind  of  political  defpair ;  they 
tremble  too  late  for  confequences, 

which 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


which  they  have  neither  the  ability 
to  provide  againk,  nor  the  forti¬ 
tude  to  meet. 

The  miniker  contended,  that 
the  arguments  offered  againk  the 
motion  had  proved  nothing.  The 
campaign  vvas  already  terminated, 
and  they  could  form  no  conclu¬ 
sions  relative  to  it  till  they  knew 
the  event.  France  did  not  molek 
ns,  nor  did  he  believe  that  either 
France  or  Spain  had  any  intention 
eff  the  fort ;  but  whether  they  had 
or  not,  we  were  prepared  for  the 
work  that  could  happen  ;  and 
Should  advance  our  preparation  as 
much,  or  more,  during  the  recefs, 
than  if  the  parliament  were  fitting. 
He  therefore  infilled,  that  Mr. 
Burke’s  propofed  amendment  to 
the  motion,  of  fubkituting  the 
words,  e<r  this  day  fennight,”  for 
the  “  20th  of  January,”  would 
only  retard  the  buknefs  of  the 
Hate,  without  anfwering  any  ufe- 
ful  purpofe.  If,  upon  a  full  en¬ 
quiry  after  the  recefs,  meafures  of 
a  confequential  nature  fhould  be¬ 
came  neceffary,  the  committee  for 
an  enquiry  into  the  kate  of  the 
nation,  which  was  not  to  meet  un¬ 
til  the  2d  of  February,  would  af¬ 
ford  the  proper,  and  the  only  pro¬ 
per  time,  to  debate  and  deliberate 
on  them.  He  hoped  the  cam¬ 
paign  had  produced  events,  which 
would  enable  us  to  prepare  and 
enforce  terms  of  conciliation  with 
the  colonies,  on  true  conkitutional 
grounds  with  refpefl  to  both.  That 
it  would  be  abfurd  to  propofe 
American  plans,  which  muk  in 
the  nature  of  things  depend  upon 
the  Hate  of  America,  when  we 
could  at  bek  pretend  to  a  very 
partial  knowledge  of  it.  The 
events  of  the  campaign  would  be 
known  at  the  time  propofed  for 


their  meeting  :  and  then,  wheti 
the  whole  of  the  military  opera-, 
tions,  and  of  the  intended  mea¬ 
fures,  could  come  fully  and  pro¬ 
perly  together  before  them,  he 
would  move  the  houfe  to  confider 
of  the  concekions  which  it  might 
be  proper  for  them  to  lay  down  as 
the  bails  of  a  treaty  ;  and  he  yet 
truked,  that  their  endeavours 
would  prove  effectual  in  bringing 
about  a  permanent  peace,  and  a 
laking  union  between  both  coun¬ 
tries. 

The  leaders  of  oppontion,  ridi¬ 
culed  the  idea  of  the  prefent  mi¬ 
ni  fters  becoming  negociators  for 
peace  and  conciliation  with  the 
Americans,  as  the  greatek  of  all 
poffible  abfurdities.  The  colonies, 
they  faid,  had  been  fo  often  abuf- 
ed,  deceived,  and  trifled  with  by 
them,  and  fo  thoroughly  under- 
kood  the  principles  which  were 
the  fpring  of  all  their  a£tions,  that 
they  never  would  liken  to  any 
terms  of  peace,  however  flattering, 
which  made  their  way  to  them 
through  fo  obnoxious  a  channel. 
No  negociation  could  pokibly  fuc- 
ceed  in  their  hands.  Every  body, 
faid  they,  knows,  that  the  Ame¬ 
ricans  openly  charge  (whether  tru¬ 
ly  or  falfely  was  not  the  quekion) 
all  the  lofs  and  calamity  which 
has  befallen  both  countries,  to  their 
incapacity,  malignity,  and  obki- 
nacy.  Exclufive  of  the  refent- 
ment  arifmg  from  the  mifery 
which  they  have  endured  through 
their  means,  can  any  man  in  the 
cool  poffefilon  of  his  reafon  fup- 
pofe,  that  they  will  enter  into  any 
meafures  of  friendihip,  or  fykem 
of  union  with  men  whom  they 
fufpedl,  detek,  and  defpife.  They 
infiked,  that  the  houfe  of  Bour¬ 
bon  were  hokile  ;  that  they  only 

waited 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [75 


waited  for  the  full  confummation 
of  that  favourable  crifis,  by  the 
expectation  of  which  they  had  for 
a  long  time  regulated  all  their 
conduCt  ;  that,  in  the  wretched 
Struggle  with  our  own  people,  we 
had  loft  Portugal,  alienated  Hol¬ 
land,  and  had  not  a  ftngle  ally 
left  upon  the  face  of  the  earth, 
excepting,  that  the  petty  merce¬ 
nary  ftates  of  Germany,  who  hir¬ 
ed  out  the  blood  of  their  fubjeCts, 
were  by  fome  depravation  of  lan¬ 
guage  and  ideas,  to  be  considered 
as  allies.  What  feafon  then,  faid 
they,  could  be  fo  fitting  for  en¬ 
quiry  and  deliberation,  or  at  what 
time  could  procraftination  prove 
more  pernicious  than  the  prefent, 
when  one  army  is  annihilated, 
another,  little  lefs  than  befieged, 
and  our  hereditary  and  natural 
enemy  negociating  a  treaty  with 
our  colonies,  by  which,  if  once 
concluded,  America  will  be  irre¬ 
coverably  loft  to  this  country. 

The  queftion  being  at  length 
put,  about  10  at  night,  the  mo¬ 
tion  of  adjournment  was  carried 
upon  a  divifion  by  a  majority  of 
155  to  68. 

During  thefe  tranfadions  in  the 
houfe  of  commons,  the  bufinefs 
in  that  of  the  lords,  abftraCied 
from  the  fupplies,  was  conducted 
upon  the  fame  ground,  and  in 
general  with  the  fame  effeCt.  The 
Duke  of  Richmond  had  moved  for 
an  enquiry  into  the  ftate  of  tke 
nation,  on  the  fame  day  that  Mr. 
Fox  had  made  his  motion  in  the 
houfe  of  commons.  The  en¬ 
quiry  was  alfo  fixed  to  the  fame 
date  in  both  ;  and  the  fubfequent 
motions  for  papers  and  information 
made  by  his  Grace,  correfponded 
with,  thofe  in  the  other  houfe,  and 


were  agreed, to  in  the  fame  man¬ 
ner. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  the 
Earl  of  Chatham  moved,  that  co¬ 
pies  of  all  orders  and  inftrudions 
to  General  Burgoyne,  relative  to 
the  northern  expedition.  Should  be 
laid  before  the  houfe.  The  noble 
earl  introduced  his  motion  with  a 
fpeech  of  confiderable  length,  in 
which  he  difteded  and  reprobated 
feveral  parts  of  that  from  the 
throne  without  referve  or  ceremo¬ 
ny  ;  and  taking  a  large  fweep  into 
public  meafures,  he  leemed  to 
fummon  all  the  powers  of  his  elo¬ 
quence,  and  all  his  natural  vehe¬ 
mence,  to  the  dired  cenfure  of 
the  minifters,  and  the  moll  un¬ 
qualified  condemnation  of  their 
condud.  Among  other  caufes, 
to  which,  in  this  courfe,  he  attri¬ 
buted  the  unhappy  change  which 
had  taken  place  in  our  public  af¬ 
fairs,  he  particularly  reprobated, 
in  terms  of  the  greateft  bitternefs, 
a  court  fyllem,  which  he  faid,  had 
been  introduced  and  perfevered  in 
for  the  laft  fifteen  years,  of  loofen- 
ing  and  breaking  all  connedion  ; 
deftroying  all  faith  and  confidence  ; 
and  extinguishing  all  principle,  in 
different  orders  of  the  community. 
A  few  men,  he  faid,  had  got  an 
afcendancy,  where  no  man  Should 
have  a  perfonal  afcendancy  ;  by 
having  the  executive  powers  of 
the  ftate  at  their  command,  they 
had  been  furnifhed  with  the  means 
of  creating  divifions,  and  fami¬ 
liarizing  treachery.  Thus  were 
obfeure  and  unknown  men  ;  men 
totally  unacquainted  with  public 
bufinefs  ;  pliable,  not  capable 
men;  and  the  dregs,  or  renegades 
of  parties,  brought  into  the  highefl 
and  molt  refponfible  Stations ;  and 


?&)  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 

by  fucli  men  was  this  once  glo¬ 


rious  empire  reduced  to  its  prefent 
ffate  of  danger  and  difgrace.  Then 
riling  into  his  ufual  force  of  ex- 
preffion  :  the  fpirit  of  delation,  he 
faid,  had  gone  forth.-— The  rnini- 
fters  had  impofed  on  the  people.— 
Parliament  had  been  induced  to 
iandify  the  impofltion.  —  Falfe 
lights  had  been  held  out  to  the 
country  gentlemen,.  — —  They  had 
been  feduced  into  the  fupport  of  a 
moil  deftrudtive  war  under  the  im- 
preffion,  that  the  land-tax  would 
have  been  diminijhed  by  the  means 
of  an  American  revenue.  But  the 
vilionary  phantom,  thus  conjured 
up  for  the  bafeft  of  all  purpofes, 
that  of  deception,  was  now  about 
to  vanifh. 

The  debate  was  long,  animat¬ 
ed,  and  well  fnpported  on  both 
ildes.  The  minifters,  though  plain¬ 
ly  fomewhat  deprefled,  defended 
themfelves  with  refolution.  They 
faid  they  knew  nothing  of  the  pri¬ 
vate  influence  that  had  been  talked 
■ef.  That  it  was  a  topic  taken  up 
or  laid  down  by  men  as  it  fuited 
their  views.  That  they  never  had 
impofed  on  the  people  or  on  par¬ 
liament ;  but  communicated  fuch 
information  as  was  true,  provided 
it  was  fafe.  That  they  had  ne¬ 
ver  laid  any  thing  falfe  before 
them  ;  but  be  the  event  what  it 
would,  they  never  would  repent 
the  vigorous  Heps  they  had  taken 
for  afferting  the  rights  of  par¬ 
liament,  and  the  (dignity  of  their 
country.  The  queflion  being  at 
length  put,  the  motion  was  re¬ 
jected  on  a  divifion  by  a  majority 
of  40  to  19. 

The  noble  earl  then  imme¬ 
diately  moved  for  an  addrefs,  to 
lay  before  them  copies  of  all  the 
Orders  or  treaties  relative  to  the 


employment  of  the  favages,  acting 
in  conjunction  with  the  Britifh 
troops  againft  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Bri tilh  colonies  in  North  Ame¬ 
rica,  with  a  copy  of  the  inffruc- 
tions  given  by  General  Burgoyne 
to  Colonel  Sr.  Leger. 

As  no  meafure  had  ever  been 
marked  with  a  greater  fe verity  of 
language,  or  had  excited  ftronger 
appearances  of  difguft  and  hor¬ 
ror,  than  that,  to  which  the  mo¬ 
tion  related,  the  m millers  were 
accordingly  very  tender  upon  the 
fubjeCt,  and  could  ill  difguife  the 
indignation  and  refen tment  which 
they  felt,  at  its  being  fo  fre¬ 
quently  and  vexatioufly  brought 
within  obfervation.  And  as  the 
noble  framer  of  the  prefent  mo¬ 
tion,  had  been  among  the  fore- 
moll  in  his  cenfures  on  the  fub- 
jecl,  and  that  the  bitternefs  of  his 
late  fpeech  was  not  yet  worn  off ; 
the  matter  was  taken  up  with 
great  warmth.  The  fame  argu¬ 
ments  ufed  to  defend  it  in  the 
houfe  of  commons  were  relied 
upon  in  the  lords.  The  miniftry 
ftrongly  afferted  the  juftice  and 
the  propriety  of  the  meafure,  on 
principle  and  on  example.  As 
Lord  Chatham  had  afferted  that 
when  he  was  miniiler,  he  had 
always  declined  to  make  ufe  of  fo 
odious  an  inftrumenr  in  the  laffc 
war,  though  a  foreign  one,  this 
affertion  was  flatly  contradicted  by 
the  king’s  fervants,  who  faid  they 
were  able  to  lay  before  the  houfe 
proof  from  the  records  of  office,  of 
his  having  given  orders  to  treat 
with  the  favages  for  their  afliftance. 
Appeals  were  made  to  the  noble 
lord,  who  then  commanded  in 
America,  and  had  taken  his  in¬ 
fractions  from  Mr.  Pitt,  at  that 
time  fecretary  of  flate,  whether 

he 


T- 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [77 


he  had  not  fuch  in  his  army,  and 
whether  he  was  not  authorifed  to 
ufe  them.  The  lords  of  the  mi¬ 
nority  contended,  that  the  cafe  of 
2  foreign  war,  where  the  affe&fions 
of  the  people  are  no  objed,  made 
a  difference  ;  and  that  the  French 
had  made  ufe  of  the  fame  indru- 
ment  to  a  much  greater  degree, 
which  might  judify  retaliation. 
The  debate  was  attended  with  an 
unufual  degree  of  charge,  denial, 
perfonaiity,  and  acrimony  ;  in 
which  courfe  of  painful  alterca¬ 
tion,  a  noble  earl,  who  had  lately 
poffeffed  a  principal  government 
in  America,  both  took  and  endur¬ 
ed  no  inconfiderable  fhare.  The 
motion  was  at  length  thrown  out 
by  the  previous  queftion,  about 
1 1  o’clock  at  night,  the  majority 
being  nearly  the  fame  as  in  the 
foregoino;  divifion. 

-i  The  motion  of  ad- 
Dec.  1 1  th.  •  „  r 

journment,was  icarce- 

ly  lefs  agitated  in  the  houfe  of 
lords,  than  in  that  of  the  com¬ 
mons.  In  the  warmth  of  debate, 
a  noble  lord  high  in  office  hav¬ 
ing  thrown  out  fomewhat,  which, 
though  apparently  fpoken  in  ge¬ 
neral  terms,  was  underdood  as 
more  particularly  directed  to  the 
Earl  of  Chatham,  and  was  inter¬ 
preted  as  an  aflertion,  that  no 
advice  or  opinion  from  lords  on 
that  fide  would  be  received  at 
the  throne,”  this  language  was 
highly  refented  and  feverely  re¬ 
prehended  by  a  noble  duke  and 


earl  in  oppofition,  who  declared 
it,  befides  being  exceedingly  pre- 
fumptuous,  to  be  no  lefs  unpar¬ 
liamentary  and  uncon  dkutional. 
The  fovereign,  they  faid,  had  an 
undoubted  right  to  chufe  his  fer- 
vants ;  but  in  this  moderate  and 
popular  government,  he  was  like- 
wife  bound  to  chufe  with  wif- 
dom  ;  to  confult  the  interefls  of 
the  public,  and  in  many  fitua- 
tions  even  their  likings,  with  re- 
fped  to  thofe  minifters,  to  whom 
he  was  entruded  to  commit  the 
di region  and  conduct  of  their 
deared  and  mod  important  con¬ 
cerns.  And  for  any  perfon,  how¬ 
ever  high  in  office  or  dtuation,  to 
venture  to  forerun  the  prerogative, 
to  limit  the  royal  difcretion  and 
right  of  adion,  by  pretending  to 
predid  who  fnould  or  fhould  not 
be  employed  or  confulted,  and 
thus  to  profcribe  wifdom,  honedy, 
and  ability  from  the  public  fer- 
vice,  if  they  only  happened  to  be 
exerted  in  oppofition  to  mini  derial 
meafures,  was  equally  indecent 
and  injurious  with  refped  to  the 
crown,  and  dangerous  to  the  rights 
of  the  people.  In  fad,  it  was  no 
lefs,  they  faid,  than  imputing  fen- 
timents  to  the  fovereign  unbe¬ 
coming  his  dation,  and  diredly 
repugnant  to  the  duties  preferr¬ 
ed  to  him  by  the  conditution. 
After  long  debates,  the  motion 
of  adjournment  was  carried  upon 
a  divifion,  by  a  majority  of  47 
to  17, 


CHAP. 


78]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


CHAP.  V. 

,  Subfeription  for  the  American  prifoners.  State  of  public  affairs.  Scheme 
for  raifng  a  body  of  troops  to  f up  ply  the  lofs  at  Saratoga.  Difficulties 
attending  that  meafure .  Subfcriptions  for  raifng  new  levies .  Man- 
chef  er  and  Liverpoole  raife  regiments.  Failure  of  the  attempt  in  the 
corporations  of  London  and  Brifol.  Large  private  fubfcriptions  in  both 
cities.  Several  regiments  raifed  in  Scotland ,  and  independent  companies 
in  Wales.  Great  debates  in  both  Houfes  on  the  meafure  of  raifng  forces 
without  the  knowledge  or  confent  of  parliament  ;  and  on  the  quefion  of 
legality  with  ref  peel  to  private  contributions  or  benevolences.  Motion  in 
the  committee  of  fupply  for  cloathing  the  new  forces ,  after  long  debates , 
carried  upon  a  divifon .  Earl  of  Abingdon' s  motion  for  fummoning  the 
judges  on  the  quefion,  over-ruled.  His  other  motions  for  paffmg  a  cenfurs 
on  the  meafure ,  after  long  debates  rejected  upon  a  divifon . 


GREAT  complaints  were 
about  this  time  circulated, 
that  the  American  prifoners  in 
this  country,  who  amounted  to  fe- 
veral  hundreds,  were  treated  with 
a  degree  of  rigour  which  fell  little 
ihort  of  cruelty.  Thefe  rumours 
extended  even  to  France ;  and  oc¬ 
ean  on  ed  the  American  deputies  in 
that  country,  after  an  unfuccefs- 
ful  attempt  to  edablifh  a  cartel 
with  the  Britifh  minider  at  Paris, 
to  tranfmit  a  letter,  couched  in 
drong  terms  of  complaint,  to  the 
fird  lord  of  the  treafury  upon 
the  fubjeft.  This  letter  contained 
a  particular  charge,  which,  though 
we  think  not  to  be  true  in  the 
manner  dated,  we  are  forry  not 
to  have  feen  publicly  refuted,  viz. 
that  a  number  of  thefe  unhappy 
people,  were  now  in  a  date  of 
bondage,  on  the  coads  of  Africa, 
and  in  the  Ead  Indies,  who  had 
been  compelled  to  fubmit  to  that 
condition,  under  the  menaces  of 
an  immediate  and  ignominious 
death.  We  have  fome  reafon  to 
fuppofe  that  this  charge  related 
more  particularly  to  fome  of  thofe 


prifoners  who  had  been  taken  in 
Canada,  and  who  being  partly 
terrified  by  threats,  and  partly  un¬ 
able  to  withdand  the  miferies  of 
their  confinement,  which  were  ag¬ 
gravated  for  the  purpofe,  entered 
as  foldiers  into  our  fervice,  merely 
as  a  means  of  facilitating  their 
efcape.  Several  of  thefe  being 
taken  in  the  a<5i  of  defertion,  and 
being  liable  to  death  by  our  mili¬ 
tary  laws,  which  could  afford  no 
providon  for  the  force  or  terror 
under  which  they  had  added,  pof- 
iibly  might  have  obtained  their 
forfeit  lives,  on  condition  of  their 
being  fent  to  garrifon  fome  of  our 
forts  on  the  coad  of  Africa,  or 
of  their  entering  for  life  into  the 
fervice  of  the  Ead  India  Com¬ 
pany. 

As  to  the  prifoners  who  were' 
kept  in  England,  their  penury  and 
didrefs  was  undoubtedly  great, 
and  was  much  increafed  by  the 
fraud  and  cruelty  of  thofe  who 
were  entruded  with  the  govern¬ 
ment  and  fupply  of  their  prifons. 
For  thefe  perfons,  who  indeed  ne¬ 
ver  had  any  orders  for  ill  treat¬ 
ment 


HISTORY 

ment  of  the  prifoners,  or  counte¬ 
nance  in  it,  having  however,  not 
been  overlooked  with  the  utmod 
vigilance,  befides  their  peculiar 
prejudices  and  natural  cruelty, 
confidered  their  offices  only  as 
lucrative  jobs,  which  were  created 
merely  for  theiremolument.  Whe¬ 
ther  there  was  not  fome  exaggera¬ 
tion,  as  ufually  there  is,  in  thefe 
accounts,  it  is  certain,  that  though 
the  fubfidence  allowed  them  by 
government,  would  indeed  have 
been  fufficient,  if  honeltly  admi- 
niilered,  to  have  fudained  human 
nature,  in  refpedl  to  the  mere 
article  of  food,  yet  the  want  of 
clothes,  firing,  and  bedding,  with 
all  the  other  various  articles,  which 
cullom  or  nature  render  conducive 
to  health  and  comfort,  became 
particularly  infupportable  in  the 
extremity  of  the  winter.  In 
confequence  of  complaints  made 
by  the  prifoners,  the  matter  was 
very  humanely  taken  up  in  the 
Houfe  of  Peers  by  Lord  Abing¬ 
don,  who  moved  for  accounts  re¬ 
lative  to  their  treatment  ;  and 
foon  after  a  liberal  fubfcripticn 
was  carried  on  in  London  and 
other  parts  with  the  enlarged  fpi- 
rit  which  didinguilhes  this  nation, 
and  with  only  a  flight  oppofition 
in  the  beginning,  as  being  offi- 
cioufly  fup'pofed  a  meafure  not 
pleafing  to  miniflry.  This  fub- 
fcription,  co-operating  with  a 
dridter  attention  on  the  part  of 
government,  provided  a  fufficient 
remedy  for  the  evil. 

The  lofs  of  the  northern  army 
with  refpedl  to  all  future  fervice 
in  the  American  war,  feemed  a 
fatal  check  to  that  favourite  fydem 
of  conqueftand  unconditional  fub- 
miffion,  which  had  been  fo  long 
and  fo  dedfadly  perfevered  in  by 


OF  EUROPE.  [79 

the  court.  Nor  were  other  mat¬ 
ter  relative  to  the  war  much 
more  favourable  to  the  fcheme  of 
coercion.  The  Precedes  on  the 
fide  of  Penfylvania,  though  many 
and  confiderable,  and  what  in 
other  cafes  would  have  been  fol¬ 
lowed  by  more  decidve  effedts,  by 
no  means  anfwcred  the  hopes  that 
were  formed  on  that  expedition  ^ 
nor  did  the  prefent  date  of  affairs 
there,  indicate  any  fuch  future 
advantage,  as  might  countervail 
the  lofs  in  the  other.  The  re- 
fources  in  Germany  were  nearly 
exhauded.  Men  were  not  only 
procured  with  difficulty,  but  one 
of  the  great  powers,  actually  re- 
fufed  a  paffage  through  a  fkirt  of 
his  dominions,  to  a  body  of  thofe 
which  were  already  in  the  Britifh 
fervice.  Although  this  difficulty 
was  evaded  at  the  expence  of  a 
long  circuitous  march,  and  much 
lofs  of  time ;  it  became  however 
evident,  from  that  and  other  cir- 
cumflances,  that  the  at  mod  which 
could  be  expedted  in  future  from 
that  country,  would  be  to  recruit 
the  German  forces  already  in 
America. 

Under  thefe  difagreeable  clr- 
cumdances  with  refpedl  to  Ame¬ 
rica,  the  afpedt  of  affairs  was  be¬ 
coming  every  day  more  louring 
and  dangerous  in  Europe.  Indeed 
the  condudt  of  the  Houfe  of  Bour¬ 
bon  had  been  long  fo  unequivocal, 
that  nothing  lefs  than  that  fort  of 
blindnefs,  in  which  the  mind  is 
too  liable  to  be  involved  by  the 
eagernefs  of  a  favourite  purfuit, 
could  have  permitted  the  poffibility 
even  of  a  doubt,  as  to  their  pre¬ 
fent  views  and  ultimate  dedgns. 
Yet  notwithdanding  all  thefe  dif¬ 
ficulties,  Ioffes  and  dangers,  the 
fydem  of  conqued,  or  of  com¬ 
pelling 


So]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


pelling  the  Americans  by  force  to 
a,  return  of  their  duty,  was  fo 
Wrongly  fupported,  and  fo  firmly 
adhered  to,  that  it  feems  to  have 
been  flill  determined,  in  fpite  of 
lofs  and  misfortune,  to  perfevere 
in  it  to  the  laft,  and  that  even  if 
it  fhouid  be  thought  expedient  to 
offer  terms  of  peace,  on  which 
point  there  feemed  to  be  fome  dif¬ 
ference  among  the  Minifters,  yet 
all  agreed,  that  whatever  terms 
might  be  held  out  with  the  one 
hand,  fhouid  be  enforced  with  the 
fword  by  the  other. 

For  the  fupport  of  this  determi¬ 
nation,  a  meafure  of  no  fmall 
difficulty  became,  however,  in- 
difpenfably  necefiary,  This  was 
to  eftablifti  fuch  a  body  of  new 
troops  at  home,  as  would  not  only 
fupply  the  place  of  Burgoyne’s 
army,  but  alfo  help  to  fill  up  the 
wide  chafms,  which  death, wounds, 
iicknffs  and  defertion  had  made 
in  the  remaining  force  in  America, 
by  fending  out  full  and  complete 
regiments  to  replace  thofe  who 
had  fuffered  moil  in  the  war.  For 
the  fending  any  more  of  the  old 
battalions  from  England  or  Ire- 
land,  without  the  leaving  of  feme 
corps  in  their  place,  equal  at  leaft 
to  them  in  point  of  number,  was 
a  meafure  which  would  have  met 
with  a  violent  oppofition  in  both 
kingdoms.  Nor  can  it  poflibly  be 
fuppofed,  that  the  Minifters,  how¬ 
ever  they  found  it  necefiary  to  dif- 
guife  or  conceal  their  fentiments, 
could  be  free  from  apprehenfion, 
that  the  time  was  approaching, 
when  our  home  force  would  be 
necefiary  for  our  home  defence. 

But  although  the  neceffity  of 
raifing  a  conliderable  body  of  new 
troops,  was,  on  this  ground  of 
policy,  fufficiently  evident,  the 


means  of  accomplifhing  that  pur- 
pofe  were  by  no  means  fo  ob¬ 
vious.  The  late  misfortune,  and 
the  little  apparent  room  for  hope 
which  now  remained  of  bettering 
our  condition  by  force,  afforded 
no  encouragement  for  an  applica* 
tion  to  parliament  on  the  fubjeci. 
It  was  evident  indeed,  that  the 
Minifters,  by  the  haftinefs  and 
length  of  the  prorogation,  and  by 
fome  feeling  expreftions  which 
dropped  from  one  of  them,  chofe 
at  that  time  as  little  parliamentary 
converfation  about  America  as  pof- 
fible ;  nor  did  they  wilh  to  renew 
it,  until  they  fhouid  be  able  to 
afford  better  profpe<5ts  of  their 
ftrength  and  means  of  profecuting 
the  war,  than  at  that  time  ap¬ 
peared. 

In  thefe  circumftances,  it  was 
thought  fitting  to  hazard  an  expe¬ 
riment  on  the  zeal  of  thofe  per- 
fons  and  parties,  who  had  all 
along  fliewn  the  greateft  eagernefs 
in  the  pro fecu tion  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  war  ;  an  experiment  which 
would  afford  them  alfo  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  teftifying  their  particu¬ 
lar  attachment  and  loyalty  to  the 
crown  beyond  the  meafure  of  par¬ 
liamentary  fupply.  By  this  means 
it  was  hoped  that  fuch  a  body  of 
troops  might  be  raifed,  without 
any  previous  application  to  par¬ 
liament,  and  with  the  flattering 
appearance  of  faving  expence  in 
the  firft  inftance  to  the  public,  as 
would  anfwer  the  defired  pur- 
pofe. 

Thefe  expe£lations  were  not  al¬ 
together  ill  founded.  But  as  the 
meafure  carried  an  unconftitutiona! 
appearance,  and  might  be  made 
liable  to  the  charge  of  interfering 
with  the  rights  of  parliament  ; 
and  of  violating  fome  of  thofe  re? 

ftri&ions! 


HISTORY  OF 

ftriftions  which  it  had  been  found 
neceflary  to  lay  on  the  prerogative; 
befides  the  motives  juft  now  align¬ 
ed  ;  fomeconficierable  management 
was  neceflary  as  to  the  time  and 
manner  of  making  the  experiment. 
For  if  it  had  been  attempted  du¬ 
ring  the  actual  fitting  of  parlia¬ 
ment,  it  would  not  only  have  the 
whole  weight  of  oppofttion  to  en¬ 
counter  w’nilft  it  was  yet  in  embryo, 
and  whilft  the  uncertainty  of  fuc- 
cefs  w’ould  prevent  its  being  fup- 
ported  with  any  fpirit  ;  but  it 
could  not  be  forefeen,  how  far 
their  example  and  arguments 
might,  in  a  matter  of  a  new  and 
doubtful  nature,  have  extended 
beyond  their  own  pale.  Upon 
thefe  accounts  it  was  fuppoied, 
that  the  Minifter  thought  it  pru¬ 
dent,  not  only  to  make  the  expe¬ 
riment  during  the  recefs,  but  to 
render  that  longer  than  ufual,  in 
order  to  afford  time  for  difcovering 
its  operation  and  efteft  before  it 
underwent  any  difcuflion  ;  being 
well  fatisfied,  that  when  a  bufinefs 
was  once  accomplifhed,  any  ob¬ 
jections  that  were  then  made  to  the 
propriety  or  principle  of  the  mea- 
fure  would  be  of  little  avail. 

Some  men  of  rank  and  influence, 
who  had  either  adopted  the  mea- 
fure  from  a  conviction  of  its  expe¬ 
dience  and  propriety,  or  who, 
upon  advice,  had  engaged  in  its 
fupport  and  furtherance,  ufed 
means,  in  thofe  places  where  their 
intereft  lay,  both  to  found  the  dif- 
poiition  of  the  people,  and  to  give 
it  that  direction  which  was  nec-ef- 
fary  for  the  purpofe.  The  towns 
of  Manchefter  and  Liverpoole, 
whether  of  their  own  motion,  or 
through  application,  were  the 
leaders  in  this  bufinefs,  which  they 
engaged  in  with  the  greateft  fer- 
Vql.  XXI. 


EUROPE.  [81 

.'our,  and  immediately  fent  an  of¬ 
fer  to  court  to  raife  each  a  reed- 

O 

meat  of  a  thoufand  men.  In  other 
places,  public  meetings  of  towns, 
counties,  and  great  corporate  bo¬ 
dies,  were  encouraged,  at  which 
refolutions  were  propofed  for  the 
general  levying  of  men  for  the  fer- 
vice. 

The  fetting  of  fuch  an  example 
by  the  city  of  London,  would  have 
been  upon  this  occafion  a  matter 
of  the  greateft  importance  ;  not 
only  from  the  ample  fupport  which 
that  great  body  would  have  admi- 
niftered,  if  it  had  entered  heartily 
into  the  meafure  ;  but  from  the 
countenance  which  it  would  have 
afforded  to  the  Minifters,  the  ap¬ 
probation  it  would  have  implied  of 
their  paft,  and  the  fanCtion  it  would, 
have  given  to  their  future  raea- 
fures,  together  with  the  general 
effeCt  which  its  conduct  would 
have  had  upon  the  nation  at  large. 
Nor  did  the  diftance,  coolnefs,  fre¬ 
quent  bickerings,  and  variance, 
which  had  for  feveral  years  taken, 
place  between  the  court  and  the 
city,  by  any  means  exclude  this 
idea.  Several  of  the  popular 
leaders  in  that  body  had,  from 
various  caufes,  loft  much  of  their 
former  weight  and  influence.  Pa¬ 
tronage  and  influence  had  alfo 
fhifted  hands  much  in  the  city  flnce 
the  commencement  of  the  troubles. 
The  great  commercial  orders  for 
the  foreign  markets,  which  ufed 
to  render  the  inferior  citizens  in  a 
great  meafure  dependent  upon  the 
capital  wholefale  dealers,  and  long 
efiablifhed  mercantile  houfes,  wer® 
either  now  no  more,  or  they  were 
come  into  the  pofteftion  of  the  con¬ 
tractors  for  carrying  on  the  war,  a 
vaft  and  lucrative  commerce,  or 
centered  in  the  monopoly  lately 

[FI  fet 


I 


8a]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


fet  up  under  colour  of  licences. 
Thus  all  bufinefs  being  in  the 
hands  of  people  neceffarily  devoted 
to  government,  the  elections  went 
of  courfe  that  way  ;  and  though 
the  acclamations  of  the  electors 
at  all  times,  and  the  fnow  of  hands 
generally,  announced  a  great  ma¬ 
jority  in  favour  of  the  popular 
candidates,  yet  when  it  came  to 
that  ferious  point,  where  the  elec¬ 
tor’s  vote  was  to  become  a  hand¬ 
ing  record,  and  to  rife  in  judgment 
again!!  him,  if  it  went  contrary  to 
the  will  of  his  employer,  it  was 
not  to  be  fo  much  depended  upon 
as  in  former  times,  when  the  em¬ 
ployment  of  tradesmen  was  more 
at  large. 

To  confirm  and  fecure  their 
power,  a  numerous  fociety  was 
formed  under  the  influence  of  the 
leaders  of  the  court  party,  who 
were  by  themfelves  denominated 
the  AfTociated  Livery,  but  were  ge¬ 
nerally  called  the  White  Hart  Af- 
fociation,  from  the  tavern  at  which 
their  principals  held  their  great 
meetings,  and  which  might  be 
confldered  as  the  head  quarters  of 
the  party.  This  party  grew  ex¬ 
ceedingly  numerous  and  powerful ; 
and  great  numbers  of  thofe  who 

o 

had  at  firft  entered  into  the  fociety 
merely  for  convenience,  became  at 
length  partizans  in  the  cauie, 
through  the  vexation  which  they 
continually  buffered,  from  the  con- 
ftant  reproach  of  their  former  fel¬ 
lows  in  public  conduct  and  opi¬ 
nion,  who  now  ffigmatized  them 
as  bafe  deferters  from  the  caufe  of 
liberty,  and  betrayers  of  thofe 
rights  of  the  city  which  they  were 
fworn  to  maintain,  and  of  that  in¬ 
dependency  which  they  were  bound 
by  every  tie  to  defend  to  the  ut~ 
molt. 


Th  is  affociation  accordingly  had 
for  fome  time  taken  an  avowed 
and  adtive  part  in  the  city  elec¬ 
tions.  For  by  advertifing  in  the 
public  papers  thofe  candidates 
whom  they  were  determined  to 
fupport,  thefe  notices  became  in 
effeCt  mandates  to  that  great  part 
of  the  liverv,  who  were  in  fome 
degree  within  the  reach  or  influ¬ 
ence  of  their  leaders,  or  who,  from 
moderation  of  temper,  prudence, 
or  timidity,  did  not  chufe  to  ex¬ 
po  fe  themfelves  to  the  enmity  of 
fo  numerous  and  powerful  a  party  ; 
and  fuch  acompadt  collective  body, 
aCling  under  order,  in  ftridt  union 
and  concert,  and  enabled  to  bear 
any  expence,  by  a  large  common 
flock  purfe,  proved  a  ballance,  and 
more  than  a  ballance,  to  the  popu¬ 
lar  focieties,  which,  from  their 
difunion  and  other  caufes,  daily 
wafted  away,  and  at  length  feem  to 
have  quite  expired.  The  chief 
magiflrate  of  the  city  belonged 
alfo  to  this  fociety,  and  was  clofely 
connected  in  dealing  with  govern¬ 
ment. 

Not  with  handing  thefe  favour¬ 
able  circumffances,  the  bufinefs 
was  condudled  with  caution  and 
addrefs.  The  chief  magiflrate  was 
fa  id'  to  have  received  both  inflruc- 
tion  and  encouragement,  in  a 
place  and  fituation  where  they 
could  not  fail  to  have  operated 
with  uncommon  efficacy.  As  a 
prelude  to  the  opening  of  the  bu- 
flnefs  to  the  corporation,  the  Affo- 
ciators  advertifed  for  a  public  meet¬ 
ing  on  the  fubjeCt,  where  they  ex¬ 
pected  to  a  certainty,  that  the  ap¬ 
pearance  would  have  been  fo  nu¬ 
merous  and  refpeCtable  in  fupport 
of  the  meafure,  and  the  affent  fo 
univerfal  in  its  favour,  that  they 
fliould  then  carry  it  to  the  greateff 

extent 


HISTORY  O 

extent  they  wifhed,  without  diffi¬ 
culty,  and  perhaps  without  oppo- 
fition,  in  the  Common  Council. 
To  their  aftonilhment,  however, 
they  found  themfelves  deferted  up¬ 
on  this  occalion  by  the  greater  part 
of  thofewho  had  hithertoTegularly 
obeyed  all  their  mandates  with 
refpeft  to  eledlion  to  city  offices. 
Such  was  the  effect  of  the  original 
averfenefs  from  the  American  war, 
and  fuch  the  difo;uft  towards  mi- 
niftry  on  the  late  unfavourable 
events,  that  the  meeting  was  not 
only  badly  attended,  but  many  of 
thofe  who  appeared  prefented  fuch 
captious  faces,  and  the  counte¬ 
nances  in  general  were  fo  little 
promifing,  that  the  leaders  did  not 
think  it  fafe  to  hazard  the  name, 
and  in  that  all  the  influence  and 
power  of  the  party,  by  the  propo¬ 
sal  of  any  question,  and  the  affem- 
bly  broke  up  as  it  met,  without 
entering  upon  any  buflnefs  what¬ 
ever. 

This  difappointment  was  not  ca¬ 
pable  of  retraining  the  induftry  or 
checking  the  zeal  of  the  chief  ma- 
giftrate.  He  had  newly  refufed  to 
call  a  court,  when  he  fuppofed  the 
buflnefs  would  have  been  contrary 
to  his  own  liking,  and  that  of  his 
party,  although  a  requifltion  in 
writing,  figned  by  the  four  repre- 
fentatives  of  London  in  parliament, 
as  well  as  by  feveral  other  of  the 
molt  eminent  citizens,  had  been 
prefented  for  the  purpofe.  And 
though  he  knew  that  this  a£t  had 
been  productive  of  the  moft  un¬ 
qualified  cenfure,  as  being  at  leak 
an  unufual  flretch  of  his  authority, 
yet  fuperfeding  all  appearance  of 
inconfiltency,  by  what  he  confi- 
dered  as  the  urgent  exigency  of  the 
public,  he  fuddenly  called  a  court 
on  this  buflnefs. 


EUROPE.  [83 

The  original  intention  was  fai^ 
to  be,  that  the  city  of  Londoa 
Ihould  raife  and  maintain  a  body 
of  5,000  men,  to  ferve  for  three 
years,  or  during  the  continuance 
of  the  war.  But  whether  it  was 
from  the  late  failure  at  the  Affocia- 
tion,  or  whatever  other  caufe,  no 
fpecificaticn  of  number  T  ,  , 

•  i  j  j  •  i  j 2.n •  1 6vhj 

was  included  in  the  J  ~ 

motion  now  made  for  ' ' 
the  purpofe  ;  it  being  only  pro- 
pofed,  that  a  bounty  fhould  be 
granted  by  the  city  for  the  railing 
of  men  for  the  land  and  fea  fer- 
vice. 

A  full  loofe  was  now  given-  to 
thofe  refentments  which  the  popu¬ 
lar  party  had  for  fome  time  been 
hoarding  ;  and  the  debates  became 
exceedingly  warm.  It  was  con¬ 
tended  in  fupport  of  the  motion, 
that  in  the  prefent  perilous  fitua- 
tion  in  which  we  flood  with  refpedl 
to  our  natural  enemies,  it  became 
an  abfolute  and  indifpenfable  obli¬ 
gation  on  that  great  city  to  give 
the  moft  public  teflimonial  of  its 
duty,  affeftion,  and  loyalty  ;  that 
the  fame  motives  equally  concur¬ 
red,  with  the  additional  fpur  of 
intereft,  joined  to  the  defire  of  fe- 
curity,  in  their  affording  every 
afliftance  in  their  power,  towards 
exterminating  the  feeds  of  rebel¬ 
lion  on  the  other  fide  of  the  At¬ 
lantic,  and  reducing  our  colonies 
to  fubmiflion  and  order  ;  that  the 
late  lofs  we  had  fuflained  could 
only  be  replaced  by  the  moft  vi¬ 
gorous  exertions  ;  that  every  man 
ihculd  contribute  to  the  public  de¬ 
fence,  in  times  of  public  danger  ; 
and  that  the  city  of  London  had 
ever  flood  forth  as  an  example  to 
the  reft  of  the  nation  in  perilous 
feafons,  and  had  always  been 
diftinguilhed  with  honour  for  her 

[T]  2  fpirit 


84J  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


fpirit  and  exertion  in  the  moil  cri¬ 
tical  ficuations  of  danger. 

On  the  other  fide  it  was  anfwer- 
ed,  that  it  would  be  the  greateft 
and  moll  ridiculous  of  abfurdities, 
for  the  city  now  to  countenance 
and  fupport  coercive  meafures,  af¬ 
ter  having  fo  repeatedly,  and  even 
recently,  reprobated  this  unhappy 
and  deftruCtive  civil  war  in  all  its 
parts,  and  recommended  concilia¬ 
tion  in  the  ftrongeft  terms,  in  all 
thofe  numerous  addrelfes  'which 
they  had  prefented  to  the  throne 
on  the  fubjeft,  That  the  city  had 
already  fufFered  mod  client! ally  in 
her  commercial  concerns,  by  thofe 
fatal  meafures  which  had  plunged 
ns  in  our  prefent  unhappy  luna¬ 
tion  ;  that  it  was  evident  to  every 
unprejudiced  perfon,  that  national 
ruin  mull  be  the  inevitable  confe- 
quenceof  their  continuance.  I’hat 
undoubtedly  London  had  ever  been 
diftingmihed  by,-he,r  loyalty,  her 
free  fupport  of  government,  and 
her  magnanimous  exertions  in  all 
cafes  of  national  emergency  ;  but 
the fe  indances  were  in  cafes  where- 
in  wife  meafures  had  involved  us 
m  juil  wars,  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  national  intereft  and  honour; 
the  fame  difpolition  and  principles 
•which  operated  on  her  conduCt  in 
thofe  particulars,  equally  forbade 
her  fupport  of  unjuft,  opprelfive, 
and  tyrannical  meafures  ;  more 
especially  when  they  terminated 
In  a  cruel  civil  war,  the  de- 
itruCtion  of  our  own  people,  and 
tended  direCtly  to  the  ruin  of 
this  late  fiouriihing  empire.  In 
conclufton,  they  1'ummecl  up  the 
arguments  in  fuch  a  manner,  as  to 
bring  their  principal  force  within 
two  points  of  view,  in  each  of 
which  the  condemnation  of  the 
xtsotion  was  included  ;■  fir  ft,  as  a 


meafure  tending  to  revive  and  rn-* 
flame  the  embers  of  a  war,  unjuft  in 
itfelf,  and  ruinous  to  this  country  ; 
and  fecondly,  as  being  contradictory 
and  abfurd  upon  the  face  of  theif 
own  former  proceedings. 

The  motion  was  fupported  by  a 
majority  of  eleven  to  nine  in  the 
court  of  Aldermen  ;  but  thrown 
out  by  fo  great  a  majority  of  the 
Common  Council,  that  while  the 
loweft  calculation  held  it  at  three 
to  one,  it  was  eftimated  by  the 
higheft  at  180  to  30.  Upon  this 
complete  victory,  a  refoiution  was 
moved  and  paffed,  which  con¬ 
demned  in  ftrong  terms  the  giving 
any  countenance  to,  or  being  in 
any  manner  inftrumenta!  in  the 
further  continuance  of  the  prefent 
ruinous  and  deftruCtive  war.  No¬ 
tice  was  at  the  fame  time  given, 
that  an  addrefs,  petition,  and  re- 
monftrance,  fhould  be  moved  for 
at  the  next  court,  praying,  ct  that 
his  Majefty  would  offer  fuch  terms 
to  our  American  brethren,  as 
would  put  a  ftop  to  the  prefent 
calamitous  war.”  During  the  agi¬ 
tation  of  the  original  queftion,  the 
chief  magiftrate  was  handled  with 
unprecedented  feverity,  under  the 
double  charge,  which  was  made 
in  the  moll  flat  and  unqualified 
terms,  of  his  having  been  clofeted 
for  the  exertion  of  his  public  in- 
tereft  and  official  authority  in  this 
buiinefs,  and  of  his  being  alfo  un~ 
der  the  mean  influence  of  felf-in- 
tereft,  in  the  view  of  procuring  a 
contract  for  the  fupply  of  the  new 
forces  with  certain  articles  which 
were  manufactured  or  prepared  in 
his  own  calling.  Nor  was  the  ge¬ 
neral  reprehenlion  of  the  court  lefs 
when  the  buiinefs  was  over,  for  the 
glaring  partiality,  as  they  faid,  of 
his  conduCl,  the  ihortnefa  of  no- 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [85 


tice,  and  informality  with  which 
they  were  convened,  and  the  dan¬ 
gerous  attempt  to  carry  a  queftion 
of  fuch  importance  by  furprize. 
Thefe  matters  were  pufhed  fo  fe- 
rioufly,  that  a  formal  and  public 
enquiry  into  the  authority  by 
which  he  had  been  guided,  was 
not  only  mentioned,  but  the  prc- 
pofal  with  fome  difficulty  evaded. 
Such  was  the  ill  fuccefs  that  at¬ 
tended  this  attempt  in  the  city  of 
London. 

Upon  this  defeat,  the  difap- 
pointed  party  faid,  that  the  defi¬ 
ciency  of  loyalty  in  the  corpora¬ 
tion,  ffiould  not  damp  its  fpirit  in 
individuals  ;  and  that  at  a  time 
when  fubfcriptions  were  publicly 
opened  and  quickly  filled  for  Ame¬ 
rican  rebels,  it  was  furely  the  leaft 
that  could  be  done  by  the  well- 
affe&ed  and  friends  to  royalty,  to 
iubfcribe  liberally  to  the  fupport  of 
King  and  government.  A  fub- 
fcription  was  accordingly  opened, 
and  a  committee  appointed  at  the 
London  Tavern  to  condudl  the 
bufinefs ;  and  as  it  took  its  rife 
among  monied  men,  and  that  the 
leaders  and  principal  propofers 
were  neceffiarily  liberal  in  their 
contributions,  above  20,000  1.  was 
foon  fubfcribed.  As  the  advertife- 
ments  which  they  publifhed  in  the 
papers  upon  this  occafion,  became 
a  fubjeCl  of  much  difcuifion  and 
cenfure  both  within  doors  and 
without,  we  fhall  tranfcribe  the 
paffage  which  gave  fuch  particular 
offence;  viz.  At  a  meeting  of 
“  feveral  merchants  and  others, 
tc  friends  to  their  King  and  coun- 
try,  in  order  to  fupport  the  con- 
ftitutional  authority  of  Great 
tc  Britain  over  her  rebellious  colo- 
**  nies  in  America;  it  was  una- 
■s  nimoufly  refolved  and  agreed, 


“  that  a  voluntary  fubfcription  be 
“  opened  for  the  above  purpofe  ; 

and  that  the  money  arifing  there- 
“  from  be  applied,  under  the  di- 
“  re&ion  of  a  committee  of  the 
ft  fubfcribers,  in  raifing  men  for 
<c  his  Majelly’s  fervice,  in  fuch 
<c  manner  as  his  Majefty  in  his 
<c  wifdom  fhall  think  fit.” 

A  fimilar  attempt  was  made  in 
Brillol,  to  induce  the  corporation 
to  raife  a  body  of  men.  The 
event  was  alfo  fimilar.  The  de- 
fign  failed  with  refpeCt  to  the  cor¬ 
porate  body ;  but  a  number  of 
names  to  large  funis  of  money  ap¬ 
peared  in  a  private  fubfcription, 
which  rivalled  in  the  amount 
that  at  London.  But  whether  it 
proceeded  from  the  difcuffion  which 
this  manner  of  raifing  or  granting 
money  underwent  in  parliament, 
or  from  whatever  caufe,  we  do 
not  find  that  either  of  thefe  fub- 
fcriptions  were  productive  of  any 
great  effedt.  Neither  did  the  in¬ 
tended  meafure  fucceed  better  in 
the  counties.  A  flrong  government 
intereft  was  foiled  in  Norfolk  ;  and 
the  attempt  produced  a  petition  of 
uncommon  force  and  energy  from 
the  freeholders  of  the  county  to 
parliament  againft  the  American 
war.  Nor  was  the  attempt  of  a 
noble  Lord  in  Warwickfhire  more 
fuccefsful.  Subfcriptions  were  in¬ 
deed  opened,  in  different  places, 
by  thofe  who  were,  or  who  would 
be  thought,  particularly  attached 
to  government. 

In  Scotland  it  was  thought  pro¬ 
per  to  give  encouragement  to  the 
raifing  of  new  regiments ;  a  mea¬ 
fure  which  was  adopted  there  with 
the  greateft  avidity.  The  cities 
of  Edinburgh  and  Glafgow  fub¬ 
fcribed  liberally  ;  raifed  a  regi¬ 
ment  of  a  thoufand  men  each  ; 
[•F]  3,  and 


86]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


and  were  indulged,  like  Manches¬ 
ter  and  Liverpoole,  with  the  nomi¬ 
nation  of  officers.  Several  indi¬ 
viduals  undertook  and  performed 
the  raifing  of  regiments  in  the 
Highlands.  The  conditions  were 
generally  the  fame,  and  very  ad¬ 
vantageous  both  to  the  raifers  and 
to  the  officers.  Several  indepen¬ 
dent  companies,  amounting  to 
Something  about  a  regiment  in 
point  of  number,  were  raifed  in 
Wales ;  but  the  battalions,  ex¬ 
cepting  thofe  of  Manchefter  and 
Liverpoole,  were  all  formed  in 
Scotland. 

The  minifters  had  thoroughly 
Shaken  off  their  panic  during  the 
recefs.  The  railing  of  the  new 
forces  not  only  enabled  them  again 
to  Support  the  American  fyftern, 
which  Scarcely  before  Seemed  tena¬ 
ble;  but  it  afforded  no  contempti¬ 
ble  teflimony,  and  which  in  argu¬ 
ment  was  eafily  advanced  to  a 
proof,,  that  their  conduct  received 
the  full  approbation's  the  people, 
and  that  the  general  fenfe  of  the 
nation  went  with  them  in  their 
jneafures.  Thus  they  were  ena¬ 
bled  to  meet  parliament  with  con¬ 
fidence  ;  and,  under  So  efficacious 
a  Support  as  the  public  voice  and 
approbation,  to  brave  all  enqui¬ 
ries  into  part  conduct,  as  well  as 
into  the  prefent  Hate  or  condition 
of  the  nation. 

Indeed  the  facility  with  which 
thefe  enquiries  were  agreed  to  in. 
the  hour  of  tribulation  and  difmay, 
it  is  probable,  was  now  Sufficiently 
regretted.  But  it  was  hoped,  that 
the  fpirit  which  was  now  raifed, 
and  the  parliamentary  modes  of 
defeating  the  objects  of  all  en¬ 
quiry,  would  take  away  all  effebl 
of  the  advantage  which  they  had 


Suffered  the  oppofition  to  obtaia 
over  them. 

Notwitbilanding  this  Smooth 
Hate  of  affairs  at  home,  the  mini- 
flers  were  far  from  being  at  eafe. 
Majorities  and  a£ls  of  parliament, 
though  poffeffing  wonderful  effi¬ 
cacy  in  their  proper  place,  were 
neither  capable  of  reclaiming  our 
revolted  colonies,  nor  of  prevent¬ 
ing  the  defigns  of  our  foreign  ene¬ 
mies.  It  has  Since  appeared  from 
the  mofl  indubitable  evidence,  that 
adminiflration  had  for  Some  time 
been  in  poffeffion  of  information 
from  the  Britifn  Minifler  at  Paris, 
not  only  of  the  negociation  for  a 
commercial  treaty  between  that 
court  ar.d  the  Americans,  but  alio 
of  another  private  and  confidential 
treaty,  which  was  conducted  with 
the  moil  profound  fecrecy,  and 
fraught  with  matter  of  the  moil 
dangerous  nature  to  this  country. 
How  this  knowledge  is  to  be  re¬ 
conciled  with  the  public  meafures 
then  purfued,  we  have  no  bufinefs 
to  examine. 

The  firil  bufinefs  that  was  taken 
up  by  the  oppofition  in  both 
houfes,  was  the  meafure  of  raifing 
the  new  levies  during  the  recefs. 
Sir  P.  J.  Clerke  ob-  ,  , 

ferved  in  the  Houfe  of  J 

Commons,  that  he  had' 
promifed  feveral  of  his  neighbours 
in  the  country  to  make  an  enquiry 
into  the  bufinefs.  That  the  peo¬ 
ple  had  been  told,  that  the  Ame¬ 
rican  war  was  the  war  of  parlia¬ 
ment;  and  that  they  were  there¬ 
fore  exceedingly  alarmed,  to  hear 
that  a  large  body  of  forces  had 
been  raifed  during  the  recefs,  not 
only  without  the  knowledge  or 
advice  of  parliament,  but  with¬ 
out  the  fmallefl  intimation  having 

2  been 


/ 


HISTORY 

teen  given  bv  the  Minifter  before 
the  adjournment,  that  any  fuch 
fcheme  was  even  in  contemplation. 
That,  on  the  contrary,  they  had 
heard  the  noble  Lord  had  informed 
the  Houfe,  that  he  fhould  have  a 
conciliatory  proportion  to  lay  be¬ 
fore  them  at  their  next  meeting, 
which  he  hoped  would  prove  high¬ 
ly  advantageous  to  this  country. 
But  that  inidead  of  a  peace,  he  laid, 
the  noble  Lord  had  produced  an 
army  ;  and  what  was  Hill  vvorfe, 
an  army  raifed  under  the  aufpices 
of  perfons  who  had  never  been 
noted  for  loyalty  to  their  Sovereign, 
or  attachment  to  the  conlUtuti-on. 
The  grand  object  of  his  enquiry, 
he  faid,  was  to  know  in  what 
hands  the  fword  was  entrufted ; 
for  however  neceffary  it  might  be 
to  raife  troops  for  this  or  any  other 
war,  it  was  abfolutely  incumbent 
on  the  mto  take  care  that  the  fword 
was  placed  in  fafe  hands  ;  and  that 
it  might  not  be  turned  againft 
themfelves. 

He  accordingly  moved  for  an 
addrefs,  that  an  account  of  the 
number  of  troops  ordered  to  be 
raifed  during  the  late  adjournment, 
with  a  fpecification  of  the  different 
corps,  the  names  of  the  officers 
appointed  to  their  command,  and 
alfo  the  names  of  all  the  officers 
appointed  to  ferve  in  each  rank  in 
the  different  corps,  with  the  time 
of  their  former  fervice  and  rank  in 
the  army,  fhould  be  laid  before 
them. 

The  motion  being  agreed  to,  the 
Minifter  took  that  opportunity  of 
declaring  the  happinefs  he  felt  in 
being  able  to  inform  the  Houfe, 
that  the  original  purpofes  of  the 
adjournment  had  not  only  been 
anfwered  by  the  abtive  exertions 
which  had  been  ufed  in  the  feveral 


OF  EUROPE.  [87 

departments  of  the  public  fervice, 
but  that  the  voluntary  unfolicited 
efforts  of  feveral  loyal  fubjebtshad 
likewife  contributed  to  that  effebt. 
That  a  fubfeription  had  lately 
been  fet  on  foot  in  feveral  parts  of 
the  kingdom,  which  not  only  inti¬ 
mated  the  molt  valid  indications  of 
truly  patriotic  zeal,  but  which  alfo 
afforded  the  moft  flattering  tefti- 
mony  of  the  public  fatisfabtion  in 
the  condubt  of  adminiftration. — 
That  it  was  no  fmall  comfort  and 
encouragement  to  perfons  en-- 
trufted  with  the  management  of 
public  affairs,  to  find  that  the  ge¬ 
neral  opinion  entertained  of  their 
condubt  and  meafur.es,  was  not  to 
be  influenced  by  contingencies, 
nor  to  give  way  to  thofe  unexpebt- 
ed  and  unlucky  accidents  of  for¬ 
tune,  which  no  fagacity  could 
forefee,  nor  human  wifdom  pro¬ 
vide  againff  ;  and  that  it  muff  af¬ 
ford  a  pleafure  peculiarly  grateful 
to  every  true  Englifhman,  to  fee 
the  fpirit  and  fortitude  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  rife  with  their  difficulties,  and 
in  the  prefent  date  of  public  emer¬ 
gency,  to  fhine  out  in  fo  particu¬ 
larly  c-onfpicuous  a  manner. 

This  felf-congratulation,  and 
approbation  of  the  meafure  by  the 
Minifter,  drew  out  its  abfolute 
condemnation  from  the  oppofition, 
who  charged  it  with  being  equally 
unconftitutional,  illegal,  extrava* 
gant,  and  dangerous.  They  afked 
why  parliament  was  not  informed 
of  the  defign  ?  Why  fo  long  a 
recefs  was  made,  at  a  time  that  fo 
important  and  fo  dangerous  a  mea¬ 
fure,  as  the  railing  of  an  army 
within  the  kingdom,  was  in  con¬ 
templation  ?  They  faid,  that  if 
the  raiding  of  one  regiment,  in  fo 
unconftitutional  a  manner,  was  to 
be  maintained  or  juffified,  the  fame 
[T]  4  arguments 


88]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  3 778. 


arguments  would  reach  to  twenty, 
fifty,  or  to  any  given  number.  If 
this  dodrine  was  admitted,  what 
fence  or  protedion  could  the  laws 
Or  the  confutation  afford  again  ft 
arbitrary  power  ?  The  friends 
and  promoters  of  that  fyftem,  in 
order  to  eftablifh  their  favourite 
mode  of  government,  would  have 
nothing  more  to  do,  than,  in  the 
abfence  of  parliament,  under  the 
colour  of  loyalty,  or  pretence  of 
clanger,  to  promote  fubfcriptions 
for  the  raifing  of  troops;  and  when 
thefe  were  once  embodied  and 
armed,  would  their  arguments, 
their  filent  votes,  or  the  refolu- 
tions,  within  them  walls,  or  any  aft 
of  theirs  without,  prevent,  even 
for  a  moment,  the  fubverfion  of 
the  conftitution  ?  With  refped  to 
the  purpofes  for  the  effecting  of 
which  thofe  troops  were  railed, 
and  the  fuppofed  neceftity  arifing 
from  the  general  ftate  of  public 
affairs,  as  well  as  from  the  unhap¬ 
py  war  with  our  colonies,  they 
faid,  that  either  parliament  had  no 
Tight  at  all  to  interfere  in  fuch 
matters,  or  they  were  the  beft  and 
only  proper  judges,  both  of  the 
purpofes  and  the  neceftity.  They 
concluded  by  warning  the  Mini- 
fters  with  great  bitternefs,  that  al¬ 
though  the  eftence  of  the  conftitu¬ 
tion  was  loft,  it  behoved  them  ftill 
to  preferve  at  leaft  the  forms  of  it ; 
and  not  to  venture,  under  the  fub~ 
terfugeof  a  long  adjournment, con¬ 
trived  by  themfelves  for  the  pur- 
pofe,  to  exercife  the  great  confti- 
tutional,  and  indivifibie  power  of 
parliament,  that  of  granting  mo¬ 
ney.  For,  they  infilled,  that  the 
prefent  meafure  was  virtually  no 
Ids  ;  the  Minifters  had  incurred 
the  a&ual  expenditure,  and  bound 
the  faith  of  parliament  in  the  firft 


inftance,  and  then  they  call  upon  the 
Commons,  as  amatterof  courfe,  to 
provide  for  that  expenditure. 

The  Minifter  defended  the 
meafure  on  feveral  grounds  ;  on 
that  of  neceftity  ;  on  the  imprac¬ 
ticability  of  communicating,  what 
was  not  known  to  the  Minifters 
themfelves  at  the  time  of  adjourn¬ 
ment;  and  laftly,  he  in  ft  fled,  that 
the  meafure  was  in  itfelf  perfectly 
innocent,  with  refpedl  both  to  con¬ 
ftitution  and  law.  The  neceftity, 
he  prefumed,  would  not  be  dif- 
puted ;  the  arguments  ufed,  and 
the  pofitions  laid  down  every  day 
on  the  other  fide,  went  to  the  efta- 
blithment  as  an  undoubted  fad, 
that  the  prefent  force  in  America 
was  not  adequate  to  its  purpofe. 
If  then  the  colonies  fhould  obfti- 
nately  perfift  in  rejecting  all  rea- 
fonable  terms  of  accommodation, 
the  right  policy,  the  (economy,  and 
the  wifdom,  of  ufing  the  mo  ft  vi¬ 
gorous  exertions  to  bring  the  con- 
teft  to  a  fpeedy  conclufion,  and  to 
render  the  enfuing  campaign  deci- 
five,  was  fo  obvious,  that  it  mufi 
iurely  flafh  convidion  on  all  par¬ 
ties  and  orders  of  men.  He  faid, 
it  was  not  in  the  power  of  admi» 
niftration  before  the  recefs,  to  bring 
the  matter  as  a  meafure  before  par¬ 
liament,  becaufe,  in  fad,  except 
in  a  very  few  inftances,  they  were 
totally  ignorant  of  what  afterwards 
happened.  Offers,  indeed,  had 
been  made  ;  but  how  far  the  fpi- 
rit  would  have  extended;  or  in 
what  inftances  it  might  have  been 
thought  proper  to  receive  or  rejed 
fuch  offers,  were  matters  at  that 
time  unknown.  And,  as  to  the 
charges  thrown  out  with  fo  much 
vehemence  and  acrimony,  of  ille¬ 
gality,  breach  of  the  conftitution, 
and  contempt  of  parliament,  he 

denied 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [89 


denied  that  they  were  in  any  degree 
founded.  The  American  war,  he 
faid,  was  a  conftitutional  and  a 
popular  war  ;  it  was  particularly  a 
parliamentary  war ;  what  then 
could  be  morb  constitutional,  than 
the  offers  made  by  the  people,  and 
accepted  of  by  the  crown?  The 
right  and  authority  of  the  fupreme 
legiflature  was  denied  ;  arm?  had 
been  taken  up  by  our  rebellious 
fubjefts  in  America,  in  mainte¬ 
nance  of  that  denial  ;  a  numerous, 
and  very  loyal  part  of  the  people 
at  home,  had  exprefted  their  ab¬ 
horrence  of  fo  unnatural  a  rebel¬ 
lion  ;  and,  in  proof  of  the  fmce- 
rity  of  their  fentiments,  offered 
their  perfons  and  their  purfes  in 
fupport  of  the  conftitutional  rights 
of  their  country.  Was  fo  lauda¬ 
ble  an  a&ion  ever  before  marked 
with  fuch  reproach  and  condemna¬ 
tion  ? 

The  Houfe  beirfg  in  a  com¬ 
mittee  of  fupply  on  the  4th  of 
February,  a  motion  was  made  by 
the  Secretary  at  War,  that  the 
fum  of  286,6321.  14  s.  6d.  fhould 
be  granted  for  cloathing  the  new 
forces  for  the  current  year  ;  this 
motion  occafioned  a  renewal  of  the 
debate,  which  was  fupported  with 
great  vigour  on  both  fides.  We 
lhall,  however,  without  diftindlion 
cf  time  or  place,  bring  together  in 
one  point  of  view,  the  moft  ma¬ 
terial  arguments  which  were  offer¬ 
ed  at  different  times  in  either 
Houfe  upon  a  fubjedt  which  was  fo 
much,  and  fo  warmly  agitated  in 
both. 

We  have  already  feen  the  ground 
taken  by  the  Minifter  in  defence 
of  the  meafure.  In  the  further 
profecution  of  the  queftion,  the 
point  of  legality  was  principally 
fupported  on  the  ground  of  prece¬ 


dent,  drawn  from  the  time  of  the 
rebellion  in  the  year  1745,  and  the 
begi nuing  of  the  late  war.  In  the 
former  of  thefe  seras,  feveral  of  the 
nobility  and  gentry  raifed  regi¬ 
ments  at  their  own  expcnce  ;  and 
fubferprions  were  not  only  opened 
and  received,  but  perfons  went 
about  from  houfe  to  houfe  to  coi¬ 
led!  money  for  the  common  de¬ 
fence  ;  in  which  cafe,  though  no 
abfolute  force  was  ufed,  it  was 
well  underflood,  that  a  refufal  to 
contribute,  however  unwilling  any 
individual  might  be,  or  however 
ill  it  might  fuic,  with  the  real, 
though  fecret  date  of  his  circum- 
ftances,'  would  fubjedt  him  to  be 
marked  as  difafFedted,  and  render 
his  future  fituation  in  that  neigh¬ 
bourhood  difagreeable  and  uneafy. 
In  the  latter  inflance,  ten  new  re¬ 
giments  had  been  raifed  bv  the 
crown  ;  and  the  city  of  London 
had  fubferibed  a  large  fum  of  mo¬ 
ney  (which  example  was  followed 
by  other  corporations  and  public 
bodies)  for  the  raifing  of  men  for 
the  public  fervice.  The  fir  ft  of 
thefe  meafures,  they  faid,  having 
been  cavilled  at  by  the  difaffecled 
of  that  time,  and  alfo  by  others, 
who  tho’  well  difpofed  to  govern¬ 
ment,  yet  either  doubted  its  being 
conllitutional,  or  diredlly  quef- 
tioned  its  legality  ;  the  late  Lord 
Chancellor  Hardwicke,  whofe  prin¬ 
ciples  with  refpeCt  to  the  conltitu- 
tion,  and  to  the  rights  and  fecu- 
rity  of  the  fubjeft,  can  never  be 
called  in  doubt,  publicly  under¬ 
took,  with  his  ufual  ability,  its 
fupport  and  defence,  and,  whllft 
he  afferted  its  legality  and  proprie¬ 
ty,  reprehended  the  cenfure  thrown 
upon  it  in  llrong  and  decifive 
terms.  And  with  refpedl  to  the 
fecond,  fo  far  from  its  being  then 

objected 


REGISTER,  1778; 


90]  ANNUAL 

objefled  to  ;  Mr.  Secretary  Pitt 
wrote  a  molt  florid  letter  to  the 
corporation  of  London,  full  of  ac¬ 
knowledgments,  in  the  King’s 
name,  for  their  zeal  and  immediate 
fervice,  as  well  as  for  the  lauda¬ 
ble  example  which  they  had  fet  to 
others. 

A  great  law  Lord,  at  the  head 
of  his  profefllon,  faid,  that  al¬ 
though  the  Bill  of  Rights  declar¬ 
ed,  that  to  keep  a  handing  army 
within  the  kingdom  in  time  of 
peace,  was  contrary  to  law  ;  yet 
that  prdviiion  in  the  declaration 
of  right?,  could  by  no  means  ap¬ 
ply  to  the  prefent  queftion,when 
we  were  not  only  in  a  hate  of  war, 
but  engaged  in  a  war  of  a  moft 
important  and  eventful  nature. 
One  of  the  law  officers  in  the 
Houfe  of  Commons  faid,  that  the 
Bill  of  Rights  law  fpoke  for  it- 
felf,  and  was  conditional;  and  that 
the  Mutiny  Ad,  was  regulating, 
not  reftri&ive  :  that  if  it  was  not, 
it  would  be  the  moll:  dangerous  law 
that  ever  was  enabled  ;  for  it  mull 
be  conflrued  fo  as  entirely  to  tie 
up  the  King’s  hands,  from  ufing 
proper  means  for  the  defence  or 
prefervation  of  the  kingdom  ;  let 
the  exigencies  of  the  times,  or  the 
neceffities  of  the  Hate,  be  what 
they  may.  His  fecond,  in  that 
Houfe  alfo  contended,  that  con¬ 
tributions,  really  and  purely  vo¬ 
luntary,  were  legal  in  the  ftrid- 
efl  fenfe  of  the  word.  Some  other 
gentlemen  of  the  fame  profeffion 
in  that  Houfe,  and  who  were 
ufually  on  the  fame  flde,  confider- 
ed  the  meafure  as  illegal  ;  but 
faid,  that  as  the  rebellion  ought 
to  be  quelled  by  any  means  what¬ 
ever,  the  means  in  this  inftance 
mu  ft  be  j  ultified  by  the  necefiity. 


and  they  would  therefore  vote  for 
the  fupply. 

Another  great  law  Lord,  in  the 
other  Houfe,  faid,  that  the  King, 
by  his  prerogative,  was  empower¬ 
ed  to  levy  men  and  raife  an  army. 
When  men  were  raifed,  the  new 
levies  were  reported  to  parliament ; 
whole  duty  it  then  was,  if  they 
judged  the  meafure  right  and  ne- 
ceflary,  to  provide  for  their  fub- 
iiitence  ;  or  otherwife,  if  they  dis¬ 
approved  of  the  meafure,  to  pafs 
their  cenfure  on  itby  giving  a  ne¬ 
gative  to  the  fupply,  which  was  in 
effect  a  refolution  for  difbanding 
the  troops.  With  refpedt  to  the 
argument  fo  much  urged  and  in- 
lifted  on,  that  parliament  ought  to 
be  confulted  as  to  the  railing  of 
men,  previous  to  new  levies  of  any 
kind  ;  he  faid,  that  long  expe¬ 
rience  had  fhewn  the  impolicy  of 
fuch  a  cuftom,  and  therefore  it 
was  never  praftifed.  The  King 
in  railing  an  army,  as  in  making 
a  fubfidiary  treaty,  never  applied 
to  parliament  till  after  each  was 
etfe&ed  ;  and  it  had  for  ages  been 
deemed  a  fufficient  fecurity  to  the 
confutation,  that  parliament  had 
it  in  its  power  to  difoand  the  one, 
or  to  fet  slide  the  other,  by  palling 
its  negative  upon  either. 

The  noble  Lord  faid  it  was  a 
fact  well  known,  that  every  man 
might  give  the  King  money  ;  it 
was  equally  well  known,  that  every 
man  might  either  leave  or  give 
the  King  land  ;  it  had  been  often 
done,  and  no  perfon  ever  dreamed 
of  its  being  illegal.  That  there 
could  not  be  a  greater  mifrepre- 
fentation  than  in  comparing  the 
prefent  fubfcriptions  to  benevo¬ 
lences;  the  donations  fo  nominat¬ 
ed  in  antient  times,  though  called 

free- 


i 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [91 


free-gifts,  were  nctorioufly  the  con¬ 
trary  ;  men  were,  when  a  com- 
miftion  for  public  benevolences  to 
the  crown  was  iftued,  compelled 
to  contribute,  and  if  they  refufed, 
or  withheld  their  proportion,,  they 
loft  their  liberty,  and  were  fent  to 
prifon.  Let  it  be  confidered  what 
the  purpofe  was  of  the  prefentfub- 
fcriptions  ;  it  was  generoufly  and 
laudably  to  aftift  the  King  with 
levy  money  ;  a  matter  often  prac- 
tifed,  and  always  eftentially  fer- 
viceable  to  the  ftate.  The  nation 
could  not  pofiibly  be  injured.  The 
public  fubfcriptions  went  to  fur- 
nifh  additional  levy  money,  to 
make  the  bounties  larger  than 
government  ufually  gave,  and  by 
that  means  to  quicken  and  render 
more  eafy  the  filling  of  the  old 
corps,  and  the  completing  of  the 
army.  Suppofing  even  that  more 
men  were  raifed  than  the  number 
allotted  by  parliament  what  would 
the  confequence  be  ?  Nothing 
more,  than  that  the  crown  mull 
apply  to  them  for  fubfiftence  money 
to  maintain  thole  extra  troops.  It 
WGuld  then  be  in  the  power  of  ei¬ 
ther  Houfe  to  negative  the  new 
levies,  by  refuftng  the  fupply,  who 
muil  of  courfe  be  difbanded.  In 
this  final  upfhot  of  things,  the 
new  recruits  would  have  to  return 
home,  with  the  money  in  their 
pockets  which  they  had  received 
from  the  bounty  of  the  fubfcribers  ; 
and  thefe  latter,  who  could  be  the 
only  lofers,  would  facrifice  fo 
much  money  as  a-  teftimony  of 
their  loyalty  and  zeal.  But  what 
mifchief  or  lofs  could  the  nation 
thereby  fuffer  ?  Or  what  injury 
could  the  liberties  of  the  fubjecft, 
or  the  privileges  of  parliament  fuf- 
tain,  by  any  part  of  the  tranfac- 
tion  ? 


It  was  faid,  that  the  unqualified 
cenfure  and  reproach,  which  was 
thrown  upon  the  places  and  coun¬ 
tries  where  the  levies  were  made, 
and  upon  the  men  of  whom  they 
were  compofed,  were  equally  un¬ 
juft  and  ungenerous.  What  happy 
fpot  of  our  ifland  could  be  fhevvn, 
which,  in  the  long  courfe  of  our 
diflentions  and  civil  wars,  had  not 
undergone  the  cenfure,  or  fufFered 
under  the  taint  of  rebellion  ?  Was 
it  then  equitable  or  reafonable  to 
ftigmatize  every  diftridl  or  country, 
which  had  ever  produced  a  rebel, 
or  a  band  of  rebels  ?  Were  the 
fins  of  the  fathers  to  rain  down  for 
ever  upon  the  heads  of  their  de¬ 
ice  n  dan  ts  through  all  generations? 
'Or  what  was  ftiU,  if  poffible,  more 
abfurd  and  unjuft,  were  thofe 
whofe  anceftors  had  been  entirely 
innocent,  or  even  perhaps  merito¬ 
rious,  to  undergo  the  fame  com¬ 
mon  curfe  and  punifhment,  only 
becaufe  they  had  the  misfortune 
of  being  born  in  the  fame  coun¬ 
try,  and  breathing  the  fame  air  ? 
A  part  of  the  people  in  queftion 
had  by  their  eminent  fervices  in 
the  laft  war,  fufficiently  atoned 
for  any  faults  or  crimes  imputa¬ 
ble  to  their  anceftors,  and  freely 
walked  out  with  their  blood,  any 
ftigma  which  the  conduct  of  the 
latter  could  be  fuppofed  to  leave 
on  their  country. 

On  the  other  fide  it  was  faid, 
that  thofe  precedents  which  had 
been  quoted,  did  not  in  any  de¬ 
gree  come  up  to  the  queftion,  or 
in  any  manner  juftify  the  prefent 
meafure.  In  times  of  great  public 
danger,  and  circumftances  of  un¬ 
common  exigency,  what  at  other 
periods  would  not  only  be  impru¬ 
dent  but  illegal,  might  become 
warrantable.  The  tyrant’s  plea, 

ftate 


Q2]  A  N  NUAL  REGISTER,  177S. 


ftate  neceffity,  had  occafionally 
given  a  fanftian  to  many  raeafures 
which  were  not  ftri&ly  juftifiable 
With  regard  to  the  conftitution. 
On  this  ground,  and  on  no  other, 
the  railing  of  regiments,  and  other 
ads  in  the  i'ervice  of  government,, 
during  the  immediate  danger  of 
the  la  ft  rebellion,  either  were,  or 
could  be  excufed.  In  the  year 
*745,  befidcs  being  involved  in  a 
dangerous  foreign  war,  a  moll  in- 
veterate  rebellion  was  raifed  within 
the  kingdom,  whigh  went  to  the 
dired  fubverlion  of  the  conftitu- 
tion,  and  the  total  overthrow  of 
all  our  civil  and  religious  rights. 
Rebellion  then  {talked  with  giant 
lirides  towards  the  capital  ;  and 
was  approaching  fad  to  the  gates 
of  the  palace.  In  fuch  a  moment 
©f  imminent  danger,  when  all  law, 
government,  property,  and  perfo- 
nal  fecurity  were  at  flake,  every 
other  confideration  and  matter  muft 
neceffarily  give  way  to  felf- pre¬ 
servation  and  immediate  defence. 
The  fituation,  which  threw  us 
back  into  a  temporary  date  of  na- 
sure,  fuperfeded  all  other  confide- 
xations.  It  was  then  undoubted¬ 
ly  right  to  provide  for  the  public 
fafety,  by  the  beft  means  which 
the  nature  of  the  cafe  would  ad¬ 
mit  ;  and  when  both  the  laws  and 
the  confutation  were  at  flake,  it 
would  be  ridiculous  to  hefitate  at 
a  temporary  violation  of  them  for 
their  defence,— But  how,  faid  they, 
did  that  caferefemble  this  of  Ame¬ 
rica,  where  the  time  did  not  prefs ; 
where  the  enemy  was  three  thou- 
farid  miles  off ;  and  where  we  had 
{till  a  vafl  fleet  and  army,  both 
victorious  ?  This  is  not  a  meafure 
taken  front  neceffity,  to  be  referred 
to  a  parliament  not  then  fitting— 
but  a  parliament  adually  fitting 


is  prorogued  for  the  purpofe  of 
'carrying  the  meafure  into  execu¬ 
tion. 

The  latter  in  dances,  they  faid, 
were  flill  more  remote  in  all  their 
parts  from  the  prefen t  queflion. 
The  new  regiments  which  were 
raifed  in  the  beginning  of  the  late 
war,  had  the  virtual  fanflion  of 
parliament.  A  ftandiag  asft,  call¬ 
ed  an  adl  of  credit,  had  been 
paffed  in  favour  of  his  late  Ma- 
jefty,  by  which  the  fandtion  of 
parliament  was  granted  in  certain 
predicaments,  to  all  the  opera¬ 
tions  of  the  crown.  (This  por¬ 
tion  was,  however,  controverted  ; 
and  the  adl  of  credit  was  faid  to  be 
of  a  later  date,  than  the  railing  of 
the  forces).  But  without  any  fuch 
fandlion,  the  addreffes  of  both 
Houfes,  upon  the  fubjedl  of  the 
war,  and  of  the  national  defence, 
or  even  the  vicinity,  and  alarming 
preparation  of  the  enemy,  would 
have  fufficiently  jufliiied  the  mea¬ 
fure. 

As  to  the  fubfcriptions  raifed  by 
the  city  of  London  and  other  pub¬ 
lic  bodies  during  the  late  war, 
they  were  faid  to  have  been  dif- 
pofed  of  in  the  mo  ft  conftitutional 
manner;  they  were  not  applied  to 
raife  or  maintain  an  army  inde¬ 
pendent  of  parliament,  but  to  fur¬ 
ther  the  public  fervice,  by  grant¬ 
ing  premiums  to  recruits  for  the 
filling  up  of  the  old  regiments,  and 
to  feamen,  or  able  landmen,  for 
manning  the  navy.  But  in  the 
prefent  inftance,  15,000  men  are 
raifed,  or  appointed  to  be  raifed, 
during  the  fitting,  and  without  the 
confent  or  knowledge  of  parlia¬ 
ment  ;  whilft  a  felf* created  body 
of  men  at  the  London  Tavern, 
venture  to  propofe  themfelves  as  a 
fubflitute  for  parliament,  and  to 

affums 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


afirime  Its  moft  effential  property, 
and  inalienable  right  and  autho¬ 
rity,  that  of  gran-ting  money, 
which  is  to  be  difpofed  of  without 
its  controul,  either  to  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  this  new  army,  or  to  any 
other  purpofe  which  the  wifdom  of 
the  crown,  or  in  reality  its  Mini- 
fters,  might  deem  fitting. 

A  great  law  Lord  who  had 
fome  years  ago  filled  the  firft  ci¬ 
vil  office  under  the  crown  with 
high  and  univerfal  applaufe,  re¬ 
probated  the  meafure  in  all  its 
parts,  as  well  as  much  of  the  doc¬ 
trine  which  was  now  advanced  by 
his  profeffional  opponents  in  its 
fupport.  He  pronounced  the  mea¬ 
fure  of  raifing  troops,  without  the 
confent,  and  during  the  fitting  of 
parliament,  to  be  abfolutely  ille¬ 
gal,  unconftitutional,  and  a  high 
violation  of  the  fundamental  pri¬ 
vileges  of  parliament.  That,  to 
judge  of  the  neceffities  of  the 
ffate,  in  point  of  meafures  offen- 
five  or  defenfive,  and  to  make 
provifion  accordingly,  was  of  the 
very  eflence  of  parliament;  and 
that  to  take  any  meafure  there¬ 
fore,  while  the  parliament  was  in 
being,  and  of  courfe  in  an  aftive, 
and  not  paffive  ftate,  without  pre¬ 
vious  information,  confutation, 
and  advice,  was  an  aft  little  fhort 
of  fuperfeding  its  authority,  and 
fhipping  it  of  its  rights.  And 
that  the  committees  at  the  London 
Tavern  and  at  Briftol,  had  aftcd 
a  daringly  illegal,  and  truly  alarm¬ 
ing  part  ;  they  had  affumed  a  le- 
gillative  power,  and  had  afted  in 
that  capacity,  in  which,  according 
to  the  fpirit  of  the  conftitution, 
and  the  exprefs  meaning  of  the 
Bill  of  Rights,  parliament  only 
were  empowered  to  aft.  He  con¬ 
cluded  by  declaring,  that  both  the 


[93 

meafure,  and  the  arguments  which 
were  brought  in  fupport  of  it  by 
the  two  learned  Lords  in  high 
office,  tended  to  no  lefs  in  their 
confequences,  than  the  utter  fub- 
verfion  of  the  conftitution. 

A  lawyer  of  the  firft  eminence 
in  his  profefiion,  and  who  had 
alfo  been,  fome  years  before,  one 
of  the  firft  law  officers  of  the 
crown  in  the  other  Houfe,  entered 
more  deeply  into  the  queftion  of 
legality,  with  refpeft  to  the  raifing 
of  men  ;  after  a  moft  curious  and 
learned  inveftigation  of  the  law, 
commencing  with  it  as  it  flood 
before  the  cuftom  of  railing  or 
keeping  mercenary  foldiers  in  time 
of  peace  had  been  praftifed,  and 
brought  down  to  the  introduction 
of  the  mutiny  aft,  he  drew  from 
thence  a  pofitive  deduction,  that 
there  was  not  the  colour  [of  fup¬ 
port,  afforded  either  by  the  com¬ 
mon  or  ftatute  law,  nor  even  by 
the  afts  of  ufurped  prerogative, 
to  the  doctrine  of  making  levies 
without  the  confent,  and  during 
the  fitting  of  parliament. 

Others  quoted  the  Handing 
preamble  to  the  annual  Mutiny 
Aft,  which  exprefsly  declares,  that 
the  King  fhall  not  raife  an  army 
within  the  kingdom  in  time  of 
peace.  They  afked,  if  the  often- 
five  meafures  carried  on  by  go¬ 
vernment  at  its  own  difcretion,  in 
endeavouring  to  quell  a  rebellion 
at  3000  miles  diftance,  could  be 
considered  as  endangering  the  in¬ 
ternal  fecurity  of  this  country  in 
fuch  a  degree,  as  could  warrant  fo 
flagrant  a  violation  of  the  conftitu¬ 
tion  and  laws  ?  They  obferved  that 
{landing  armies  had  been  the  con- 
ftant  engines  of  tyranny,  by  which, 
the  civil  rights  and  liberties  of  the 
people  had  been  deftroyed  in  every 

ftate 


94]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


date  in  Europe.  And  that  the 
principal  arguments  ufed  on  the 
other  fide,  namely,  “  that  there 
could  he  no  danger  in  the  raifing 
of  an  army  by  the  crown,  as 
parliament  mull  be  applied  to  for 
its  payment,”  was  not  only  over¬ 
thrown  by  the  very  aft  which  it 
was  brought  to  defend,  but  that 
that  pofition  Ihewed  the  enormity 
and  danger  of  the  aft  in  the 
ilrongeil  colours  ;  for  the  army  is 
not  only  raifed,  but  the  example  is 
fet,  and  reduced  to  praftice,  how 
money  may  be  provided  for  the  fup- 
port  of  that  army,  without  the  con¬ 
currence  or  controul  of  parliament. 
Nor  did  the  quellion  of  bene¬ 
volences  and  free  gifts,  undergo 
lefs  difcuffion,  nor  their  being 
again  brought  into  praftice,  incur 
lefs  cenfure,  than  the  doftrine  of 
raifing  forces  without  the  partici¬ 
pation  of  parliament.  They  were 
declared  to  have  been  illegal  at  all 
times,  and  in  all  the  ilages  of  the 
coniiitution.  Benevolences,  they 
faid,  were  fir  ft  introduced  in  the 
turbulent,  dillrafted,  and  bloody 
times  of  Edward  the  fourth.  They 
were  among  the  numberlefs  deplo¬ 
rable  confequences  of  our  unhappy 
civil  wars  of  that  period  ;  and  had 
been  conftantly  and  uniformly  con¬ 
demned  by  all  our  great  legal  and 
conilitutional  authorities.  They 
had  been  fuppreffed  by  two  afts  of 
parliament.  And  even  in  the  ar¬ 
bitrary  reign  of  James  the  fir  ft, 
when  he  attempted  to  procure  be¬ 
nevolences  in  a  manner  exaftly  fi- 
milarto  the  prefent,  by  fendinghis 
confidential  fervants  to  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom  to  raife  fpon- 
taneous  and  voluntary  fubfcrip- 
tions ;  although  the  meafure  was 
unaccompanied  with  any  circum- 
ftance  of  force  whatever,  yet  Mr. 


St.  John,  who  was  efleemed  the 
bell  conilitutional  lawyer  in  the 
kingdom,  and  who  became  after¬ 
wards  Lord  Chief  Juflice,  oppofed 
thofe  fubfcriptions  with  the  greateft 
vehemence,  and  declared,  (along 
with  other  Hill  llronger  expreffions) 
that  the  attempt  to  get  money  for 
the  King’s  ufe  in  that  way,  was  a 
breach  of  his  Majefty’s  coronation 
oath  ;  and  that  it  was  no  lefs  than 
an  abetting  of  perjury,  in  all  thofe 
who  fubfcribed.  And  although. 
Mr.  St,  John  was  profecuted  in  the 
Star  Chamber  he  was  acquitted  ; 
and  the  molt  arbitrary  and  tyran¬ 
nous  court  that  ever  exifted,  has 
thereby  left  a  judgment  on  record, 
that  refiilance  to  fuch  fubfcriptions, 
by  any  means,  or  in  any  language, 
is  not  reprehenfible. 

They  faid,  that  every  gift  to  the 
crown  for  public  purpofes,  was  an 
aid,  and  had  been  early  and  wifely 
marked  out,  as  a  breach  of  the 
privileges  of  parliament.  The  evi¬ 
dent  fpirit  of  the  coniiitution  at 
all  times,  and  independent  of  any 
particular  laws,  which  were  only 
pa/Ted  to  cure  feme  immediate 
violation  of  it,  was,  that  the  crown 
Biould  receive  no  fupplies  what¬ 
ever,  but  through  the  medium  of 
parliament;  for  that  would  be  to 
make  the  crown  independent  of 
parliament,  and  of  courfe  to  ren¬ 
der  parliament  an  ufelefs  burthen 
to  the  nation.  Money  is  power; 
money  produces  armies  ;  and  the 
liberties  of  all  countries  mud  fall 
before  armies. 

The  Bill  of  Rights  declaresf 
“  That  the  levying  of  money  for, 
or  to  the  ufe  of  the  crown,  by  pre¬ 
tence  of  prerogative  without  grant 
of  parliament,  or  for  a  longer 
time,  or  in  any  other  manner  than 
the  fame  is  or  lhall  be  granted, 

is 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


is  illegal.”  If  it  cannot  be  denied, 
that  to  levy  money  is  to  raife  it, 
it  mud  be  equally  acknowledged, 
that  the  meai'ure  under  confidera- 
tion,  has  confuted  in  the  raifing  of 
money  to  the  uie  of  the  crown, 
without  grant  of  parliament;  and 
that  for  the  word  and  moll  dange¬ 
rous  of  all  poflible  purpofes,  the 
raifing  of  an  armed  force  indepen¬ 
dent  of  parliament. 

To  fhew  that  they  had  not  in¬ 
troduced  novel  dodlrines  upon  the 
fubjedt,  and  as  an  inliance,  that 
the  concurrence  of  parliament  had 
at  all  times  been  deemed  neceffary 
to  render  even  voluntary  benevo¬ 
lences  legal,  they  quoted  the  lla- 
tute  of  the  i  q th  of  Charles  the  Se¬ 
cond,  by  which,  they  faid,  it  ap¬ 
peared,  that  notwithflanding  the 
madnefs  of  joy  with  which  a  great 
part  of  the  nation  was  feized  at  the 
relloration,  and  the  confequent  dif- 
polition  to  make  almolt  any  con- 
ceflions  to  the  crown,  together  with 
the  inevitable  diftreffes  which  that 
Prince  laboured  under,  in  confe- 
quence  of  his  long  banilhment  and 
penury;  yet  the  parliament  of  that 
time,  although  too  tender  to  lay 
any  additional  burthens  upon  the 
people,  would  not  fuffer  the  pre¬ 
cedent  to  be  ellablifhed,  of  his 
pre fling  wants  being  fupplied,  by 
any  aid  or  benevolence  from  the 
wealthy  and  well-difpofed  part  of 
his  fubjefts,  without  the  authority 
of  an  exprefs  and  pofltive  law  for 
the  purpofe.  They  accordingly 
palled  the  law  in  quellion,  by 
which  the  term  for  the  receiving 
of  benevolences,  to  be  purely  vo¬ 
luntary,  was  not  only  limited  to 
a  moderate  period ;  but  the  folly, 
prodigality,  and  vanity  of  indivi¬ 
duals,  was  guarded  again!!,  by  a 
limitation  of  the  fums  of 


[95 

money  which  they  were  allowed  to 
bellow  upon  the  crown  ;  no  Com¬ 
moner  being  permitted  to  exceed 
2C0I.  nor  Peer  to  exceed  400  1.  in 
his  benevolence. 

They  obferved,  that  the  prefent 
meafure  overthrew  the  only  co¬ 
lourable  argument  which  had 
ever  been  brought,  to  juftify 
the  condudl  of  parliament  in  en¬ 
deavouring  to  tax  the  colonies, 
and  thereby  bringing  on  the  pre¬ 
fent  nefarious  war,  with  all  the  fa¬ 
tal  confequences  which  are  ftill  to 
attend  or  fucceed  their  final  lofs. 
It  had  been  held  out,  That  if 
the  colonies,  now  that  they  were 
grown  powerful  and  opulent,  gave 
free  grants  to  the  crown,  as  they 
had  hitherto  cuftomarily  done  upon 
requifltion,  the  crown  might  be¬ 
come  independent  on  parliament 
for  fupplies.”  This,  they  faid, 
became  the  conftant  cryofMini- 
llers  to  amufe  and  to  deceive  the 
people;  and  the  cloak  to  hide 
their  worft  deflgns.  The  unparal¬ 
leled  felf-denial,  and  patriotifm 
of  the  crown,  in  thus  rejedling 
a  proffered  tyranny,  became  alfo, 
under  their  immediate  direction  or 
influence,  not  only  the  conftam 
theme  of  praife  with  the  whole 
tribe  of  miniflerial  writers  ;  but 
the  Handing  doctrine,  and  the 
uncealing  fource  of  flattery  in  the 
pulpit,  with  all  thofe  prudent  and 
numerous  labourers  in  the  vine¬ 
yard,  who  did  not  wilh  to  fow 
their  feed  in  a  barren  or  ungrate¬ 
ful  foil.  And  the  terrifying  ap~ 
prehenfion  of  danger  ariflng  from 
the  foregoing  miniflerial  pofition, 
was  continually  held  out  as  a  fcare- 
crow  to  parliament,  until  they  were 
at  length  driven  into  thofe  toils  of 
abfurdity  in  which  they  refolved. 
That  the  American  legal  aflem- 

blies 


$6]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


blies  iliould  not  give  and  grant 
their  own  money,  left  they  ftiould 
render  the  crown  independent  of 
parliament,  but  that  they  them- 
felves  would  give  and  grant  the 
.American  money,  without  its  real 
owners  having  any  (Imre  at  all  in 
its  difpofition.  And  (hall  we  now, 
faid  they,  fuirer  the  fame  meafure 
to  be  adopted  and  carried  into 
execution  at  home,  and  under  our 
nofes,  by  private  perfons,  the  pre¬ 
vention  of  which  in  legiflative 
bodies,  was  the  pretext  for  in¬ 
volving  us  in  that  unnatural  and 
favage  war  by  which  we  have  loft 
America.  ( 

In  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  the 
manner  of  railing  the  new  forces, 
was  no  lefs  condemned  in  point 
of  political  ceconomy,  with  refped 
to  expence  ;  inefficacy  in  point  of 
purpofe ;  and  i'njuftice  to  the  old 
fianding  corps  of  the  army  ;  than 
in  what  related  to  the  laws  and  the 
conftitution.  They  infilled,  that 
upon  every  principle  of  ceconomy, 
and  every  idea  of  military  judg¬ 
ment  ;  the  augmentation,  if  at  all 
neceiTarv,  Ihould  have  been  effec- 
ted,  by  filling  up  the  old  regi¬ 
ments  to  their  full  war  comple¬ 
ment,  which  was  the  method  prac- 
tifed,  in  the  laft,  as  well  as  in 
Others  of  our  former  wars.  By 
that  means,  an  equally  numerous, 
and  a  much  more  efFe6lual  addi¬ 
tion  in  point  of  fervice,  would 
have  been  made  to  the  army.— - 
Every  military  man,  faid  they,  will 
acknowledge  the  extreme  difficulty 
in  the  aft,  as  well  as  the  great 
length  of  time  that  is  necelfary, 
to  the  forming  of  a  body  of  men, 
who  are  all  entirely  raw,  and  all 
equally  unacquainted  with  arms, 
to  military  habits,  difeipline,  and 
a  necelfary  adroitnefs  in  their  evo¬ 


lutions  and  mechanical  exercifes. 
Whereas  if  a  third,  or  even  an 
equal  number  of  the  fame  men,  are 
incorporated  with  the  fteady  vete¬ 
rans  of  an  old  regiment,  they  be¬ 
come  foldiers  infenfibly;  and  the 
difeipline  of  the  one,  being  fup- 
ported.by  the  bodily  ftrength  and 
vigour  of  the  other,  they  will  form 
a  joint  body  nearly  invincible. 

They  proceeded  to  examine  what 
real  benefit  the  public  would  de¬ 
rive  from  the  fo  much  boafted  ge¬ 
nerality  of  the  fubferibers  and  rai- 
fers  of  regiments.  They  eftimat- 
ed  the  expence  of  railing  a  thou- 
fand  new  levies,  at  about  5000 1. 
and  for  fo  much  money,  fuppofing 
the  fubferiptions  to  be  real  and  vo¬ 
luntary  gifts,  and  that  thofe  men 
were  applied  to  the  filling  up  of 
old  battalions,  they  allowed  that 
the  public  would  be  obliged  to, 
and  really  benefited  by,  the  gene¬ 
rality  Gr  patriotifm  of  the  fub¬ 
feribers.  But  in  ice  ad  of  this  ceco- 
nomical,  wife,  andeftablilhed  prac¬ 
tice,  cn  the  fide  of  the  public, 
and  this  difinterefted  generality 
on  that  of  the  individual,  what  is 
the  real  Hate  of  the  cafe?  The 
public  receives  with  one  hand  from 
a  contractor,  under  the  name  of  a 
free-gift  for  the  railing  of  men,  a 
very  fmall  portion  of  what  it  is 
giving  to  him  with  the  other  in  a 
contract  ;  and  to  complete  this  cu¬ 
rious  bubble,  the  thoufand  men  are 
formed  into  a  new  regiment  for 
the  benefit  of  the  raifers ;  who,  if 
they  chufe  to  fell  the  commiffions, 
will  receive  three  or  four  times  as 
much  ready  money  for  them,  as 
the  amount  of  the  whole  expence 
in  railing  the  men  ;  and  for  this 
imaginary  prefent  of  5000  1.  the 
public  mull  pay  at  Jeaft  30,000 1. 
which  is  the  loweft  eftimates  at 

which 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [97 


which  the  full  and  half-pay  of  the 
officers  can  be  rated.  Thus,  if  the 
16  regiments*  now  railing,  or  in 
contemplation,  can  be  completed, 
the  whole  extent  of  the  fuppofed 
gratuities  to  the  public  will  amount 
to  So,oool.  for  which  the  nation 
is  to  pay,  at  the  loweft  computa¬ 
tion,  no  lefs  than  480,000  1.  Such, 
faid  they,  are  the  diiinterefted  be¬ 
nefits  offered  to  the  nation  by  con¬ 
tractors,  addreffers,  and  fchemers ; 
fuch  the  political  wifdom,  and  pru¬ 
dent  ceconomy  of  our  Minifters ; 
and  fuch  the  attention  they  pay  to 
alleviate  thofe  diftreffes,  which 
they  have  themfelves  brought  upon 
a  ruined  and  unhappy  people. 

Nor  was  the  injury  and  injuftice 
offered  by  this  meafure  to  the  ar¬ 
my,  and  the  prejudice  to  the  fer- 
vice  in  general,  lefs,  they  faid, 
than  the  impoiition  upon  the  pub¬ 
lic,  and  the  danger  which  it  held 
out  to  the  conftitution.  Rank  and 
promotion  were  given  in  a  new  and 
unprecedented  manner.  New  and 
unknown  men,  or  only  known  by 
their  having  obtained  commiffions 
in  thofe  new  regiments,  which 
were  fuddenly  railed,  and  as  fud- 
denly  broken  at  the  tail  of  the  late 
war,  were  now  brought  forwards 
from  their  obfcurity,  to  jump  at 
once  over  the  heads,  and  to  take 
the  lead  of  thofe  brave  officers, 
who  had  ferved  with  the  moft  ai- 
ftinguifhed  reputation  in  both 
wars,  and  who  were  at  this  initant 
ihedding  their  blood,  or  facriiic- 
ing  their  conftitucions,  in  the  de¬ 
fart  forefts,  or  under  the  burning 
fu  ns, of  America.  Gentlemen  had 
been  appointed  to  the  command  of 
regiments,  who  were  never  in  the 
fervice  before,  to  the  great  injury 
and  difcourapcment  of  all  the  of- 

W J 

hcers  of  the  army.  If  it  was-ne- 
Vol.  XXL 


ceffary  or  determined,  they  faid, 
toraifenew  regiments,  they  fhould 
injuftice  have  been  offered  to  the 
oldeil  Lieutenant  Colonels  in  the 
fervice  ;  who  would  not  only  have 
gladly  embraced  thfc  offer  upon  the 
prefent  terms,  but  who  would  in¬ 
dividually,  if  fuch  a  bargain  had 
been  fitting  for  government,  have 
advanced  confiderable  fumsof  mo¬ 
ney  for  the  purchafe  of  the  oppor¬ 
tunity.  And,  as  to  the  recruit¬ 
ing  fervice  for  the  old  regiments  in. 
the  ufual  manner,  it  was  not  only 
entirely  annihilated  by  this  mea¬ 
fure,  but  the  extraordinary  pre¬ 
miums  now  given,  muff  neceffarily 
caufe  an  extraordinary  defertion. 
from  the  eftab'iiffied  corps. 

They  faid,  that  perfecution  was 
as  oppofite  to  their  principles  as 
injuftice.  They  did  not  wiffi  to 
vifit  the  crimes  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children.  They  had  given  the 
cleared  proofs  of  the  contrary  dif- 
pofition  ;  and  perfons  in  the  mino¬ 
rity,  had  not  only  been  confent- 
ing,  but  even  been  forward  and 
active  in  the  reftoration  of  deferv- 
ing  men,  who  had  by  their  good 
fervice  expiated  the  crime  of  for¬ 
mer  rebellions.  As  little  could 
they  be  fufpected  of  meaning  to 
profcribe  particular  countries  for 
being  fertile  in  rebellion.  But  it 
was  impoffible  to  avoid  fufpe&ing 
the  motives  to  the  fubfcriptions,  or 
the  purpofes  for  which  the  new  le¬ 
vies  were  raifed,  when  it  was  feen 
that  the  contributors  to  the  former 
were  chiefly  contra&ors,  would-be 
contraftors,  jobbers,  and  other  fuch 
like  vermin  of  the  ftate,  who  gave 
a  penny  to  the  public  purfe  with 
a  view  of  robbing  it  of  a  pound, 
and  that  the  latter,  with  a  marked 
and  Angular  care  and  predileftion, 
were  entirely  the  offspring  of  places, 

[G]  which 


9«]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


which  had  at  all  times  been  noto¬ 
rious  for  their  Jacobite  principles, 
and  which  had  produced  many  of 
thofe  who  were  deeply  and  prin¬ 
cipally  concerned  in  the  lad  rebel¬ 
lion.  That  fuch  fad  den  and  un¬ 
accountable  profeffions  or  appear¬ 
ances  of  loyalty  from  fuch  perfons, 
could  not  fail  of  exciting  doubt  and 
jealouly  in  any  cafe;  and  afforded 
great  room  for  believing  in  the 
prefen  t,  that  they  had  rather  chang¬ 
ed  their  object,  and  abandoned  in  a 
fit  of  defpair,  that  man  in  whofe 
cauie  they  had  formerly  been  fo 
aftive,  than  that  they  had  by  any 
means  relinquished  thofe  high, 
prerogative,  and  arbitrary  princi¬ 
ples,  which  had  fo  peculiarly  at¬ 
tached  them  to  him  and  his  fami- 
.  ly.  But  when  it  was  alfo  confi¬ 
de  red  that  thefe  very  men,  were 
the  principal  addred'ers  for  enflav- 
ing  three  millions  of  their  fellow- 
fubjedts  in  America,  are  dill  the 
advocates  for  continuing  all  the 
calamities  and  horrors  of  the  pre¬ 
sent  cruel  and  unnatural  war,  and 
are  now  the  find  to  take  up  arms 
in  this  country,  and  the  only 
perfons  en milled  with  them,  com¬ 
mon  fenfe  will  tell  us,  that  there 
is  fomething  more  than  loyalty  or 
attachment  to  the  Houfe  of  Hano¬ 
ver  in  this  conduct  on  their  fide  ; 
and  that  upon  the  whole,  it  is 
full  time  for  every  per  don  who 
loves  his  country,  and  reveres  its 
confutation  as  edablifhed  at  the 
revolution,  to  be  ferioufly  alarmed 
ior  both. 

Some  few  in  both  Houfes,  car¬ 
ried  the  charge  of  partiality  in  the 
court,  and  the  danger  of  placing 
the  fword  in  improper  hands, 
which  was  coupled  along  with  it, 
to  a  dill  greater  length.  They 
faid,  that  although  they  had  no 


prejudices  with  refpedt  to  perfons 
being  born  on  one  or  the  other 
fide  of  a  hill  or  a  river,  yet  when 
fo  man'ifed  a  predilection  was  fhewn 
to  certain  particular  didridts,  as 
to  confine  the  raifmg  of  a  whole 
army  (and  in  fo  extraordinary  a 
manner)  entirely  within  them,  to 
the  utter  exclufion  of  the  red  of 
the  nation  ;  and  when  it  was  alfo 
confidered,  that  thofe  people,  fo 
favoured  and  (defied,  were  them¬ 
ed  ves  tainted  with  the  mod  incor¬ 
rigible  prejudices,  and  the  mod 
violent  animofity,  to  the  country, 
the  conditution,  or  to  both,  it  was 
impoffible  not  to  be  alarmed  at  the 
confequences.  They  faid,  that 
there  were  many  gentlemen  of  the 
bed  and'  nobled  families  in  Eng- 
lana,  who  had  dedicated  their 
lives  with  the  mod  didinguifhed 
zeal  and  fpirit  to  the  military  fer- 
vice  of  their  country  ;  and  who 
having  fought  our  foreign  battles, 
with  great  glory  to  theinfelves, 
and  advantage  to  the  nation,  and 
being  alfo  deeply  intereded  in  the 
prefervation  of  the  date,  were  not 
only  the  proper  perfons  to  be  en- 
truded  with  its  defence,  but  were 
alfo  entitled  to  fuch  rewards  as  at¬ 
tended  that  didinflion.  It  was 
upon  this  ground,  that  a  noble 
Earl  who  had  moved  for  the  opi¬ 
nion  of  the  judges  on  the  quedion 
of  the  new  levies  in  the  Houfe  of 
Lords,  declared  in  his  place,  that 
if  the  legality  of  the  meafure  was 
edablifhed,  he  alfo  would  raife  a 
regiment,  not  for  the  purpofe  of 
its  going  to  America,  but  that  of 
remaining  in  England,  to  adiil  in 
protecting  our  liberties. 

The  expedient  of  redeemingpub- 
lic  credit  by  an  application  to  pri¬ 
vate  benevolence,  and  of  fupport- 
irig  the  boaded  dignity  and  autho¬ 
rity 


I 


HISTORY  OP  EUROPE.  [99 


Tity  of  government,  by  fending 
about  a  begging  box  for  the  bene¬ 
fit  of  the  treafury,  were  thrown 
into  various  fhades  of  ridicule,  in 
which  the  produce  of  the  fubfcrip- 
tions  to  the  regiments,  and  the 
ilate  of  fubfcriptions  to  the  loans 
and  rates  of  the  publick  funds 
were  fet  in  oppofition,  and  the  in¬ 
competency  of  the  one  to  the  fup- 
port  of  the  other  expofed  in  many 
ludicrous  points  of  view. 

The  quelfion  being  at  length 
put  in  the  committee  of  fupply, 
upon  the  Secretary  at  War’s  mo¬ 
tion,  that  286,6321.  14  s.  6  d. 

fhould  be  granted  for  cloathing  the 
new  forces,  it  was  carried  upon  a 
divifion,  by  a  majority  of  223  to 
130.  The  having  any  divifion 
upon  a  queftion  of  fupply,  and  its 
being  oppofed  by  fo  confiderable 
a  minority,  were  two  unufual  cir- 
cumftances  which  attended  this 
motion.  The  debate  was  warmly 
renewed  on  the  next  day,  being 
the  5  th  of  February,  upon  receiv¬ 
ing  the  report  from  the  committee, 
but  the  quefcion  was  again  carried. 
We  do  not  remember  any  buli- 
nefs  which  created  fo  much  heat  in 
parliament. 

This  bufinefs  was  introduced  in 
the  Houfe  of  Lords  by  the  Earl  of 
Abingdon,  who  having  given  pre¬ 
vious  notice  foon  after  the  recefs, 
moved,  on  the  27th  of  January, 
€t  That  a  day  be  fixed  for  fum- 
moning  the  judges  to  attend  this 
Houfe,  in  order  to  take  their  opi¬ 
nions  upon  the  prefent  mode  of 
railing  troops,  without  the  autho¬ 
rity  of  parliament.”  The  attend¬ 
ance  of  the  judges,  was,  however, 
overruled  by  the  majority,  and  the 
motion  withdrawn  by  the  noble 
Earl.  It  was  principally  contend¬ 


ed  on  one  fide,  that  the  judges 
were  only  called  upon  to  attend, 
when  they  were  to  give  their  opi¬ 
nions  on  matters  of  mere  law,  re¬ 
lative  to  queltions  previoufiy  fram¬ 
ed,  and  arifing  from  fads  already 
proved  to  the  fatisfa&ion  of  the 
Houfe  ;  that  the  motion  of  any 
fingle  Peer  for  their  attendance  was 
nugatory  ;  and  that  a  convention 
of  the  judges  in  their  judicial  capa¬ 
city,  could  only  be  obtained  by  an 
order  of  the  Houfe  at  large. 

In  anfwer  to  this  docirine,  it 
was  urged  in  vain  by  the  Lords  in 
oppofition.  That  during  the  fitting 
of  parliament,  the  judges  were, 
as  appeared  by  their  journals,  dai¬ 
ly  attendants  upon  that  Houfe  ; 
that  there  were  writs  always  ifiued 
previous  to  every  new  parliament, 
requiring  their  attendance  ;  that 
their  proper  place  was  on  the  Wool 
Sacks  ;  that  they  formed  in  foma 
ftieafure  a  part  of  the  Houfe  ;  and 
that  according  to  its  rules  and  or¬ 
ders  they  were  always  fuppofed  to 
be  prefent.  They  contended  far¬ 
ther,  that  although,  on  account  of 
their  other  important  avocations, 
the  confiant  attendance  of  the 
judges  was  excufed,  and  their  pre¬ 
fence  was  only  expected  when 
they  were  fpecially  fummoned  ; 
yet,  they  infilled,  that  a  motion 
for  their  attendance,  by  any  noble 
Lord  in  his  place,  was  a  motion 
granted  as  a  matter  of  courfe,  com¬ 
prized  within  the  Handing  order  of 
the  Houfe  ;  and  that  it  was  con¬ 
trary  to  parliamentary  cuftoms  to 
refufe  it.  This  was  infilled  upon 
fo  pofuively  by  the  Duke  of  Rich¬ 
mond,  that  he  called  upon  the 
Lords  on  the  other  fide,  to  pro¬ 
duce  a  fingle  precedent  of  fuch  a 
refufal.  it  was  however  thought 

[G]  2  more 


too]  ANNUAL  R 

more  eligible  to  ellablifh  a  prece¬ 
dent,  than  to  put  the  judges  to  the 
talk  of  a  legal  decifion  on  the  mea- 
fure  in  queifion. 

The  conhderation  of  the  quellion 
on  which  it  had  been  propofed  to 
have  taken  the  opinion  of  the 
judges,  having  been  laid  over  to 
the  4th  of  February,  the  bufinefs 
was  on  that  day  refumed  by  the 
Earl  of  Abingdon,  who  made  the 
two  following  motions,  “  Refolv- 
ed,  that  it  be  the  opinion  of  this 
Koufe,  that  the  giving  or  granting 
of  money,  as  private  aids,  or  be¬ 
nevolences,  without  the  fandlion 
of  parliament,  for  the  purpcfe  of 
railing  armies  for  his  Majefty’s  fer- 
vice,  is  againit  the  fpirit  of  the 
confutation,  and  the  letter  of  the 
Jaw.”  And,  Refolved,  that  it 
be  the  opinion  of  this  Houfe,  that 
the  obtaining  of  money  by  fub- 
fcription,  and  under  the  direction 
of  a  committee  of  the  fubfcribers, 
to  be  applied  in  railing  of  inen 
for  his  Majeily’s  fervice,  in  fuch 
manner  as  his  Majefty  fhall  think 
£t,  is  not  only  unconflitutional 
and  illegal,  but  a  direct  infringe¬ 
ment  of  the  rights,  and  an  abfo- 
lute  breach  of  the  privileges  of 
parliament.  ” 

The  debates  were  long  and 
warm,  and  exceedingly  interefting, 
from  the  great  difplay  of  legal  and 


EGISTER,  1778. 

conftitutional  knowledge  which  was 

O 

exhibited  :  an  amendment  was 
moved  early  in  the  debate,  by  a 
noble  Lord  who  was  then  high  in 
office,  but  who  is  jfince  dead,  and 
which  went  not  only  to  the  total 
overthrow  of  the  original  refolu- 
tions,  but  to  the  eflablifhment  of 
the  very  principle  which  they  were 
intended  to  condemn.  The  in¬ 
tended  amendment  was,  that  after 
the  words,  (t  JRefolved,  that  it  is 
the  opinion  of  this  Houfe/’  the 
following  fhould  immediately  fuc- 
ceed,  “  that  voluntary  fubferip- 
tions  of  money,  to  be  applied  to¬ 
wards  completing  the  troops  which 
his  Majelty  has  ordered  at  this 
time  to  be  levied  for  the  public 
fervice,  are  contributions  for  le¬ 
gal  purpofes,  made  in  a  warrant¬ 
able  manner,  and  highly  meritori¬ 
ous.” 

This  amendment  being  pro¬ 
ductive  of  much  animadverlion, 
and  condemned  as  unfair  and  un- 
ufual  by  the  other  fide,  and  not 
fteming  to  be  approved  of  by  fome 
Lords  on  the  fame,  was  with¬ 
drawn  ;  and  the'  question  being 
at  length  put,  the  original  refo- 
lutions  were  rejected  by  a  majo¬ 
rity  of  juft  three  to  one,  the  num¬ 
bers  being  90  to  30  who  fup- 
ported  the  motion  upon  a  divi- 
fion. 


\ 


G  H  A  P. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [ioi 


chap.  vr. 


Various  tnotions  preparatory  to  the  enquiry  into  the  fate  of  the  nation „ 
Duke  of  Grafton* s  motion  for  papers  rejected.  Mr.  Fox  and  Colonel 
Barre’s  motions  alfo  rejected.  Complaints  on  the  refufal  of  papers y  and 
of  the  defeffivenef  of  thofe  which  were  prefented .  A -vowed  motives  of 
the  oppofition  in  the  enquiry.  Mr.  Fox  opens  the  enquiry  in  the  grand 
committee  of  the  Commons.  Reflation  moved  and  rejeffed.  Mr.  Burke’s 

motions  relative  to  the  employment  of  the  Ravages ,  rejected  after  long 
debates.  Mr.  Fox’s  motions  in  the  committee ,  relative  to  the  jlate  of 
the  forces  in  America  from  the  commencement  of  the  war,  and  the  Ioffes 
fufained  on  that  fervice ,  rejected,  after  ?nuck  debate.  Debate  on  the 
appointment  of  a  Chairman ,  on  opening  the  committee  of  the  Lords. 
Lord  Scar  [dale  voted  to  the  chair  on  a  divifon .  Debates  on  the  Duke 
of  Richmond’ s  tnotion  againf  fending  any  part  of  the  old  efiablijhed  horns 
military  force  on  diftant  fervice.  Motion  rejected.  Merchants  give 
evidence  at  the  bar,  of  the  great  Ioffes  fufained  by  commerce  in  the 
courfe  of  the  war.  Counter  evidence,  intended  to  Jhew  the  national  ad¬ 
vantages  derived  from  the  war.  Several  rej'olutions  moved  by  the 
Duke  of  Richmond,  founded  on  the  faffs  fated  in  the  evidence  of  the 
Merchants.  Reflations  ft  afde,  after  much  debate ,  by  the  previous 
quefion. 


TH  E  critical  fkuation  of  af¬ 
fairs,  both  foreign  and  do- 
meftic,  naturally  dire&ed  the  pub¬ 
lic  attention  to  the  opening  of  the 
committee  on  the  Hate  of  the  na¬ 
tion  ;  whilft  hope  and  anxiety  were 
kept  equally  awake  to  the  refult  of 
that  enquiry.  As  the  time  ap¬ 
proached,  frequent  motions  were 
made  by  the  leaders  of  oppofition 
in  both  Houfes,  for  the  various 
fpecies  of  information  which  they 
deemed  neceffary,  towards  eluci¬ 
dating  the  different  fubjetts  which 
they  propofed  as  obje&s  of  future 
difcuffion,  and  the  fupportof  thofe 
points  which  they  wifhed  to  efta- 
blifh. 

In  fome  inftances  thefe  motions 
were  complied  with,  and  in  others 
rejected.  We  have  already  touched 
upon  the  circumltances  which  tend¬ 
ed  to  a  change  of  difpofition  iq 


the  Minifters  upon  this  fubject.  A 
motion  made  by  the  Duke  of  Graf¬ 
ton  on  the  27th  of  January,  fell 
within  the  latter  predicament. 
This  motion  was  for  “  a  copy  of  the 
anfvver  fenc  to  the'  Commiflioners 
for  reftoring  peace  to  his  Majefty’s 
colonies  in  America,  in  confe- 
quence  of  their  letter  to  Lord 
George  Germaine,  dated  the  30th. 
of  November  1776,  excepting  f'uch 
part  of  faid  anfwer  as  might  affedfc 
the  fafety  of  any  individual. ”  It 
was  oppofed  by  the  minillers  on 
the  fame  general  grounds  which, 
were  taken  by  thofe  in  the  Houfe 
of  Commons  previous  to  the  re^ 
cefs,  for  the  refufal  of  all  papers 
that  might  tend  to  the  difclofure 
of  any  negociation  between  the 
Commifiioners  and  the  Americans, 
pending  the  fuppofed  exigence  of 
fuch  negociation,  An  uncertain 
[GJ  3  limits- 


102]  ANNUAL  R 

limitation  of  time,  but  capable  of 
including  the  duration  of  the  pow¬ 
ers  granted  to  the  Commiflioners. 

On  the  other  fide  a  new  ground 
of  argument  was  afforded,  from 
the  letter  which  produced  the  an¬ 
swer  in  queflion  being  already  be¬ 
fore  the  Houfe  ;  fo  that  the  one 
feemed  a  neceflf  ry  appendage  to 
the  other.  It  alfo  appeared  by  the 
letter  in  hand,  that  the  Commif¬ 
fioners  were  not  only  doubtful  as  to 
the  extent  of  their  own  ,  powers  ; 
"but  that  they  were  in  a  ftill  greater 
Hate  of  uncertainty,  with  refpedt 
to  the  propriety  of  exercifing  thofe 
which  they  knew  they  poiTefled  ; 
and  that  upon  thefe  accounts  they 
bad  hated  their  difficulties,  and 
W'ritten  to  adminiflration  for  in- 
Hruflions. 

Upon  this  ground  the  oppofition 
contended,  that  the  conduct  of  the 
Mi.niflers  in  the  infer  unions  which 
they  then  gave,  mu  ft  have  con fe- 
cjuently  determined  the  event  of 
the  fubfequent  m natures  purfued 
by  the  Commiflioners.  If  that 
eondud,  faid  they,  was  wife,  pru¬ 
dent,  and  expedient,  as  we  fup- 
pofe  it  was,  they  can  have  no  rea- 
Jonafcle  objections  to  fubrrut  it,  any 
more  than  the  motives  upon  which 
they  adted,  ,to  the  confideration  of 
the  Houfe;  but  if  this  is  refufed, 
it  will  then  certainly  be  equally 
lair  in  argument,  and  confonant 
with  reafon  to  prefume,  that  be¬ 
ing  confcious  of  their  own  mifeon- 
dud,  and  afraid  of  its  beinp-  ex- 
pofed,  they  avail  themfelves  of 
their  prefent  influence  to  fereen 
it  from  the  knowledge  of  the 
public. 

To  this,  and  much  more,  which 
was  advanced  on  that  fide,  the  in¬ 
expediency  of  difclofure,  was  the 
'  cpiidufive  reply,  and  afforded  an 


EGI3TER,  1778. 

inexpugnable  line  of  defence  on 
the  other.  The  Lords  in  office, 
however,  at  the  fame  time,  totally 
disclaiming  all  deflre  or  intention 
°g  wi  th -holding  any  information 
W'nich  could  with  propriety  bte  com¬ 
municated  ;  and  afferting,  that  the 
paper  in  queflion,  if  it  had  been 
produced,  would  not  have  anfvver- 
ed  any  of  the  purpofes  for  which  it 
was  fo  eagerly  demanded.  Indeed 
the  noble  Lords  feemed  to  be 
Grangers  in  fo  extraordinary  a  de¬ 
gree  to  the  paper  now  demanded, 
and  to  vary  fo  much  in  their  ideas 
of.  its  nature  and  contents,  that 
this  Angular  circumflance  afforded 
an  opportunity  for  a  charge  which 
was  lifungly  urged  on  the  other 
fide,  that  no  fuch  paper  either  did 
now  or  ever  exift  ;  that  no  anfwer 
or  inAruclions  had  been  fent  to  the 
Commiflioners ;  but  that  in  this, 
as  in  other  cafes  of  the  greatell 
national  importance,  the  public 
hufinefs  had  been  totally  negle&ed, 
After  confiderable  debates,  the 
motion  was  rejeded  without  a  di- 
vlflon. 

A  motion  made  on  the  fame  day- 
in  the  other  Houfe  by  Mr.  Fox, 
met  with  a  fimiiar  fate,  being  dif- 
pofed  of  by  the  previous  queflion 
without  a  diviflon.  That  motion 
was  in  part,  upon  the  fame  ground 
with  one  made  in  the  other  Houfe, 
by  the  Earl  of  Chatham,  before  the 
recefs,  being  a  requifltion  of  cc*? 
pies  of  the  inflruclions  given  to 
General  Burgoyne,  together  with 
fuch  parts  of  Sir  William  Howe’s 
in Arudtioxis,  as  tended  to  any  co¬ 
operation  with  the  northern  army. 
It  was  oppofed  upon  the  ground  of 
impropriety  and  unfairnefs  wit^ 
refpecl  to  the  abfent  General,  who 
fliould  in  juflice  be  prelent  to  ex- 
plain  and  defend  his  condudl* 

\yhen^s 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [103 


whenever  any  fuch  enquiry  was  in- 
ftituted.  The  Minifters  had  no 
objection,  they  faid,  to  any  icru  ■ 
tiny  that  related  merely  to  them- 
felves  ;  but  in  this  bufinefs,  be- 
fides  the  jultice  due  to  the  abfent, 
they  were  themfelves  particularly 
affe&ed  in  point  of  delicacy  ;  for 
they  found  that  many  gentlemen 
underftood  a  paffage  in  the  Gene¬ 
ral’s  letter,  as  acknowledging  in 
fome  degree,  fault  or  error  on  one 
fide  or  other,  and  as  feeming  to 
bring  the  matter  to  an  iffue,  whe¬ 
ther  it  lay  with  himfelf  or  with 
the  Minifters  ;  fo  that  in  thefe  pe¬ 
culiar  circumftances,  it  W'as  im- 
poftible  for  them  to  agree  to  any 
enquiry  into  the  fubjedt,  until  he 
was  prefent. 

On  the  other  fide,  the  oppofition 
diftinguifhed  between  general  en¬ 
quiry,  and  particular  charge  or 
accufation  ;  the  motion,  they  faid, 
neither  led  to  or  fuppofed  any 
charge  or  accufation,  either  againft 
the  General,  or  againft  the  Mini¬ 
fters  ;  it  only  required  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  inftruitions,  which  the 
Houfe  mull;  at  fome  time  be  in 
pofleffion  of,  and  which  was  at 
prefent  particularly  neceffary  for 
the  directing  of  its  judgment,  in 
the  forming  a  true  eitimate  of  the 
progrefs  and  itate  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  war,  and  being  thereby  ena¬ 
bled  to  determine  upon  the  mod 
prudent  and  feafible  mealures  for 
the  reltoration  of  the  public  tran¬ 
quillity.  And  that  the  infpedlion 
of  thefe  inftructions  could  no  more 
preclude  a  future  enquiry  into  the 
condubt,  than  it  could  eftablifh  the 
j unification  of  any  of  the  parties 
concerned.  However  thefe  matters 
might  be,  the  motion  was  thought 
ill-timed  ;  and  the  refufal  of  Mi¬ 


ni  dry  to  lay  thefe  papers  before 
the  Hcufe  was  generally  jultified. 

This  motion  being  difpofed  of 
in  the  manner  we  have  mentioned  ; 
Colonel  Barre  moved,  that  “  co¬ 
pies  of  all  letters  and  extracts  of 
letters,  which  had  palled  between 
General  Gage,  Lord  Howe,  Sir 
William  Howe,  and  General  Car- 
leton,  from  the  ift  of  July  1775* 
to  the  27th  of  January  1778,” 
fhould  be  laid  before  the  Hcufe. 
Colonel  Barre  made  alfo  two  other 
motions  on  the  29th  of  January, 
requiring  accounts  of  the  itate  of 
the  artillery,  &c.  in  ftore  in  Ame¬ 
rica,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
year  1774,  and  of  the  quantity 
fince  fhspped  for  that  continent. 
The  two  firft  of  thefe  motions 
were  fupported  on  the  certainty, 
that  traniablions  fo  long  palled 
could  have  no  effect  on  any  pre¬ 
fent  operations.  The  laft  was  par¬ 
ticularly  grounded  on  the  vaft 
charge  of  the  artillery  beyond  the 
example  of  any  former  war.  The 
firft  and  laft  were  both  however 
overruled  on  the  fame  principle, 
the  dread  of  giving  information  to 
the  enemy. 

The  complaints  made  in  both 
Houfes  by  the  oppofition  for  the  > 
rejection  of  papers  were  not  greater 
than  thofe  which  they  continually 
repeated,  of  the  failure  of  delivery 
with  refpedt  to  thofe  already  or¬ 
dered,  and  the  exceeding  defebtive- 
nefs,  erroneoufnefs,  and  unfatis- 
fabtorinefs  of  thofe  which  were 
prefented;  and  which  they  dated, 
as  being  totally  incompetent  to  the 
purpofes  for  which  they  had  been 
ordered  ;  and,  as  lhewing  rather  a 
mockery  of  the  authority  of  parlia¬ 
ment,  than  a  due  compliance  with 
its  refolutions. 

[G]  4  The 


104]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


The  Minifters  replied,  that  when 
gentlemen  moved  for  papers,  they 
frequently  did  not  lee  or  coniider 
the  extent  to  which  their  motions 
went.  That  con  tracts  for  cloath- 
5ng,s  vi&ualiing,  and  (applying  the 
troops  with  rum,  porter,  and  the 
various  other  articles  nccefiary  for 
the  iervice,  together  with  the  trea¬ 
sury  minutes  relative  to  all  fuch 
contracts  for  four  entire  years,  had 
been  demanded.  That  thefe  were 
fo  exceedingly  voluminous,  that  it 
required  more  time  than  the  Mini- 
Ilers  themfelves  could  have  appre¬ 
hended  to  obey  the  order  of  parlia¬ 
ment.  That  they  did  not  vvilh  to 
evade  the  enquiry  (  it  was  their  fin- 
cere  defire  to  comply,  as  (IriCtly  as 
poffible,  with,  the  orders  of  parlia¬ 
ment.  But  that  they  neither  did, 
nor  fhould,  confider  themfelves  re- 
fponfible  for  any  incorrectnefs  that 
might  appear  in  the  accounts. 
They  denied  that  any  informa¬ 
tion  was  defig  nedly  withheld.  No 
doubt  could  be  entertained,  but 
that  the  different  offices  prefen  ted 
fuch  materials  as  they  were  pof- 
feffed  of,  fo  far  as  they  had  been 
included  in  the  orders  which  they 
received  It  might  happen  in 
fome  cafes,  that  the  accounts  which 
were  demanded  had  not  been  re 
ceived.  In  others,  perhaps,  the 
pfginal  motions  had  not  been  di¬ 
rected  to  the  proper  offices.  But 
thefe  were  not  matters  that  lay 
with  them, 

The  complaints  on  the  other 
fide,  however,  continued  to  the 
Jail;  nor  did  they  acknowledge  that 
the  caufe  was  ever  entirely  reme¬ 
died,  Some  accounts  they  faid 
were  deficient,  others  imperfed, 
and  fome  totally  omitted.  Re- 
fponfibiiity  was  ihiftcd  one  mo¬ 


ment,  and  official  knowledge  the 
next.  Thole,  who  under  the  im¬ 
mediate  authority  of  parliament,, 
endeavoured  to  procure  informa¬ 
tion  for  its  guidance,  in  matters 
of  the  greatefi:  national  import¬ 
ance,  were  wearied  and  baffled  by 
chicane  and  evafion.  It  was  not 
this,  or  it  was  not  that  perfon’s 
bufinefs  to  give  information  ;  or 
the  papers  did  not  belong  to  this 
or  to  that  office,  was  the  fatisfac- 
tion  they  received  ;  and  thus  they 
were  left  to  grope  their  way  through, 
a  chaos  of  uncertainty  and  error.  It 
was  the  bufinefs  of  Minifters,  they 
faid,  and  would  have  been  their 
praClice,  if  they  had  relied  on  the 
reclitude  of  their  conduCl,  or  the 
wifdoin  of  their  meafures,  to  have 
procured,  without  giving  any  trou¬ 
ble  to  the  other  fide,  every  fpe- 
cies  of  information  that  could  be 
wanted,  in  order  to  their  own  ex¬ 
culpation,  and  thereby  to  eftabllfn 
a  perpetual  record  of  their  inno¬ 
cence  and  ability. 

Before  we  enter  into  any  detail 
of  the  fttbjeCl,  it  may  not  be  entire¬ 
ly  unneceffiary  to  take  a  fhort  view 
of  the  avowed  motives  of  the  oppo- 
fition  in  this  enquiry  ;  including 
alfo,  the  objefts  which  they  wiffied 
to  ellablifh  thereby,  and  the  con- 
clufions  to  draw  therefrom.  The 
grand  motive  of  the  whole  enqui¬ 
ry  was  the  efiablifhment  as  an  in¬ 
controvertible  fad,  of,  not  only 
the  expediency,  but  the  abfolute 
neceffity  of  bringing  the  American 
war  to  thq  fpeedieft  poffible  con- 
clufion. — Of  refioring  harmony 
upon  a  broad,  and  confequemly 
equitable  bottom  between  the  mo¬ 
ther  country  and  her  colonies. — - 
And  the  eftablifhment  of  a  perma¬ 
nent  union  at  any  rate,  but  Hill 

UPOfl 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [105 


upon  the  bed  terms  which  the  pre- 
fen  t  unhappy  fituation  of  affairs 
would  admit  of  between  them. 

To  obtain  this  end  it  was  ne- 
cefiary,  they  faid,  to  combat  and 
overthrow  thofe  dodtrines  which 
had  been  fo  long  held  out  by  the 
Minifters,  fo  conftantly  fupported 
and  adopted  by  thofe  vail  majori¬ 
ties  which  were  feen  in  two  parlia¬ 
ments,  and  to  an  invincible  per- 
feverance  in  which,  the  conteft, 
>var,  and  all  their  confequences 
to  both  countries  were  attributed 
by  the  oppofition.  But  as  thefe 
dodtrines  had  hitherto  been  im¬ 
pregnable  to  all  arguments  found¬ 
ed  on  probability,  the  natural  rea- 
fon  of  things,  hiilorical  evidence, 
or  analogy,  and  unfhaken  by  all 
fpeculations  into  future  evils  or 
dangers ;  it  was  now  thought  necef- 
fary  to  try  them  by  the  ftrong  tefts 
of  eftablifhed  fadts  and  recent  ex¬ 
perience,  founded  on,  and  imme¬ 
diately  lifing  from  their  own  prin¬ 
ciples. 

Upon  this  ground  of  proceeding 
it  was  neceiTary  in  the  firft  inftance, 
in  order  to  obviate  delay  and  trou¬ 
ble  in  the  progrefs,  to  eftablifti 
certain  leading  fadts  as  fimple  and 
incontrovertible  portions  ;  fuch  as, 
that  the  war  had  lafted  for  a  cer¬ 
tain  fpecified  time  ,*  that  a  certain 
force  by  fea  and  land  had  been 
employed  in  its  profecution  ;  that 
it  was  attended  with  a  certain 
Hated  expence  of  money  and  of 
lives,  and  that  our  utmolt  efforts 
in  a  three  years  war,  had  not  pro¬ 
duced  any  material  advantage. 
From  a  few  eftablifhed  fadts  of  this 
nature,  and  all  founded  upon:  the 
documents  before  them,  various 
dedudtions  and  conclufions  were 
to  be  drawn,  and  various  queftions 
of  political  confideration  arifing 


from  the  whole,  were  to  be  ftated, 
examined,  and  to  become  objedts 
of  parliamentary  enquiry,  delibe¬ 
ration,  and  decifion. 

Thus,  if  our  utmoll  efforts  in  a 
three  years  war  had  produced  no 
material  change  of  circumltances 
in  our  favour,  it  became  an  objedt 
of  the  uemoft  moment  to  weigh  the 
conlequences  on  all  hands,  which 
might  probably  attend  our  further 
perfeverance  in  the  conteft.  On 
this  point,  feveral  queftions  of  the 
greateft  magnitude  and  import¬ 
ance,  would  naturally  and  necef- 
farily  arife.  The  firft  would  be 
whether  our  refources,  in  any  pro 
bability  or  hope  of  fuccefs,  were 
equal  to  the  longer  continuance  of 
fo  great  an  exhaufture  of  blood 
and  treafure  ?  If  this  appeared  in 
the  affirmative,  the  next  confidera¬ 
tion  would  be,  whether  the  ob¬ 
ject  was  equivalent  to  the  expence, 
lofs,  and  rifque  of  the  purfuit  ? 
The  queftion  of  practicability  muft 
form  another  objedt  of  confidera¬ 
tion  ;  and  if  it  appeared,  that  our 
utmoft  exertion  cf  force  had  al¬ 
ready  failed  of  effedt,  when  the 
enemy  was  much  weaker!  and 
more  incapable  in  every  refpedt 
than  at  prefent  ;  it  would  remain 
to  be  fhevvn,  upon  what  ground 
of  reafon  or  probability  our  hope 
of  future  fuccefs  was  founded. 

Thefe  matters  being  difeuffed, 
the  probability  of  a  foreign  war 
afforded  the  next  great  queftion  ; 
and  on  this  part  of  the  fubjedt  the 
oppofition  contended,  that  the 
danger  of  our  becoming  vidtims  to 
the  malice  and  ambition  of  our 
natural  enemies,  in  the  ftate  of  de¬ 
bility  and  exhaufture  brought  on 
by  our  civil  conteft,  when  our 
principal  military  force  was  at  a 
diftance  of  three  thoufand  miles, 
5  and 


10S]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


and  fuch  meafures  perhaps  taken 
by  the  enemy,  as  would  render  its 
return  to  our  defence  exceedingly 
doubtful,  if  not  impracticable, 
presented  a  ftate  and  iituation  of 
public  affairs,  the  molt  tremendous 
that  this  country,  in  its  greateft 
perils,  had  ever  encountered. 
This  great  branch  of  the  lubjeft 
led  naturally  to  an  enquiry  into 
the  Hate  of  our  military  home  de¬ 
fence,  both  by  land  and  by  fea, 
including  with  thefe  kingdoms, 
that  alio  of  our  Mediterranean  gar- 
rifons  ;  and  the  defe&ivenefs  which 
appeared  upon  this  enquiry,  af¬ 
forded  room  for  the  fubfeqoent  re¬ 
solutions  which  were  moved  for, 
to  prevent  the  farther  leffening  of 
our  domellic  force,  by  fending  any 
more  of  the  old  troops  to  America. 

^  ,  ,  Mr.  Fox  opened  the 

Feb.  2d.  1 

enquiry  m  the  grand 

committee  of  the  Houfe  of  Com¬ 
mons,  with  his  ufual  ability,  ener¬ 
gy,  and  perfpicuity,  in  a  fpeech 
which  continued  for  about  two 
hours,  Although,  in  the  ample 
explanation  which  he  gave  of  the 
motives  and  propofed  ends  of  the 
enquiry,  he  took  a  comprehenfive 
retrofpe&ive  view  of  the  conduct 
of  American  affairs,  from  the  adop¬ 
tion  of  thofe  meafures  which  he 
fuppofed  led  diredtly  to  the  enfuing 
troubles,  to  the  aftual  commence¬ 
ment  of  hoftilities,  and  the  profe- 
cution  aqd  events  of  the  war  ;  yet 
he  obfeived,  that  the  particular 
matter  which  he  fhould  refer  on 
that  day  to  their  decifioo,  would 
only  compofe  a  fmall  part  of  the 
bpfmefs,  which,  he  hoped,  would 
thoroughly  engage  the  further  con- 
fideration  of  the  committee.  He 
requefted  of  the  Houfe,  not  to  mix 
the  matter  in  hand  with  any  thing 
that  bad  paired  before,  but  to  go 


plainly  and  dire&ly  to  the  bufinds  ;■ 
to  confider,  with  the  attention  and 
temper  which  the  great  importance 
of  the  fubject  required,  the  aftual 
Hate  of  their  country,  and  in  what 
manner  Great-Britain  might  be 
extricated  from  the  critical  fitua- 
tion  in  which  fhe  then  Hood.  He 
wiffed,  in  confidering  the  fubjeft, 
that  all  gentlemen  would  at  leaft 
agree  fo  far  with  him,  as  to  diveit 
thcrnfelves  of  all  former  opinions, 
of  all  favourite  ideas,  and  of  all 
thofe  prejudices  which  might  have 
been  contra&ed  in  the  courfe  of 
pair  debate,  and  ilrengthened  by 
the  warmth  of  altercation  ;  that 
they  would  take  up  their  opinions 
anew,  as  they  arofe  naturally  from 
the  fubject  of  enquiry,  or  were 
founded  on  fair  deductions  from 
the  information  before  them  ;  nei¬ 
ther  confidering  themfelves  as 
friends  or  enemies  to  America,  nor- 
regarding  that  country  as  an  object 
either  of  love  or  hatred  ;  but  con- 
ftdering  it  merely  as  a  part,  and  a 
very  con fiderabie  part  of  the  BrU 
tiff  empire. 

The  method  he  ffould  lay  down, 
he  faid,  as  the  molt  likely  to  bring 
men  to  a  right  underftanding  in 
refpeft  to  the  prefent  ftate  of  the 
nation,  and  to  point  out  the  con¬ 
duit  which  it  would  be  our  intereft 
in  future  to  purfue,  would  be 
ftmple,  concife,  and,  he  hoped* 
equally  clear  and  conclufive  ;  he 
would  Hate  certain  incontroverti¬ 
ble  facts  from  the  papers  before 
them,  and  draw  the  fair,  if  wot 
inevitable  conclufions  ariftng  from 
thofe  fafts.  Thus,  with  refpect 
to  the  army,  he  would  ftate,  that 
in  the  four  years,  commencing  with, 
1  "74,  and  ending  with  1777,  an 
army,  confifting  in  each  year  of  a 
certain  number  of  thoufands  of 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [107 


men,  had  been  employed  in  Ame¬ 
rica,  and  that  certain  military 
operations  had  been  performed  by 
that  army  ;  he  would  fhew  that 
army  to  have  been  much  dronger 
and  more  numerous  within  that 
period,  and  the  enemy  to  have 
been  much  weaker  and  more  inca¬ 
pable  of  war,  than  both  are  at  pre- 
fent ;  he  fnould  in  the  next  place 
date  the  impofiibility  of  increafing 
that  army.  The  hopeleffnefs  of 
fuccefs  with  an  inferior  force,  af¬ 
ter  the  repeated  and  continued  fai¬ 
lure  with  one  much  greater  ;  and 
then  he  would  (hew  the  enormous 
expence  which  had  been  already 
incurred,  its  rapid  increafe,  and 
the  inability  of  the  nation  to  its 
fupport. 

The  refources  in  men  and  mo¬ 
ney  thus  Tailing,  it  was  a  natural 
conclufion,  and  could  not  in  fair- 
ned  to  the  miniders  but  be  fup- 
pofed,  that  there  mult  be  fome 
fort  of  negociation  in  hand  to¬ 
wards  an  endeavour  of  accommo¬ 
dating  matters  ;  and  in  this  part 
of  the  bufinefs,  he  faid,  it  could 
not  be  too  much  lamented,  that 
his  motion  for  the  papers  relative 
to  that  fubject  had  been  rejected, 
for  as  the  committee  would  there¬ 
by  have  difcovered,  and  become 
competent  judges  of  the  nature  of 
thofe  impediments  that  had  hi¬ 
therto  prevented  fuch  negociations 
from  producing  their  proper  effedt, 
they  would  of  cocrfe  be  enabled  to 
provide  fuch  adequate  remedies,  as 
wou lei  effect  u  ally  remove  every  ob^ 
druclion  to  the  reiloration  of  the 
public  tranquillity. 

As  prefatory  to  the  retrofpedlive 
view  which  he  took  of  thofe  mea- 
fures  that  led  to  the  prefent  date 
of  affairs,  he  laid  it  down  as  an  in¬ 
controvertible  axiom,  That  it  was 


impoflible  for  any  country  to  fall 
within  fo  few  years  from  the  high 
pitch  of  power  and  glory  which  we 
had  done,  without  fome  radical 
error  in  its  government.  Afcer 
Hating  the  agreement  with  the 
Eaft-Ind  ia  company  as  the  imme¬ 
diate  fource  of  all  the  fubfequent 
troubles,  he  obferved  that  the  mi¬ 
niders  upon  that  occafion  fell  into 
a  moft  capital  error;  by  looking 
through  the  wrong  end  of  the  per- 
fpedlive,  they  millook  a  great  ob¬ 
ject  for  a  little  one  :  they  took 
thirteen  colonies  for  one  ;  and  the 
whole  continent  of  America  for 
the  fingle  province  of  Maffachu- 
let’s  Bay.  They  forgot  that  a 
fouthern  colony,  Virginia,  was  no 
lefs  jealous  of  its  rights,  nor  warm 
in  their  aflertion,  than  MafTachu- 
fet’s ;  and  they  forgot  that  com¬ 
mon  danger  would  unite  them  all. 
Through  this  fatal  error,  of  not 
being  aware  of  the  weight  of  that 
oppoiition  which  they  were  to  en¬ 
counter,  their  means  were  totally 
difproportionate  to  the  end  which 
they  propofed  ;  and  it  will  not  be 
quedioned  as  an  undoubted  maxim 
in  politicks,  that  every  attempt  to 
edablifh  power,  or  to  crulh  infur- 
redlion,  with  means  inadequate  to 
the  end,  will  only  ferve  to  increafe 
oppoiition  in  the  one  cafe,  and  to- 
eliablifh,  indead  of  fuppreifing  re¬ 
bellion  in  the  other. 

Yet,  totally  blind  to  thefe  con- 
fequences,  the  meafures  which  the 
miniders  purfued  againd  the  town 
of  Bodon,  and  colony  of  MafTa- 
chufet’s,  were  of  fuch  a  nature  as 
necefiarily  compelled  the  other 
twelve  colonies  to  become  hodile 
in  their  own  defence,  and  to  enter 
into  a  common  band  of  union  with, 
that  town  and  colony.  He  in- 
dded  that  parliament  would  not 

hsv'c 


io8]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


have  paHed  the  irritating  and  ho~ 
liiie  laws  of  the  year  1774?  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  defective  and 
partial  information  laid  before  them 
by  the  miniflers ;  but  that,  on  the 
contrary,  if  they  had  been  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  real  nature,  with 
the  true  date  and  extent  of  the  op- 
poution  in  America,  they  would 
have  adopted  the  mod  healifog  and 
conciliating,  inftead  of  the  moil 
irritating  and  violent  meafures. 
In  treating  of  the  caufes  which  led 
to  the  final  determined  oppofitiou 
and  drift  union  of  the  colonies,  he 
particularly  reprobated  the  bill  for 
the  bringing  of  Americans  for  trial 
to  England,  and  the  Quebec  Aft. 
The  former,  he  faid,  without  en¬ 
tering  into  the  queftion  of  its  juf- 
tice  or  injuftice,  Ihould,  dnce  it 
had  been  adopted  as  a  meafure  of 
policy,  have  been  fupported  upon 
the  fame  ground,  by  a  force  equal 
to  the  terrors  which  it  announced, 
and  to  the  alarm  which  it  inevi¬ 
tably  excited.  But  as  the  aft  ex¬ 
cited  indignation  at  our  injuftice 
as  well  as  terror,  fo  the  ineffi¬ 
ciency  of  the  army,  by  which  it 
was  to  be  enforced,  only  excited 
the  derifion  of  the  Americans 
without  lei'iening  their  refentment. 
It  taught  them  to  contemn  the 
power  of  this  country,  as  much  as 
they  abhorred  its  injuftice. 

The  Quebec  Aft,  he  faid, 
united  all  parties  in  America. 
The  mod  moderate,  or  thofe  who 
were  fuppofed  the  bed  afefted  to 
the  Britifh  government,  could 
fcarcely  after  that  fay  a  word  in 
favour  of  the  intentions  of  the  le¬ 
gislature.  They  favv  a  form  of 
government  eftabli fhed,  which  the 
violent  held  out  as  the  model  of 
that  which  was  to  be  extended  over 
the  whole  continent.  It  afforded 


an  unanfwerable  argument,  that 
the  intentions  of  Great  -  Britain 
were  hoftile  and  vindiftive  in  the 
extreme ;  and  that  they  had  no 
refource  left  but  in  felf- defence. 
The  moderate  party,  if  any  fucli 
were  dill  left,  were  ftruck  dumb. 
Thus,  the  iramers  of  the  Quebec 
Aft,  he  faid,  whoever  they  were* 
became  in  faft  the  great  and  effec¬ 
tive  friends  of  the  violent  party  in 
America.  If  they  had  not  thus 
fe.afonably  interpofed,  there  would 
have  been  a  chance  of  America’s 
being  divided  ;  or  at  leaf!  the  de- 
greea  of  refiftance  would  have  been 
different  in  the  colonies?.  But 
this  made  them  all  not  only  more 
firmly  united,  but  equally  zealous 
and  animated  ;  equally  determined 
to  go  all  lengths  rather  than 
fubmit. 

He  then  ftated  the  impolicy  of 
rejefting  the  very  dutiful  and 
affeftionate  petition  from  New 
York,  and  the  unhappy  conse¬ 
quences  that  refulced  from  that 
rejeftion.  Yet  notwithftanding  all 
thefe  afts  and  circu  in  fiances  of  ir¬ 
ritation,  violence,  and  malignity  ; 
notwithstanding  the  bitternefs  and 
animofity  arifing  from  the  blood 
fir  ft  drawn  at  Lexington,  and  af¬ 
terwards  more  profufely  fhed  at 
Bunker’s  Hill  ;  America,  he  faid, 
flill  feemed  unwilling  to  have  re- 
courie  to  thofe  fatal  extremities, 
which  to  the  Jofs  and  ruin  of  this 
country  fhe  has  fmce  unhappily 
adopted.  She  once  more  applied* 
but  it  was  for  the  laft  time,  to  the 
equity  and  wifdom  of  government, 
for  peace,  fecuritv,  and  a  renewal 
of  amity.  The  petition  which  the 
C'ongrefs  prefen  ted  through  Mq 
Penn  to  the  throne,  was,  all  cir- 
cumltances considered,  couched  in 
terms  of  uncommon  moderation. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [109 


as  well  as  of  the  greateft  refpeCt  ; 
and,  befides  difclaiming  every  idea 
of  that  independency  with  which 
they  had  been  charged  in  the  pre¬ 
ceding  feffion,  contained  the  ftrong- 
eft  profeiiions  of  duty,  as  well  as 
the  warmed  of  affection.  Every 
body  knows  the  fate  of  that  peti¬ 
tion,  and  that  it  was  not  even 
deemed  worthy  of  an  anfvver.  The 
confequences  of  that  rejection  will 
probably  be  too  long  felt  and  re¬ 
membered. 

He  then  combated  the  pofition 
laid  down  by  the  minifters,  and 
upon  which  they  juitified  the  re¬ 
jection  of  that  petition,  namely, 
that  the  Americans  were  not  fin- 
cere  in  their  profeiiions  or  propo- 
fals  ;  and  that  they  only  held  them 
out  to  gain  time  for  preparation, 
and  to  deceive  their  own  people, 
whilft  the  fcheme  of  independence 
was  already  fixed  and  determined 
upon  by  them.  In  reviewing  the 
operations  of  the  war,  the  princi¬ 
pal  conclufion  he  wifhed  to  draw 
was,  that  from  the  inefficacy  of 
the  great  force  already  employed, 
and  the  little  advantage  that  had 
been  derived  from  the  very  consi¬ 
derable  fucceffies  which  had  upon 
feveral  occafions  attended  our 
arms,  it  was  now  evident  to  a  de¬ 
monstration,  that  from  fome  inhe¬ 
rent  and  infuperable  cbftacles,  the 
fcheme  of  coercion  was  abfolutely 
impracticable ;  and  that  negocia- 
tion  now  afforded  the  only  hope  of 
bringing  the  conteit  to  any  termi¬ 
nation,  that  would  not  prove  ruin¬ 
ous,  if  not  fatal  to  this  country. 

Having  eftabliffied  (as  he  con¬ 
ceived)  this  pofition,  Mr.  Fox 
proceeded  to  clear  the  way  for  his 
immediate  motion,  by  an  enquiry 
into  the  date  of  our  home  defence  ; 
in,  which  he  made  it  appear  £rom 


the  papers  before  them,  that  at 
this  time,  when  we  were  in  imme¬ 
diate  danger  of  encountering  the 
whole  force  of  the  houfe  of  Bour¬ 
bon  united  with  that  of  America, 
the  army  in  England  and  Ireland, 
including  the  garrifons  of  Gibral¬ 
tar  and  Minorca,  had  been  fo  ex¬ 
ceedingly  reduced  and  weakened 
by  the  continual  drain  for  the 
war,  as  to  fall  feveral  thoufand 
men  fhort  of  that  peace  eftablifh- 
ment,  which  had  been  deemed 
neceffary  for  our  protection  in  fea- 
fons  of  the  greateft  tranquillity.  , 

Upon  this  ground,  and  upon 
the  idea  which  he  ftated  and  Sup¬ 
ported,  that  no  force  which  we 
were  now  capable  of  fending  to 
America,  could  render  the  army 
there  fo  powerful  as  it  had  been  2t 
the  commencement  of  the  preced¬ 
ing  campaign,  which  however  pro¬ 
duced  no  effect,  that  could  in  any 
degree  juftify  the  hope  or  expecta¬ 
tion  of  complete  conqueft,  he 
moved,  as  a  refoludon  of  the  com¬ 
mittee,  for  an  addrfefs  to  his  Ma- 
jefty,  that  no  part  of  the  old  efta- 
biiffied  national  forces  in  thefe 
kingdoms,  or  in  the  garrifons  of 
Gibraltar  or  Minorca,  fhould  be 
fent  to  America. 

To  the  infinite  furprize  of  every 
body  without  doors,  who  had  feen 
fo  full  a  houfe  drawn  down  to  at¬ 
tend  the  refult  of  an  enquiry  of  fo> 
much  expectation,  no  debate  what¬ 
ever  enfued,  nor  was  the  fmalleft 
reply  made  to  the  fpeech  or  the 
motion.  In  this  finguiar  fttuaticn„ 
the  queftion  being  called  for,  the 
motion  was  rejected  upon  a  divi- 
fion,  by  a  majority  of  259,  to  165; 
by  whom  it  was  fupported.  So 
large  a  minority  appearing  in  flip- 
port  of  the  queftion,  feemed  to  in¬ 
dicate  that  more  difeuffion  ought 

to 


no]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i;;8 


to  have  been  employed.  By  that 
appearance  alfo,  occahon  was  given 
to  the  fanguine  on  one  fide  to 
hope,  that  it  prefaged  fome  con¬ 
siderable  change  in  the  difpofition 
and  conduCi  of  parliament.  Such 
was  the  event  of  the  fir  ft  day’s  en¬ 
quiry  into  the  ftate  of  the  nation 
in  the  houfe  of  commons. 

FpK  In  a  few  da7s  after 

L  *  Mr.  Burke  moved  for 

an  addrefs  to  lay  before  the  houfe, 
copies  of  all  papers  that  had  paffed 
between  any  of  his  Majelly’s  mi- 
nifters  and  the  Generals  of  his  ar¬ 
mies  in  America,  or  any  perfons 
adling  for  government  in  Indian 
affairs,  relative  to  the  military  em¬ 
ployment  of  the  Indians  of  Ame¬ 
rica,  in  the  prefen t  civil  war,  from 
the  hr  ft  of  March,  1774,  to  the  hr  ft 
day  of  January,  1778. 

He  fupported  the  motion  with 
his  ufual  ability,  in  a  fpeech  of 
great  length,  (near  three  hours 
and  a  half)  which  excited  fo  much 
applaufe,  that  many  gave  it  a  pre¬ 
ference  to  any  other  he  had  ever 
fpoken.  Indeed  this  applaufe  was 
carried  to  fuch  a  pitch,  that  while 
one  gentleman,  in  his  place,  wish¬ 
ed  it  to  be  printed,  and  affixed  to 
all  the  church-doors  which  con¬ 
tained  the  proclamation  for  a  ge¬ 
neral  fail,  a  member  of  great  dis¬ 
tinction  and  in  high  office  congra¬ 
tulated  the  minitlers  upon  admit¬ 
ting  no  ftrangers  on  that  day  into 
the  gallery,  as  the  indignation  of 
the  people  might  have  been  ex¬ 
cited  againft  them  to  a  degree 
that  would  have  endangered  their 
fafety.  No  very  particular  ac¬ 
count  of  this  fpeech  has  appeared. 
The  abftraft  in  the  public  prints 
was  nearly  the  following  : 

Mr.  Burke  obferved,  that  one  of 
the  grand  objects  of  the  enquiry 
into  the  ftate  of  the  nation,  was 


the  condition  and  quality  of  the 
troops  employed  in  America. 
That  an  account  of  the  king’s 
regular  forces,  and  thofe'of  his 
European  allies,  were  already  be¬ 
fore  them.  That  hitherto  no  ac¬ 
count  had  appeared  of  his  irregular 
forces,  particularly  thofe  of  his 
Savage  allies  ;  although  great  de- 
pendance  had  been  placed  upon 
them,  and  they  had  been  obtained 
at  a  very  great  expence.  That  it 
was  neceflary  to  examine  into  this 
point :  becaufe  an  extenfion  of 
their  mode  of  making  war  had 
lately  been  ftrenuoufly  recommend¬ 
ed.  The  prevailing  idea  was, 
that,  in  the  next  campaign,  the 
plans  hitherto  purfued  were  to  be 
abandoned  ;  and  a  war  of  diftrefs 
and  intimidation  was  to  take  place 
of  a  war  of  conqueft,  which  was 
now  found  to  be  impracticable. 

He  faid  that  this  mode  of  war 
had  already  been  tried  upon  a 
large  fcale,  and  that  the  fuccefs 
which  had  hitherto  attended  it 
would  afford  the  belt  evidence  bow 
far  it  might  be  proper  to  extend  it 
to  all  our  troops,  and  to  all  our 
operations.  That  if  it  did  not 
promile  to  be  very  decifive  as  a 
plan  merely  military,  it  could  be 
attended  with  no  collateral  advan¬ 
tages,  whether  conlidered  with  re- 
fpect  to  our  reputation  as  a  civil¬ 
ized  people,  or  to  our  policy,  in 
regard  to  the  means  of  reconciling 
tfce  minds  of  the  colonies  to  his 
Majefty’s  government. 

He  then  ftated  what  the  na¬ 
ture  of  a  war,  in  which  Indians 
were  the  aCtors  againft  a  civilized 
people,  was  ;  and  obferved,  that 
the  fault  of  employing  them  did 
not  co  nil  ft  in  their  being  of  one 
colour  or  another  ;  in  their  ufmg 
one  kind  of  weapon  or  an¬ 
other  ;  but  in  their  way  of 

making 


history  o 

making  war  ;  which  was  fo  hor¬ 
rible,  that  it  not  only  fhocked 
the  manners  of  all  civilized  na¬ 
tions,  bat  far  exceeded  the  ferocity 
of  any  other  barbarians  that  have 
been  recorded  either  by  ancient  or 
modern  hiftory.  He  obferved,  that 
the  Indians  in  North  America 
had  but  two  principal  obje&s  in 
their  wars;  the  one  was  the  in¬ 
dulgence  of  their  native  cruelty, 
by  the  deftrudion,  or,  if  poffible, 
the  extermination  of  their  enemies; 
the  other,  which  always  depended 
on  the  former,  was  the  glory  of 
acquiring  the  greatelt  number  of 
human  fcalps,  which  were  hung 
up  and  preferved  with  the  greatelt 
care  in  their  huts,  as  perpetual 
trophies  of  victory,  conqueft,  and 
perlbnal  prowefs.  As  they  had 
neither  pecuniary  emoluments,  nor 
thofe  honorary  titles  or  diitin&ions, 
which  are  fo  flattening  in  civilized 
nations,  to  beftovv,  the  rewards  of 
danger  and  warfare  confided  in  hu¬ 
man  fcalps,  in  human  flefh,  and 
the  gratifications  ariling  from  tor¬ 
turing,  mangling,  roafting  alive 
by  flow  fires,  and  frequently  even 
devouring  their  captives.  Suchwere 
the  rewards  of  Indian  warriors,  and 
fuch  the  horrors  of  an  Indian  war. 

He  then  proceeded  to  fhew,  that 
the  employment  of  the  Savages  in 
the  wars  between  the  French  and 
the  Englifh,  did  not  in  any  degree 
come  up  to  the  meafure  in  quef- 
tiorv,  nor  did  it  hand  on  the  fame 
principles.  When  thofe  nations 
fir  11  made  fettlements  in  North 
America,  the  Indian  tribes  were, 
comparatively,  numerous  and  pow¬ 
erful  ftates ;  the  new  fettlers  were 
accordingly  under  an  inevitable 
neceflity,  not  only  of  cultivating 
their  friendfhip,  and  forming  al¬ 
liances  with  them,  but  of  admitting 


F  EUROPE.  [in 

them  as  parties  in  their  contefis 
and  wars  with  each  other;  the 
affairs  of  both  nations  were  fo  in¬ 
extricably  entangled  with  thofe  of 
the  people  who  had  fold  or  given 
them  lands,  and  admitted  them  to 
a  fhare  of  their  country,  that  tf\ey 
could  not  be  feparated;  their  con¬ 
trails  on  both  fides  created  a  mu¬ 
tual  intereft ;  and  while  the  Savaees 
retained  any  degree  of  their  origi¬ 
nal  power,  they  could  not  be  in¬ 
different  to  the  difputes  that  arofe 
among  their  new  neighbours. 

But  the  cafe  was  now  totally 
altered.  The  Englifh  colonies 
were  the  only  Europeans  in  North 
America  ;  and  the  Savages  were 
fo  entirely  reduced  in  number  and 
power,  that  there  was  no  occafion 
for  holding  any  political  connec¬ 
tion  with  them  as  nations.  They 
were  now  only  formidable  from 
their  cruelty  ;  and  to  employ  them 
was  merely  to  be  cruel  ourfelves 
in  their  perfons  :  and  thus,  without 
even  the  lure  of  any  eflential  fer- 
vice,  to  become  chargeable  with  all 
the  odious  and  impotent  barbari¬ 
ties  which  they  would  inevitably 
commit,  whenever  they  were  called 
into  adion. 

Mr.  Burke  then  proceeded  to 
examine  the  arguments  or  apolo¬ 
gies  that  had  been  ufed  by  the 
miniflers  in  either  houfe,  in  de¬ 
fence  or  alleviation  of  the  meafure. 
Thefe  he  arranged  under  three 
heads,  the  firlt  and  principal  of 
which  was  contained  in  the  aifer- 
tion,  «  That  if  his  Majefty  had 
not  employed  them  the  rebels 
would. ”  To  this  he  anfwered, 
that  no  proof  whatever  had  been 
given  of  the  Americans  having  at¬ 
tempted  an  offenfive  alliance  with, 
any  one  tribe  of  favage  Indians. 
Whereas  the  imperfed  papers  al¬ 
ready 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


it2] 

ready  before  the  houfe  deihonftrat- 
ed,  that  the  King’s  mihilters  had 
negociated  and  obtained  fuch  alli¬ 
ances  from  one  end  of the  continent 
of  America  to  the  other.  That  the 
Americans  had  actually  made  a 
treaty  on  the  footing  of  neutrality 
with  the  famous  Five  Nations, 
which  the  mini  Iters  had  bribed 
them  to  violate,  and  to  a£t  offen- 
fi vely  againll;  the  colonies.  That 
no  attempt  had  been  made  in  a 
iingle  inltance  on  the  part  of  the 
King’s  minillers  to  procure  a  neu¬ 
trality;  and,  that  if  the  fail  had 
been  (what  he  denied  it  to  be) 
that  the  Americans  had  a&ually 
employed  thofe  Savages,,  yet  the 
difference  of  employing  them 
againll:  armed  and  trained  foldiers, 
embodied  and  encamped,  and  em¬ 
ploying  them  againll  the  unarmed 
and  defencelefs  men,  women  and 
children,  of  a  country,  widely  dif- 
perfed  in  their  habitations,  was 
manifeft  ;  and  left  thofe  who  at¬ 
tempted  fo  inhuman  and  unequal  a 
retaliation  without  a  poffibility  of 
excufe. 

The  other  heads  of  defence 
were,  “  That  great  care  had  been 
taken  to  prevent  that  indifcimi- 
nate  murder- of  men,  women,  and 
children,  which  was  cuftomary 
with  the  favages  and  “  that  they 
were  always  accompanied  by  dif- 
ciplined  troops  to  prevent  their 
irregularities.”  On  thefe  he  ob~ 
ferved,  that  if  the  fa  A  had  been 
true,  the  ferviee  of  the  Savages 
would  have  been  a  jell ;  their  em¬ 
ployment  could  have  anfwered  no 
purpofe ;  their  only  effective  ufe 
con  lifted  in  that  cruelty  which  was 
to  be  reftrained  ;  but  he  fhewed, 
that  it  was  fo  utterly  impoffible  for 
any  care  or  humanity  to  prevent 


or  even  rellrain  their  enormities^ 
that  the  very  attempt  was  ridicu¬ 
lous  :  in  proof  of  which,  both  the 
prefent  and  former  wars  afforded 
numerous  inllances ;  and  it  parti¬ 
cularly  appeared  both  ill  General 
Burgoyne’s  and  Col.  St.  Leger’s 
expeditions,  that  although  no  pain3 
were  negleded  to  check  their  bar¬ 
barity,  they  indiscriminately  mur¬ 
dered  men,  women,  and  children  3 
friends  and  foes,  without  dillinc- 
tion;  and  that  even  the  Daughter 
fell  molily  upon  thofe  who  were 
belt  affe&ed  to  the  King’s  govern¬ 
ment,  and  who,  upon  that  ac¬ 
count,  had  been  lately  difarmed  by 
the  Provincials.  The  murder  of 
Mifs  iVFRea  on  the  morning  of 
her  intended  marriage  with  an 
officer  of  the  King’s  troops,  and  the 
maffacre  in  cold  blood  of  the  pri- 
foners  who  had  been  taken  in  the 
engagement  with  Gen.  Harkemer, 
only  needed  to  be  mentioned  to 
excite  horror,  and  at  the  fame  time 
to  fhew  the  impracticability  of  re¬ 
training  the  barbarities  of  the  Sa¬ 
vages. 

With  refpeft  to  the  latter  of  the 
foregoing  portions,  (that  the  Sa-* 
vages  had  always  been  accompa¬ 
nied  with  regular  troops)  Mrs, 
Burke  nave  it  adireft  contradiction. 

O 

He  fhewed  that  whole  nations  of 
Savages  had  been  bribed  to  take 
up  the  hatchet,  without  a  iingle 
regular  officer  or  foldier  amongll 
them.  This  had  been  particularly 
the  cafe  of  the  Cherokees,  who 
were  bribed  and  betrayed  into  war 
under  the  promife  of  being  aflilled 
by  a  large  regular  force  ;  they  had 
accordingly  invaded  Carolina  in 
their  ulual  manner,  but  for  want 
of  the  promifed  fupport,  were 
nearly  exterminated  ;  and  the  re¬ 
mains 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [113 


mains  of  that  people  now  lived  in 
a  ftate  of  fervitude  to  the  Caroli¬ 
nians. 

He  ftated  the  monftrous  expence, 
as  well  as  the  inefficacy,  of  that 
kind  of  ally  ;  and  the  unfortunate 
confequences  that  had  attended 
their  employment.  That  one  In¬ 
dian  foldier  cod  as  much  as  five  of 
the  bed  regular  or  irregular  Euro¬ 
pean  troops.  That  the  expence  of 
thefe  Indians  had  not  been  lefs 
than  150,0001.  and  yet  there 
never  had  been  more  than  fe- 
ven  or  eight  hundred  of  them  in 
the  field,  and  that  only  for  a  very 
fhort  time.  So  that  it  appeared  as 
if  our  minifters  thought,  that  in¬ 
humanity  and  murder  could  not  be 
purchased  at  too  dear  a  rate.  He 
fliewed  that  this  ally  was  not  lefs 
faithlefs,  than  inefficacious  and 
cruel.  That  on  the  lead  appear¬ 
ance  of  ill  fuccefs,  they  not  only 
abandoned  their  friends,  but  fre¬ 
quently  turned  their  arms  upon 
them.  And  he  attributed  the  fa¬ 
tal  catadrophe  at  Saratoga  to  the 
cruelties  exercifed  by  thefe  barba¬ 
rians,  which  obliged  all  mankind, 
without  regard  to  party,  or  to 
political  principles,  and  in  defpite 
of  military  indifpofition,  to  become 
foldiers,  and  to  unite  as  one  man 
in  the  common  defence.  Thus 
was  the  fpeflacle  exhibited  of  a 
refidlefs  army  fpringing  up  in  the 
woods  and  deferts. 

fie  alfo  palled  fome  fevere  dric- 
tures  on  the  endeavours  in  two  of 
the  fouthern  colonies,  to  excite  an 
infurredlion  of  the  negro  flaves 
againd  their  maders.  He  inlided 
that  the  proclamation  for  that  pur- 
pofe  wai  diredlly  contrary  to  the 
common  and  datute  law  of  this 
country,  as  well  as  to  the  general 
law  of  nations.  He  dated  in  drong 
Vol,  XXL 


colours  the  nature  of  an  indirec¬ 
tion  of  negroes  :  the  horrible  confe¬ 
quences  that  might  enfue  from  con- 
ltituting  100,000  fierce  barbarian 
flaves,  to  be  both  the  judges  and 
executioners  of  their  maders  ;  and 
appealed  to  all  thofe  who  were  ac¬ 
quainted  either  with  the  Wed  India 
lilands  or  the  Southern  Colonies, 
as  to  the  murders,  rapes,  and  hor¬ 
rid  enormities  of  every  kind,  which 
had  ever  been  acknowledged  to  be 
the  principal  objedls  in  the  con¬ 
templation,  of  all  negroes  who  had 
meditated  an  infurredlion.  The 
vigour  and  care  of  the  white  inha¬ 
bitants  in  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
had  providentially  kept  down  the 
infurredlion  of  the  negroes.  But 
if  they  had  fucceeded,  he  alked 
what  means  were  propofed  for  go¬ 
verning  thofe  negroes,  when  they 
had  reduced  the  province  to  their 
obedience,  and  made  therafelves 
mailers  of  the  houfes,  goods,  wives, 
and  daughters  of  their  murdered 
lords  ?  Another  war  mull  be  made 
with  them,  and  another  maflacre 
enfue;  adding  confufion  to  con- 
fufion,  and  deitrudlion  to  deliruc- 
tion. 

The  reful t  of  his  fpeech  was, 
that  our  national  honour  had  been 
deeply  wounded,  and  our  charadler 
as  a  people  debafed  in  the  eflima- 
tion  of  foreigners,  by  thofe  fhame- 
ful,  favage,  and  fervile  alliances, 
and  their  barbarous  confequences* 
That  inflead  of  any  military  ef- 
fedt  of  value,  they  had  only  led  to 
defeat,  ruin,  and  difgrace  ;  ferving 
to  embitter  the  minds  of  all  men, 
and  to  unite  and  arm  all  the  Co¬ 
lonies  againil  us.  That  the  in- 
effedlive  attempt  upon  the  negroes, 
was  the  grand  caufe  of  that  greater 
averfion  and  refentment,  which 
appeared  in  the  Southern,  than  in 
[tf]  •  many 


1 14]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


many  of  the  Centra!  and  Northern 
Colonies  ;  of  their  being  the  fir  it 
to  abjure  the  King  ;  and  of  the 
declaration  made  by  Virginia,  that 
if  the  reft  ihould  fubmit,  they 
would  notwith handing  hold  out 
fingly  to  the  lafc  extremity  :  for 
what  fecurity  could  they  receive, 
that  if  they  admitted  an  En- 
glifh  governor,  he  would  not  raife 
their  negroes  on  them,  whenever 
lie  thought  it  good  to  conftrue  any 
occasional  difturbances  into  a  re¬ 
bellion,  and  to  adopt  martial  law 
as  a  fyftem  of  government  ? 

He  concluded,  that  the  only 
remedy  for  the  alienation  of  affec¬ 
tions,  and  the  diftruft  and  terror  of 
our  government,  which  had  been 
"brought  on  by  thefe  inhuman  mea- 
fures,  was  for  parliament  to  en¬ 
quire  ferioufty  and  firidly  into 
them  ;  and  by  the  moft  marked 
and  public  disapprobation,  to  con¬ 
vince  the  world  that  they  had  no 
Share  in  practices,  which  were  not 
more  disgraceful  to  a  great  and 
civilized  nation,  than  they  were 
contrary  to  all  true  policy,  and  re¬ 
pugnant  to  all  the  feelings  of  hu¬ 
manity.  For  that  it  was  not  inhu¬ 
man  nature  for  any  people  to  place 
a  confidence  in  thofe,  to  whom  they 
attributed,  fuch  unparalleled  buf¬ 
ferings  and  miferies  *;  and  the  co¬ 
lonies  would  never  be  brought  to 
believe,  that  thofe  who  were  ca¬ 
pable  of  carrying  on  a  war  in  fo 
cruel  and  difhonourable  a  manner, 
could  not  be  depended  on  for  a 
found, equitable,  and  cordial  peace; 
much  Ids  that  they  could  be  fafely 
cn trolled  with,  power  and  domi¬ 
nion. 

The  minifters  could  fcarcely 
have  any  new  ground  to  take  in 
this  debate,  and  accordingly  ap¬ 
plied  their  force  principally  to 


fupport  thofe  aflertions  or  argu¬ 
ments,  which  had  been  ftated  and 
combated,  by  Mr.  Burke.  T  hey 
indited,  that  every  thing  that  had 
been  advanced  relative  to  a  neutra¬ 
lity  on  the  fide  of  the  Indians,  was 
deluiive,  and  utterly  imprablica- 
ble  in  fa£l.  That  the  difpofitioa 
of  the  Indians,  and  the  applica¬ 
tions  made  to  them  by  the  Co¬ 
lonies,  afforded  a  clear  and  indis¬ 
putable  proportion,  that  no  other 
alternative  was  left,  but  that  of 
either  employing  them  ourfelves, 
or  fubmitting  to  the  consequences 
of  their  enmity.  That  the  opera¬ 
tions  of  a  war  in  America  mull 
neceffarily  be  combined  with  the 
nature  of  the  country,  fliii  more 
than  half  a  wildernefs,  as  well  as 
with  the  nature  and  difpofition  of 
the  native  inhabitants  of  that  wil¬ 
dernefs  ;  infomuch,  that  no  war 
ever  was,  nor  frill  can  be  carried 
on  in  that  country,- in  which  the 
Indians  will  not  inevitably  mix. 
And  that  fuppofmg  their  affiftance 
had  been  rejecled  on  both  Tides, 
they  would  notwithftanding  have 
become  a  deftruclive  party  in  the 
war,  by  fcalping  and  murdering 
each  indifcriminately,  wherever 
they  found  themfelves  fuperior  in. 
force.  Thus,  they  contended  that 
the  employment  of  the  Indians  was 
a  matter  of  abfolute  neceflity,  and 
by  no  means  a  meafure  of  choice  or 
inclination. 

They  faid,  that  no  propofals  of 
neutrality  had  ever  been  made  to 
the  Indians  by  any  of  the  con¬ 
tending  parties  in  America,  whe¬ 
ther  French,  Engliih,  or  Ameri¬ 
cans,  excepting  only  when  the  pro- 
poling  party  had  failed  in  its  en¬ 
deavours  to  procure  their  affiftance, 
and  would  thereby  prevent  their 
operation  on  the  oppofite  fide. 

That 


HISTORY  OF 


That  this  had  been  particularly  the 
cafe  of  the  Congrefs  with  relpeCt 
to  that  neutrality  which  had  been 
fo  much  boafted  as  an  in  dance  of 
moderation  and  humanity.  That 
the  Indians  had  at  all  times  been  a 
principal  objeCt  of  American  po¬ 
licy,  with  every  European  nation 
that  held  pofieflions  on  that  conti¬ 
nent.  That  Indian  treaties  had 
been  entered  into  the  lad  war. 
and  thofe  people  employed  fuc- 
cefsfully  againll  our  French’  and 
Chrillian  neighbours,  without  the 
meafure  exciting  any  part  of  that 
outcry  and  complaint  which  is  now 
fo  induftrioufly  railed.  That  thofe 
treaties  had  been  renewed,  con¬ 
firmed,  and  continued,  down  to 
the  prefent  time  ;  that  it  was  well 
known  that  fuperintendants  were 
conftantly  employed  at  a  great  ex¬ 
pence  by  government,  to  create 
and  preferve  alliances  with  the  In¬ 
dian  nations  ;  and  that  parliament 
gave  every  fefiion  the  fulled  fanc- 
tion  to  this  policy,  in  approving 
of  and  recognizing  thofe  alliances 

o  o 

and  treaties,  by  granting  fpecific 
fums  of  money  to  the  difpofal  of 
thofe  fuperintendants,  for  the  pur- 
pofe  of  being  laid  out  in  prefents, 
and  diilributed  among  the  leading 
warriors  and  chiefs  of  the  Indian 
nations. 

The  minifler  remarked  on  the 
obfervation  that  had  been  made, 
of  danger  arifing  from  ftrangers 
being  admitted  to  hear  the  debate; 
he  faid,  that  he  alfo  was  very  glad 
of  that  circumdance  of  an  empty 
gallery,  but  that  it  proceeded  from 
a  very  different  caufe  ;  for  he 
would  have  been  apprehenfive  that 
if  the  public  had  been  acquainted 
vvith  the  unfounded  charges  and 
afperfions  brought  by  gentlemen 
on  the  other  fide  to  traduce  the 


EUROPE.  [115 

honour  and  character  of  their  coun¬ 
try,  it  might,  indeed,  have  raifed 
their  indignation  and  refentment 
to  a  very  dangerous  degree.  He 
alfo  entered  into  fome  defence  of 
the  meafure  of  emancipating  the 
negroes  in  Virginia,  and  encou- 
raging  them  to  join  the  royal  ar¬ 
my.  He  faid  the  proclamation 
did  not  call  on  them  to  murder 
their  makers,  as  had  been  Hated  in 
the  debate  ;  it  only  called  upon 
them  to  take  up  arms  in  defence 
of  their  fovereign.  He  acknow¬ 
ledged  the  employment  of  the  fa- 
vages  to  be  a  bad,  but  dated  it  as 
an  unavoidable  meafure;  and  com¬ 
bated  the  charges  of  cruelty  by  re¬ 
criminating  upon  the  Americans, 
who,  he  faid,  hung  up  their  own 
people  by  dozens,  for  no  other  crime 
than  their  fupplying  our  camp  with 
provi  lions. 

After  a  warm  debate  of  feven 
hours,  Mr.  Burke’s  motion  was  re¬ 
jected  upon  a  divifion,  by  a  majo¬ 
rity  of  223,  to  137  who  fupported 
the  queilion.  That  gentleman, 
notwithftanding,  followed  his  firft 
motion  by  feveral  others. — For  co¬ 
pies  of  all  treaties  and  conventions 
with  the  Indians  of  North  Ame¬ 
rica,  and  all  meffages,  fpeeches, 
and  fymbols,  fent  by  any  perfons 
aCting  in  his  Majelty’s  fervice,  or 
under  their  orders,  from  the  firfl  of 
March,  1774.  —  F°r  an  account  of 
all  money,  arms,  ammunition, 
Itores,  and  the  quantity,  kind,  and 
value  of  goods  given  to  any  of  the 
faid  Indians,  or  configned  to  any 
perfon  for  them,  on  account  of  his 
Majeily,  or  any  perfon  employed 
in  his  or  the  public  fervice.  For 
an  account  of  the  numbers,  na¬ 
tions,  and  names  of  chiefs,  of  the 
American  Indians,  who  have  been, 
in  arms  againll  the  colonies  of 
[/i]  2  North 


1 1 6]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i778. 


North  America,  iince  the  ift  of 
March,  1774  :  as  alfo  of  thofe 
who  have  adted  in  his  Majefty’s 
armies,  with  their  Hate  and  num¬ 
bers,  as  by  the  ] aft  returns,  and 
where  employed* — For  an  account 
of  the  number  of  negroes  of  Vir¬ 
ginia  who  have  repaired  to  his 
Majefty’s  ftandard,  from  the  ift  of 
March,  1774,  and  the  corps  which 
they  formed  or  were  embodied  in, 
together  with  the  names  of  the  offi¬ 
cers  commanding  the  faid  corps, 
and  ferving  therein  :  as  alfo  their 
number  and  condition,  as  by  the 
laft  return. — And  laftly,  For  co¬ 
pies  of  all  orders  given,  and  in¬ 
formation  received,  relating  to  the 
jailing  negroes  for  his  Majefty’s 
fervice,  in  North  and  South  Caro¬ 
lina.  All  thefe  motions  were  fepa- 
rately  negatived. 

Feb  nth  ,  In  a  fe.'v  days  after> 
the  Houfe  being  in  a 

committee  on  the  hate  of  the  nation, 

Mr.  Fox  hated  a  number  of  facts 

relative  to  the  war  in  America, 

which  were  founded  on  conclufions 

drawn  from  the  papers  before  them. 

As  the  accounts  given  in  relative 

to  the  armies  in  America,  were 

extremely  deficient,  in  thofe  heads 

of  information,  from  whence  any 

knowledge  could  be  derived  of  the 

fpecific  lofs  of  men  fuhained  in  the 

war,  and  that  thofe  in  particular 

which  related  to  the  hate  of  the 

foreign  troops,  prefented  little 

more  than  a  blank  in  that  refpedl, 

the  Duke  of  Richmond  and  Mr. 

Fox,  who  conducted  the  enquiry 

in  both  houfes,  adopted  the  fame 

limple  method  for  remedying  that 

defeat,  and  thereby  eftablifhing 

the  point  of  faft.  For  this  pur- 

pofe,  having  eftablifhed  from  the 

documents  before  them,  the  exadl 

number  of  effective  men  which 


were  in  America,  in  the  year  1774, 
and  previous  to  the  commencement 
of  hoftilitjies,  which  they  Ihewed 
to  be  6,864,  they  added  to  that 
amount  the  number  of  reinforce¬ 
ments  and  recruits,  whether  native 
or  foreign,  which  had  been  fent 
from  Great-Britain,  Ireland,  or 
Germany,  during  the  intermediate 
time  ;  and  thefe  aggregates  being 
caft  into  one  round  fum,  and  com¬ 
pared  with  the  number  of  effective 
men,  which  from  the  laft  returns 
appeared  to  be  ftill  left  on  that 
continent,  the  difference,  amount¬ 
ing  to  fomething  about  twenty 
thoufand,  was  ftated  as  the  exadl 
lofs  of  men  fuftained  in  the  war  to 
the  lateft  date,  whether  by  defer- 
tion,  flain  in  battle,  dead  through 
difeafe,  or  otherwife  incapacitated 
for  fervice,  by  wounds,  captivity, 
or  ficknefs. 

Mr.  Fox  having  opened  the 
ground  which  he  was  to  take,  with, 
his  ufual  perfpicuicy,  explained  the 
nature  of  a  iucceffion  of  twelve 
motions  which  he  intended  to 
make,  and  of  the  points  which  they 
went  to  eftablifh.  He  would  lhew, 
to  the  fatisfadiion  of  the  commit¬ 
tee,  that  we  had  loft  20,000  men 
by  the  war,  and  that  the  expence 
ot  treafure  had  already  amounted 
to  full  twenty-five  millions.  He 
would  then  appeal  to  the  judgment 
of  the  committee,  confidering  that 
we  had  gained  nothing  by  this  fa¬ 
tal  conteft  hitherto,  and  that  in- 
itead  of  the  undifeiplined  rabble 
we  were  firft  engaged  with,  we 
were  now  to  contend  with  a  power¬ 
ful,  numerous,  and  well-difciplined 
enemy,  whether  it  was  not  full 
time  for  them  to  reflect  in  the  molt 
ferions  manner,  on  the  very  criti¬ 
cal  and  alarming  fituatjor.  of  pub¬ 
lic  affairs.  To  confider,  whether 

our 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


our  refources  of  men  and  money 
were  equal  to  the  difficult  and  ha¬ 
zardous  talk  of  conquell  ;  or  if  that 
ffiould  appear,  on  due  examina¬ 
tion  to  be  totally  impracticable, 
whether  it  was  not  incumbent  on 
parliament,  immediately  to  devife 
feme  means  for  putting  an  end  to 
our  public  calamities,  and  to  en¬ 
deavour  to  avert  thole  imminent 
dangers  with  which  we  are  on 

O  # 

every  fide  threatened.  That  in 
every  conlideration  of  this  mad, 
improvident,  and  deflru&ive  war, 
they  ffiould  bear  conftantly  in 
mind,  that  befides  our  having  fuf- 
fered  fuch  difgraces  in  its  progrefs 
as  this  country  never  before  expe¬ 
rienced,  all  thole  thoufands  oflives 
and  millions  of  money,  had  not 
only  been  thrown  away  to  no  man¬ 
ner  of  purpofe,  but  that  on  the 
contrary,  that  vail  expence  of  blood 
and  treafure  had  rendered  concilia¬ 
tion  infinitely  more  difficult,  and 
confequently  our  fituation  as  a  na¬ 
tion  infinitely  worfe,  than  if  the 
fword  had  never  been  drawn,  a 
fhilling  fpent,  or  a  life  loll. 

He  then  propofed  his  leading 
motion  as  a  foundation  for  the 
fucceeding,  and  as  an  incontro¬ 
vertible  fa£t  arifing  from  the  evi¬ 
dence  before  them,  viz.  “  Refolv- 
ed,  that  it  appears  to  this  com¬ 
mittee,  that  in  the  year  1774,  the 
whole  of  the  land  forces  ferving  in 
North  America,  did  not  amount  to 
more  than  6  864  effective  men, 
officers  included/’ 

The  Secretary  of  war  faid,  that 
however  they  might  have  been 
founded  in  point  of  fact,  he  could 
not  have  avoided  difapproving  of 
the  refolutions,  as  being  highly 
improper  and  ill-timed  :  but  that 
when  he  alfo  knew,  that  fome  of 
the  principal  of  them  were  totally 


[117 

unfounded  in  faCt,  he  could  have 
no  difficulty  in  giving  them  a  di- 
re6t  negative.  The  honourable 
mover  had  ttated  as  a  faCt,  that 
20,oco  men  had  been  already  loll 
in  this  war  ;  this,  he  contended,  to 
be  a  grofs  error,  for  he  could  de- 
monflrate  by  returns  which  he  had 
in  his  hands,  that  the  whole  num¬ 
ber  llain  in  three  years  war  did  not 
exceed  1200.  He  did  not  mean  to 
include  in  that  number  thofe  who 
died  natural  deaths,  who  deferted, 
were  made  prifoners,  or  who  had 
been  rendered  unfit  for  fervice  by 
wounds  or  ficknels;  but  only  fuch 
as  had  been  (lain  in  battle.  And 
that  if  this  erroneous  llatement  of 
the  lofs  of  men  was  to  go  out  into 
the  world  under  the  fanCtion  of 
parliament,  it  would  not  only  ella^ 
blifh  falfe,  but  very  pernicious 
ideas,  with  refpeCt  to  the  Hate, 
nature,  conduCt,  and  confequences 
of  the  war. 

The  miniller  declared  the  pro- 
pofitions  to  be  reprehenfible  and 
impolitic  in  the  higheft  degree  ; 
and  was  amazed,  that  while  our 
affairs  were  reprefented  to  be  in. 
the  moll  critical  and  alarming 
fituation,  how  the  author  of  that 
affertion  could,  with  any  colour  of 
reafon,  propofe  that  the  fate  of  our 
armies  Ihculd  be  expofed  to  our 
enemies,  during  the  aCtual  Hate 
and  exigence  of  a  war,  which,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  language  held  on 
that  fide,  was  every  day  expeCled 
to  be  extended  in  a  Hill  more  dan¬ 
gerous  degree  ;  but  that  it  he  had 
even  approved  of  the  purport  of  the 
motion,  it  was  impoffible  he  could 
agree  to  it,  until  the  prodigious 
difference  in  calculation,  which 
appeared  to  be  no  lefs  than  fixteen 
to  one,  between  the  honourable 
mover,  and  the  noble  lord  at  the 

[tf]  3  bead 


nS]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177S. 


head  of  the  war  office,  Lorn  whom 
al.fo  the  whole  information  upon 
the  fubjed  was  derived,  could  be 
in  feme  manner  fettled.  ri  hat  he 
would  therefore  recommend  to 
Mr.  Fox  to  withdraw  his  motion, 
until  this  great  difference  in  point 
of  calculation  was  fettled,  when  it 
would  be  time  enough  to  confider 
the  merits  of  the  queftion  ;  but 
that  if  this  was  not  agreed  to,  he 
muft  be  under  a  neceffity  of  en¬ 
deavouring  to  fet  it  by,  by  moving 
to  report  home  progress. 

To  this  it  was  replied,  that  the 
mover  had  not  fuppofed  cr  fated, 
that  20,000  men  had  been  a  finally 
Hain  outright  in  battle  ;  he  had 
only  ftievvn  and  Hated  from  the 
documents  before  them,  that  the 
deficiency  of  the  force  fent  to  Ame¬ 
rica,  exclufive  of  what  was  raifed 
in  the  country,  amounted  at  the 
date  of  the  lateft  returns  to  that 
number.  That  however  fome  parts 
of  the  queftion  might  be  interefting 
to  humanity,  it  availed  but  little 
to  the  public,  and  nothing  at  all 
to  the  fervice,  what  proportions  of 
that  twenty  thoufand  had  been 
killed  upon  the  fpot  in  adion,  died 
of  their  wounds,  perifhed  by  dif- 
eafe  or  fatigue,  defected  to  the  ene¬ 
my,  or  who  lived  to  prefent  a 
maimed  and  mutilated  fpedacie  of 
human  nature  at  home,  condemned 
to  drag  out  a  life  of  mifery,  and  to 
exift  a  dead  burden  and  conftant 
expence  to  their  country. 

That  it  was  not  the  fault  of  op- 
pofition  if  falfe  or  im perfect  ac¬ 
counts  had  been  laid  before  parlia¬ 
ment  ;  they  had  taken  great  pains 
to  prevent  or  to  remedy  thofe  de¬ 
feats,  But  that  if  the  noble  Lord 
fent  in  papers  of  a  different  com¬ 
plexion,  from  thofe  which  he  re¬ 
lied  on  for  his  own  private  ufe  and 

s 


information,  it  was  no  wonder  that 
there  Ihould  be  rniftakes  in  the  cal¬ 
culations,  and  that  thofe  rniilakes 
Ihould  alio  be  exactly  fuch  as  the 
noble  Lord  pleafed,  But  they  in- 
lifted  that  there  could  be  no  miftake 
to  affed  the  queftion  in  its  princi¬ 
pal  and  material  point.  The  ftate 
of  the  effedive  force  fent  out,  and 
of  that  which  ftiil  remained,  could 
not  be  controverted ;  and  the  dif¬ 
ference  was  the  undoubted  lofs  fuf- 
tained  in  the  war.  The  noble 
Lord’s  calculation  of.  the  number 
actually  flain,  they  laid,  might  be 
eafily  overthrown,  but  it  was  no 
part  of  the  prefent  buftnefs* 

In  anfwer  to  the  noble  Lord  at 
the  head  of  the  treasury,  they  ob- 
ferved,  that  an  enquiry  into  the 
ftate  of  the  war,  and  confequently 
of  the  army,  was  the  principal 
ohjed  of  the  committee.  That  it 
would  be  a  farce  to  talk  of  en¬ 
quiring  into  the  ftate  of  the  na¬ 
tion,  and  to  omit  thofe  great  cb- 
jeds,  which  in  ■  fad  included  every 
thing  that  could  be  worth  their 
enquiry.  That  if  enquiry  was  not 
made  during  the  war,  it  could  ne¬ 
ver  be  made  to  any  purpole  ;  it 
would  be  too  late  when  the  die  was 
call,  the  conteft  concluded,  and 
our  fate,  perhaps  for  ever,  decid¬ 
ed  ;  and  that  at  any  rate,  if  the 
men  who  now  oppofed  it  fucceeded, 
and  ftiil  continued  in  office,  they 
could  eafily  evade  all  enquiiv  into 
their  con  dud  when  the  fubjed  was 
no  longer  interefting.  That  the 
eftablifhment  of  fuch  a  dodrine 
would  amount  to  no  lefs  in  efted, 
than  a  public  remiffion  of  all  crimes 
and  treaions  committed  by  men  in 
office  againft  the  ftate  during  the 
continuance  of  a  war  ;  for  that  ini¬ 
quitous  Minifters  would  have  no¬ 
thing  more  to  do  for  their  Security 

in 


HISTORY  O 

in  the  utmoft  hate  of  turpitude, 
than  to  prolong  a  war,  to  the  de¬ 
triment  and  ruin  of  their  country, 
until  the  indignation  of  the  people 
was  exhauiled,  and  that  their 
crimes  were  at  length  obliterated 
from  the  public  memory.  They 
concluded  by  averting,  that  the 
Minifier’s  pretence  or  argument, 
for  oppohng  the  motion,  on  the 
danger  of  expoiing  the  ilate  of  our 
forces  to  the  enemy,  was  not  more 
frivolous  in  point  of  argument, 
than  it  was  repugnant  to  practice, 
and  unfupported  by  precedent  ; 
and  that  their  journals  abounded 
with  instances,  of  parliamentary  en¬ 
quiries  into  the  hate  of  our  fleets 
and  armies,  the  conduct  of  com¬ 
manders,  and  the  caufes  of  mif- 
carriage,  public  lofs,  or  difgtace, 
being  inllituted  in  the  midit  of  the 
heat,  violence,  and  danger,  of  our 
moit  arduous  wars. 

The  debate  was  well  fuppcrted  ; 
moll  of  the  principal  members  of 
the  oppofition  having  taken- a  con¬ 
siderable  fhare  in  the  queilion. 
As  the  iMinitler  had  announced  to 
the  Houfe  previous  to  the  Speaker’s 
quitting  the  chair,  that  he  fhould 
on  the  following  Tuefdav,  the 
I/th,  lay  before  them  a  plan  of 
conciliation  with  America ;  this 
notice  occafioned  much  converSa- 
tion,  and  fome  animadverhon , 
diflinCt  from  the  main  SubjeCt.  The 
oppofition  declared,  that  if  the 
noble  Lord’s  intended  plan  of  con¬ 
ciliation,  was  fair  and  open,  found¬ 
ed  in  juitice,  good  faith,  and  right 
policy,  and  warranted  by  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  the  confutation,  it  fnould 
meet  with  the  moll  hearty  and  un- 
referved  concurrence  on  their  fide 
of  the  Houfe.  But  they  had  too 
much  caufe  for  fearing  that  it 
would  not  anfvver  that  defcrip- 


F  EUROPE.  [  1 19 

tion  ;  for  they  could  fcarcely  be 
perfuaded,  (unlefs  the  ideas  of 
cruelty  and  meannefs  were  inse¬ 
parable,)  that  the  fame  men  who 
had  rejected  the  molt  humble  pe¬ 
titions  and  dutiful  rernonflrances 
with  haughtinefs  and  contempt, 
could  ever  confent  to  hold  out  any 
plan  that  was  fairly  meant  to  fe- 
cure  thofe  rights,  which  they  had 
fo  long  endeavoured  to  annihilate 
bv  the  fword. 

A  young  gentleman  of  great  for¬ 
tune,  and  of  Hill  greater  expecta¬ 
tions,  whofe  father  had  fir  ft  laid 
or  adopted  the  fcheme  of  American 
taxation,  and  who  had  himfelf 
hitherto  given  fome  Support  to  the 
war,  upon  the  lame  principle,  and 
in  the  common  hope  which  ope¬ 
rated  upon  fo  many,  of  obtaining 
fin  effective  revenue  from  the  co¬ 
lonies,  after  explaining  the  mo¬ 
tives  for  his  prefent  condufil  in. 
voting  with  the  oppofition,  which 
were  not  founded  upon  any  depar¬ 
ture  from  his  former  principles  and 
opinions,  but  entirely  owing  to  the 
unhappy  meafures  purfued  by  go¬ 
vernment,  which  had  now  reduced 
thofe  to  be  merely  matters  of  Spe¬ 
culation  ;  he  then  reprobated  with 
an  extraordinary  degree  of  feverity 
the  whole  conduct  of  adminiitra* 
tion,  whether  with  refpeCt  to  the 
American  buiinefs  in  general,  dr 
to  the  war  in  particular. 

In  the  courfe  of  a  very  able 
fpeech,  he  deplored  the  difgrace 
brought,  not  upon  our  arms,  but 
on  our  counfels,  by  the  ill-fated, 
rath,  and  undigelted  expedition 
from  Canada.  He  lamented  the 
want  of  proteftion  to  our  com¬ 
merce,  the  confequent  weight  of 

*  *0 

infurance  on  our  merchants,  and 
the  declining  (late  of  public  cre¬ 
dit.  He  hoped  a  day  of  retri’ou- 
j^//j  Uom 


i  ao]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778.' 


tion  would  come,  when  Minifters 
would  be  called  to  a  fevere  ac¬ 
count  lor  the  diigrace  and  infamy 
which  they  had  brought  upon 
their  country,  by  involving  it  in 
a.  war  which  they  were  incapable 
of  conducting,  and  deceiving  the 
nation  into  an  immenfe  expence 
and  great  lofs,  by  holding  out  pro- 
mifes  of  a  revenue  which  their  in¬ 
ability  had  obliged  them  to  aban¬ 
don.  He  hncerely  wifhed  that  the 
noble  Lord’s  plan  of  conciliation 
might  fucceed  ;  but  he  had  every 
reafon  in  the  world,  he  faid,  to  ap¬ 
prehend  it  would  not.  A  previous 
confidence  between  the  parties,  was 
the  very  life  and  balls  of  all  nego¬ 
tiation  and  treaty.  The  noble 
Lord  himfelf  would  not  venture 
to  fay,  that  any  fuch  fource  of 
accommodation  fubfifted  between 
Minifters  and  the  ruling  powers 
in  America.  Nobody  was  igno¬ 
rant,  he  faid,  that  every  poffi- 
ble  occalion  had  been  given  by  the 
prefent  adminiftration,  to  fix  in 
the  breafts  of  the  people  of  Ame¬ 
rica  and  their  leaders,  the  moft 
rooted  hatred  and  inveterate  ran¬ 
cour.  Under  fuch  fingular  cir- 
cumftances  of  difappointment  and 
difgrace  on  one  fide,  and  fuch 
provocations  on  the  other,  he 
would  appeal  to  the  candour  of 
thofe  whole  difpofitions  might  le, ad 
them  to  the  higheft  point  of  ex¬ 
pectation,  whether  there  was  the 
moft  diftant  profpeCt  of  any  fuc- 
cels  from  a  treaty  which  was  to 
be  conducted  on  the  part  of  Great 
JBritain,  by  men  who  were  univer- 
fally  execrated  from  one  end  of  the 
continent  of  North  America  to 
the  other.— Men,  he  faid,  whofe 
belt  and  fincereft  intentions  would 
be  only  interpreted  as  lures  to  en- 
fnare  and  betray.  Under  the  full 


influence  of  thefe  perfuafions,  he 
could  not  but  fear,  that  whatever 
the  noble  Lord’s  intentions  might 
be,  his  plan  would  be  rejected  by 
America,  which  would  only  fur- 
nilh  Adin filers  with  an  apology  for 
trying  the  experiment  of  one  more 
fatal  and  difgracefal  campaign : 
after  which  he  would  venture  to 
predict,  that  all  further  attempts 
to  fubdue,  or  hopes  to  treat  with 
America  would  be  at  an  end,  and 
that  country  irretrievably  loft  for 
ever  to  this. 

The  Minifter  refrained  from  tak¬ 
ing  any  notice  of  the  afperities 
that  had  dropped  from  this  gentle¬ 
man,  and  only  gave  a  general  an- 
fwer  to  his  opinions,  along  with 
thofe  which  had  been  thrown  out 
by  others,  relative  to  his  propofed 
fcheme  of  conciliation.  He  faid, 
that  as  he  never  meant  to  negociate 
away  the  rights  of  this  country,  to 
procure  him  felf  any  temporary  con¬ 
venience  ;  fo  he  never  wifhed  to 
encroach  on  thofe  of  America. 
His  own  private  opinion  never  va¬ 
ried  :  but  if  his  propofition  fhould 
not  meet  with  the  approbation  of 
the  majority  in  that  Houfe,  or  that 
it  fhould  undergo  any  alteration,  in 
either  event  he  would  gladly  ac- 
quiefee.  As  to  the  particular  fa¬ 
vourable  difpofition  of  America  to¬ 
wards  individuals  or  parties  in  that 
or  the  other  Houfe,  he  faid,  that 
by  every  thing  that  had  yet  ap¬ 
peared,  all  men  and  all  parties 
feemed  equally  obnoxious  to  them  ; 
and  whenever  proportions  came  to 
be  made,  he  was  inclined  to  be¬ 
lieve,  that  the  object  of  the  coloT 
nies  would  not  be  by  whom  they 
were  made,  but  whether  they  were 
fuch  as  anfwered  .their  expecta¬ 
tions.  For  his  own  part,  he  was 
ready  and  willing  to  refign  the  dif- 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [121 


agreeable  talk  to  whoever  was 
thought  better  qualified,  and  was 
contented  to  accept  of  it.  He 
wilhed  as  fincerely  for  pacification 
as  any  one  perfon  in  either  Houfe; 
and  fo  the  end  was  obtained,  it 
was  a  matter  of  no  confequence  to 
him  by  whom,  or  in  what  manner 
it  was  accomplilhed. 

Mr.  Fox  had  thrown  out  in  his 
fpeech,  that  he  had  been  informed 
it  was  intended  to  fend  out  other 
Generals,  and  that  upon  that 
ground,  great  expeditions  were 
formed  on  the  fuccefs  of  the  en- 
fuing  campaign.  For  himfelf,  he 
faid  he  expeded,  that  whoever 
ihould  fucceed  to  the  prefent  gen¬ 
tleman  in  command,  would  meet 
with  the  exad  fate  of  their  prede- 
ceffors  ;  they  would  be  one  day 
charged  with  indolence,  inactivity, 
and  want  of  fpirit ;  with  a  defigned 
procrastination  of  the  war,  from 
motives  of  lucre  and  private  in- 
tereft;  and  on  the  next,  with 
quixotifm,  knight  errantry,  and 
difobedience  to  inllrudions.  He 
then  gave  ample  teftimony  to  the 
bravery  and  good  conduct  of  the 
Generals;  contended,  that  they 
did  not  mifcarry  through  want  of 
Ikill  in  their  profeflion,  or  from 
any  negied  of  their  duty,  but 
merely  from  their  being  employed 
on  a  fervice,  in  which  it  was  im- 
poffible  for  them  to  fucceed  ;  and 
that  if  Minillers  fnewed  any  trace 
of  wifdom  throughout  their  whole 
conduct,  it  was  in  their  choice  of 
officers  ;  although  they  now  bafely 
infinuated,  that  it  was  only  in  the 
choice  of  Generals  that  they  had 
been  deceived  ;  and  that  it  was  to 
their  fault  2lone,  that  all  the  mif- 
carriages  in  the  profecution  of  the 
American  meafures  were  to  be  im¬ 


puted.  No  reply  was  made  to  thefe 
obfervations. 

Mr.  Fox’s  firft  motion  was  at 
length  fet  afide  about  11  at  night, 
by  another,  for  the  Chairman’s 
leaving  the  chair,  and  reporting 
fome  progrefs,  which  was  carried 
upon  a  divifion  by  a  majority  of  263 
to  149.  He  then,  notwithftanding 
the  advice  of  the  minillers,  as  in 
the  firft  inftance,  to  withdraw  his 
other  propofitions,  determined  to 
take  the  lenfe  of  the  Houfe  upon 
each  fingly,  and  they  all  accord¬ 
ingly  received  a  feparate  negative 
without  a  divifion. 

During  this  warfare  in  the  Houfe 
of  Commons  upon  various  parts  of 
the  general  enquiry  into  the  Hate 
of  the  nation,  that  great  and  im¬ 
portant  fubjed  was  not  lefs  agi¬ 
tated  in  the  Houfe  of  Lords,  where 
it  was  conducted  with  unufual 
temper  and  ability,  together  with 
a  perfeverance  fcarcely  to  be  pa¬ 
ralleled,  by  the  Dukeof  Richmond; 
who  was  alfo  exceedingly  well  fup- 
ported  by  nearly  all  the  principal 
characters  of  oppofition  among  the 
Lords.  Nor  was  there  lefs  addrefs 
Ihewn  in  one  houfe  than  the  other, 
in  the  manner  of  fruitrating  the 
principal  objeds  of  enquiry. 

A  debate  on  the  choice  of  a 
chairman,  upon  the  opening  of 
the  general  committee  on  the  2d 
of  February,  being  a  matter  in 
itfelf  of  little  or  no  confequence, 
afforded  an  early  indication  of  the 
temper  which  was  likely  to  pre¬ 
vail  with  the  majority  in  the  courfe 
of  the  bufinefs.  The  noble  Duke 
who  moved  for  the  committee,  had 
nominated  the  Duke  of  Portland 
as  Chairman,  which  was  imme¬ 
diately  oppofed  on  the  other  fide 
by  the  nomination  of  Lord  Scarf- 

dale. 


122]  ANNUAL  RE 

dale.  It  was  laid  in  fupport  of 
the  latter,  that  it  was  a  rule  of 
that  houfe  for  one  per fon  always 
to  take  the  chair  in  fuch  cdfes ; 
that  the  noble  Lord  in  queilion 
had  frequently  prefided  in  it  with 
the  greateil  propriety  and  dignity; 
and  that  it  would  imply  a  tacit 
difapprobation  of  his  cofidudf,  to 
appoint  a  new  Chairman  while  the 
former  was  prefent.  It  was  further 
faid,  that  as  the  bufmefs  of  the 
committee  was  likely  to  be  arduous, 
it  would  require  all  the  known 
induliry  and  experience  of  the 
noble  Lord  to  be  conduced  with 
propriety. 

The  Duke  of  Richmond  re¬ 
plied,  that  he  had  no  particular 
reafon  for  naming  the  noble  Duke, 
but  that  his  character  and  abilities 
entitled  him  to  every  mark  of  ho¬ 
nour  and  attention  which  they 
could  bellow  ;  that  it  had  been  al¬ 
ways  ufual  for  the  perfon  who 
moved  for  a  committee  of  the  whole 
Houfe,  to  be  complimented  with 
the  nomination  of  a  Chairman,  as 
a  matter  of  courfe  ;  and  that  al¬ 
though  it  was  otherwife  a  matter  of 

O 

no  cotifequence,  he  wifhed  his  no¬ 
mination  in  this  inilance  to  be  ad. 
hered  to,  as  it  would  appear  feme 
fort  of  infult  to  the  noble  Duke  if 
it  were  fet  slide.  He  concluded 
with  obferving,  that  it  appeared 
an  ill  omen  with  refpeft  to  the 
important  bufmefs  before  them, 
that  they  fhould  not  enter  upon  it 
with  that  cordiality  and  amicable 
union  of  feritiment,  with  which 
he  had  hoped  to  find  them  in¬ 
spired  ;  declared  that  no  folid  ob¬ 
jection  had  been  offered  to  the  no¬ 
ble  Duke’s  taking  the  chair  ;  and 
lamented  fo  early  a  manifeitation 
of  party  Spirit, 


G  IS  TER,  ijyS. 

It  was  farther  contended  on  the 
fame  fide,  that  there  was  no  order 
or  refolution  of  the  Houfe  which 
entitled  one  Lord  to  be  Chairman 
more  than  another;  but  that,  in 
llrift  duty,  each  of  them  ought  to 
difeharge  the  office  in  his  turn  ;  fo 
that  if  any  one  Lord  had  taken 
more  than  his  fhare  of  the  duty,  it 
fhould  be  an  argument  why  he 
mould  be  relieved  from  it  both 
then  and  in  future;  and  that  it  was 
aj-eft  to  talk  that  any  particular  de¬ 
gree  of  experience  or  knowledge  of 
bufinefs  was  neceffary  to  its  dif¬ 
eharge,  as  there  was  not  a  member 
of  either  Houle  who  was  not  fully 
competent  to  the  duty. 

On  the  other  fide  it  was  ftill  in¬ 
filled,  that  the  Chairman  who  had 
been  once  appointed  in  a  commit¬ 
tee  of  the  whole  Houfe,  was  after, 
when  prefent,  confidered  as  perpe¬ 
tual  Chairman  ;  and  that  fuch  be¬ 
ing  the  uniform  rule,  thofe  who  at¬ 
tempted  to  depart  from  it,  and  not 
thofe  who  adhered  to  it,  were  to  be 
charged  with  manifeiling  a  fpirit  of 
party.  The  matter  being  put  to  the 
queftion,  the  Duke  of  Richmond’s 
nomination  was  rejected  upon  a 
divifion,  by  a  majority  of  58  to  33, 
and  Lord  Scarfdale  accordingly 
took  the  chair. 

Although  the  Dukeof  Richmond 
took  a  wide  range  through  the  ex- 
tenfive  fubjecls  of  their  delibera¬ 
tion,  he  confined  the  immediate 
bufinefs  of  the  day  to  the  ftate  of 
our  home  military  defence,  and 
having  with  great  pains  and  la¬ 
bour  drawn  clear  calculations  from, 
a  multitude  of  perplexed  and  undi- 
gelted  accounts,  he  endeavoured 
10  convince  the  committee  of  its, 
great  deficiency,  confidered  merely 
a?  a  Peace  Bjiablijbment,  He  then 

hated 


H  ISTOllY  O 

Fated  the  great  and  immediate  pro¬ 
bability  of  a  foreign  war,  which 
was  aifo  acknowledged  and  con¬ 
firmed  by  the  fpeech  from  the 
throne;  and  from  thence  drew 
the  impolicy  and*  danger  of  ren¬ 
dering  our  home  defence,  deficient 
as  it  already  was,  kill  weaker,  by 
any  further  drains  for  foreign  fer- 
vice. 

Upon  this  ground  he  made  the 
following  motion  as  the  founda- 
tion  of  an  addrefs  :  Refoivcd, 

fi  that  this  committee,  taking  into 
<t  confideratlon  the  continuance 
c(  of  the  armaments  in  the  ports 
“  of  France  and  Spain,  of  which 
“  his  Majeily  was  pieafed  to  in- 
Xi  form  parliament  in  a  fpeech 

from  the  throne  at  the  opening 
<f  of  this  fefiion  ;  and  alio  taking 
<c  into  confideration  that  a  very 
“  great  part  of  our  naval  and 
t(  land  forces  are  on  the  other  fide 
“  of  the  adantic  ocean,  and  there- 
“  fore  not  applicable  to  the  de- 
*c  fence  of  this  kingdom  upon  any 
e(  emergency  ;  and  that  the  forces 
“  in  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  Gib- 
c£  raltar  and  Minorca,  are  at  this 
ei  time  lefs  in  number  by  5673 

men,  than  the  eftablifhment  has 
<{  been  in  times  of  tranquillity  and 
*'  peace  ;  is  of  opinion,  that  no 
<(  part  of  the  old  corps,  which  are 
“  left  in  -Great  Britain,  Ireland, 
ts  Gibraltar  or  Minorca,  can  be 
f<  fpared  for  any  dillant  fervice, 
“  without  leaving  this  kingdom 
*s  and  its  immediate  dependencies 
f<  in  a  molt  perilous,  weak,  and 
“  defencelefs  condition,  thereby 
4<  inviting  a  foreign  war,  and  ex- 
“  poling  the  nation  to  infult  and 

calamity.” 

The  motion  was  principally  op- 
pofed  by  the  Lords  in  adminiftra- 
tion  upon  the  following  grounds* 


F  EUROPE.  [123 

The  impolicy  of  expofing  to  rival 
powers  the  weaknefs  of  our  home 
defence.  The  impropriety  of  par¬ 
liament  interfering  in  any  manner 
to  reflrain  the  crown  in  the  exer- 
cife  of  its  inherent  prerogative, 
that  of  raifing,  directing,  and  em¬ 
ploying  of  the  military  force  of  the 
kingdom  ;  and  that  to  reltrain  or 
regulate  that  exercife,  would  be 
in  fa£l  to  fufpend  it.  That  the 
defence  of  this  kingdom  did  not 
depend  on  its  army.  The  navy 
was  our  great  and  fure  bulwark  of 
defence.  Our  fleets  had  ever  been 
irrefiflible  ;  and  our  navy  was  ne¬ 
ver  in  a  more  refpeCtable  condition 
than  at  prefent.  It  was,  in  its  pre- 
fent  flate  of  preparation ,  the  great 
pledge  for  our  internal  fecurity, 
and  for  the  pacific  conduct  of  our 
neighbours*  The  paffage  in  the 
King’s  fpeech  had  been  totally 
vvrefted  from  its  purpofe  ;  and  the 
inference  drawn  from  it  was  un¬ 
founded  and  unjuflifiable.  The 
nature  and  extent  of  the  de- 
pendance  which  fhould  be  placed 
on  the  difpofition  or  profeflions  of 
foreign  courts,  varied  withcircum- 
flances  ;  and  it  would  be  highly 
unwife  in  the  courfe  of  political 
events  to  rely  folely  on  affurances. 
That  predictions  of  the  fame  na¬ 
ture  with  the  prefent,  relative  to 
the  condudt  and  defigns  of  foreign 
powers,  had  been  frequently  re¬ 
peated  for  feme  years,  but  were 
not  yet  in  any  inftance  juflified  by 
experience.  But  that  in  any  cafe, 
fuppofing  the  worfl  that  could  pof- 
fibly  happen,  and  that  all  that  was 
held  out  on  the  other  fide  fhould 
be  realized ;  furely  it  would  be 
exceedingly  imprudent  to  invite  a 
war,  by  acquainting  our  foreign 
rivals  in  power  and  greatnefs,  that 
we  were  either  unprepared  or  un¬ 
able 


/ 


124]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778; 


able  to  meet  an  enemy.  They  con¬ 
cluded,  that  the  refolution  would 
amount  to  a  public  acknowledg¬ 
ment  of  our  inability  to  reduce  the 
Americans;  and  confequently  to 
the  renunciation  of  all  our  rights, 
and  to  the  eilablilhment  of  their 
independence. 

The  Lords  in  oppofition  ridi¬ 
culed  the  ideas  of  fecrecy  affebted 
on  the  other  fide  ;  which  they  alfo 
reprefented  as  an  inf ult  on  the  un- 
derltanding  of  that  Houfe.  Could 
they  themielves  imagine,  that  any 
perlon  in  or  out  of  it,  with  the 
molt  common  lhare  of  underftand- 
ing  and  information,  could  fwallow 
fuch  an  abfurdity,  as  that  our  fo¬ 
reign  enemies  were  ignorant  of  the 
ftate  of  our  land  forces,  and  of  our 
home  defence.  The  detail  of  the 
names  and  numbers  of  the  feveral 
corps,  and  the  places  of  their  diiiri- 
bution,  is  coniiantly  in  print.  The 
eftimates  are  annually  and  pub¬ 
licly  laid  before  parliament.  The 
accounts  from  which  the  refolution 
is  drawn  are  now  before  parlia¬ 
ment.  Not  a  fin gle  folid  objec¬ 
tion,  they  faid,  had  been  made 
to  the  noble  Duke’s  motion  ;  his 
fadts  were  unanfwered,  and  there¬ 
by  eftablifhed  ;  no  man  had  ven¬ 
tured  to  contradidl  or  controvert 
them.  All  they  have  advanced, 
exclufive  of  the  fhameful  pretence 
of  deceiving  our  enemies,  by  con¬ 
cealing  our  vveaknefs  in  one  in¬ 
fiance,  and  making  a  falfe  difplay 
of  our  ftrength  in  another,  amounts 
to  no  more,  faid  they,  than  that 
we  (hould  now,  in  the  inftant  of 
greateil  danger  which  this  country 
ever  experienced,  repofe  a  tho¬ 
rough  confidence  in  the  vigilance 
and  ability  of  thole  miniiters  for 
our  fecure  prefervation,  who  by  a 
long  feries  of  error  and  mifcon- 


du£l,  and  a  failure,  through  in¬ 
ability,  of  all  their  meafures,  have 
at  length  brought  our  affairs  to  the 
prefent  perilous  crifis.  In  thecourfe 
of  the  debate,  a  war  with  Prance 
was  repeatedly  declared  to  be  inevi¬ 
table;  a  noble  Duke  predicted  with 
confidence  that  it  would  take  place 
before  Tree  months  were  elapfed  ; 
he  faid,  that  to  prevent  a  junftion 
between  France,  Spain,  and  Ame¬ 
rica,  we  fhould  make  peace  with 
the  latter  at  all  events  ;  and  ex¬ 
claimed  with  eagernefs,  (<  Peace 
“  with  America,  and  war  with  all 
6i  the  world.” 

The  queflion  being  at  length  put, 
the  Duke  of  Richmond’s  motion 
was  rejected  upon  a  diviiion,'  by  a 
majority  of  93  £031. 

The  committee  on  the  flate  of 
the  nation  being  refumed  on  the 
6th,  feveral  eminent  merchants, 
were  brought  by  the  Duke  of 
Richmond  to  be  examined  at  the 
bar,  whofe  evidence  went  to  efta- 
blilii  the  great  Ioffes  which  our 
commerce  has  fuftainea  by  the  war. 
The  examinations  were  long  and 
interelfing ;  no  pains  were  omitted 
by  the  Lords  on  either  fide  of  the 
Houfe  in  their  enquiries ;  nor  were 
thofe  on  the  minilteria!  fide  defi¬ 
cient  in  point  of  flribture  and  crofs 
examination.  Upon  the  whole,  the 
evidence  was  unufually  clear  and 
accurate. 

To  leffen  or  weaken  the  effects 
which  might  be  produced  by  this 
enquiry  into  the  Hate  of  our  com¬ 
mercial  Ioffes  by  the  war,  the  no-, 
ble  Lord  at  the  head  of  the  Admi¬ 
ralty  thought  it  fitting  inthree  days 
after  to  bring  counter-evidence  be¬ 
fore  the  committee,  in  order  to 
fhew  the  advantages  which  it  had 
afforded.  His  Lordfhip  obferved, 
that  as  the  noble  Duke  had  broughe 

wit  tie  If?  a 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


witneffes  to  prove  the  Ioffes  fudain- 
e d  by  tne  commerce  of  this  coun¬ 
try,  it  was  nec.effary,  as  well  for 
their  information,  as  to  prevent  an 
ex  parte  evidence  from  going  abroad 
into  the  world,  to  fhew  how  far  the 
ioffes  fuftained  by  Great  Britain 
had  been  compen  faced  for,  whe¬ 
ther  by  the  prizes  taken  from  our 
rebellious  colonies,  or  by  the  open¬ 
ing  of  new  branches  of  commerce. 
He  then  moved,  that  the  witneffes 
whom  he  had  brought  for  the 
purpofes  fhould  be  examined  at  the 
bar. 

This  was  obje&ed  toby  the  Duke 
of  Richmond  as  informal.  He 
faid,  he  could  not  eafily  difcern  for 
what  purpofe  this  evidence  was  to 
be  produced.  For  to  form  a  jult 
eftimate  of  the  effett  of  this  war  on 
our  commerce,  the  trade  loll  mud 
be  fet  againd  the  captures  made; 
and  though  they  fhould  prove 
equal,  (which  he  believed  would 
not  be  ferioufly  afferted)  all  the 
captures  made  from  our  trade  by 
the  Americans  would  be  fo  much 
clear  lofs.  But  whatever  it  might 
turn  out,  he  faid,  he  would  by  no 
means  endeavour  to  preclude  his 
Lordfhip  from  bringing  what  evi¬ 
dences  he  pleafed  relative  to  this 
enquiry  at  a  proper  time  ;  that  his 
own  lay  open  to  his  crofs  examina¬ 
tion,  and  he  had  it  in  his  power  to 
controvert  every  thing  they  ad¬ 
vanced  ;  but  that  to  take  up  an¬ 
other  matter  before  the  former  was 
diipofed  of,  was  unparliamentary  ; 
and  was  befides,  not  deaiino-  with 
that  candour  and  opennefs  which 
might  be  expe&ed.  He  then  ap¬ 
pealed  to  their  Lordfhips,  whether 
in  every  ffage  of  the  enquiry,  he 
bad  not  previoufly  acquainted  them 
with  the  fubdance  of  his  intended 
motions ;  only  wifhing  and  hoping 


[125 

that  every  noble  Lord  would  have 
been  innuenced  by  the  fame  mo¬ 
tives  which"  actuated  himfelf, 
namely,  an  earned  delire  to  come 
at  every  degree  of  information, 
which  might  open  any  way  for  at¬ 
tempting  to  relieve  or  alleviate  the 
prelent  very  great  diftreffes  of  this 
country. 

To  this  it  was  anfwered  by  a 
great  law  Lord,  that  the  fubje&s 
on  which  the  committee  was  to 
hear  evidence  were  blended  ;  Ioffes 
had  been  proved,  and  edimates 
made  to  the  difadvantage  of  Great 
Britain  ;  and  as  the  evidences  now 
to  be  examined  intended  to  prove, 
that  thofe  edimates  were  not  fo 
confiderable  as  they  had  been 
fated,  it  was  certainly  quite  re¬ 
gular  to  proceed  on  that  examina¬ 
tion  'I  his  opinion  was,  however, 
controverted  ;  and  after  a  confide¬ 
rable  debate,  the  motion  for  ex¬ 
amining  the  witneffes  was  carried 
upon  a  divifion,  by  a  majority  of 
66  to  25. 

The  noble  Earl’s  witneffes  a- 
mounted  only  to  three ;  the  drib 
of  whom,  being  a  pro&or  belong¬ 
ing  to  the  court  of  Admiralty,  was 
brought  forward  to  tedify  the 
number  of  American  prizes  which 
had  been  condemned  in  his  court. 
The  fecond,  was  a  confiderable  ad¬ 
venturer  in  a  whale  fifhery,  which 
had  been  difcovered  and  profc- 
cuted  with  great  advantage  in  the 
fouthern  American  fe as,  as  well  as 
on  the  coads  of  Africa,  by  the  Bri- 
tilh  colonies,  before  the  commence¬ 
ment  of  the  troubles ;  but  which 
had  onlv  of  late  been  attempted 
from  this  country,  on  its  dropping 
out  of  che  hands  of  the  Americans, 
and  in  confequence  of  the  fcarcity 
and  high  price  of  oil,  through  the 
general  failure  in  our  fifheries. 

The 


526]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


The  third,  was  an  old  Captain  in 
the  Newfoundland  cod  and  whale 
ftiheries. 

It  appeared  from  the  evidence 
of  the  fecond,  that  the  fouthern, 
ftfheries  were  capable  in  time,  and 
under  the  bleffings  of  tranquillity, 
(more  efpecially  if  they  could  jhe 
retained  as  a  monopoly)  of  becom¬ 
ing  exceedingly  profitable.  The 
fperma  ceti  whale,  which  abounds 
in  thofe  feas,  is  reprefented  as  be¬ 
ing  by  far  the  molt  valuable  of  his 
fpeci.es*  He  Hated  that  fifteen 
vefiels  of  about  170  tons  each,  had 
been  employed  in  that  fifhery  the 
preceding  year  ;  but  it  was  drawn 
out  upon  his  crofs- examination, 
that  the  returns  in  prod  aft  that 
year,  (which  was  however  deemed 
very  fuccefsful)  run  upon  an  ave¬ 
rage  only  between  forty  and  fifty 
tons  to  each  veilel.  It  was  at  the 
fame  time  known,  although,  we 
believe  not  dire&ly  fpecified  by 
this  witnefs,  that  the  very  oil 
which  was  the  product  of  this 
£fhery?  as  well  as  thofe  of  all 
others,  were  now  ri fen  to  about 
double  their  ufual  price.  He  alfo 
acknowledged,  that  they  were  un¬ 
der  a  neceffity  of  employing  four 
American  harpooners  in  each  vef- 
fel,  as  the  Britilh  feamen  were  not 
yet  capable  of  executing  that  capi¬ 
tal  part  of  the  bufinefs. 

It  did  not  feem  that  the  third 
witnefs  efiabliihed  any  thing  very 
material.  He  only  Hated  what 
was  evident  to  every  body,  that  as 
we  had  now  a  monopoly  of  the 
Newfoundland  fiihery  by  the  ex¬ 
clusion  of  the  Americans,  fo,  if 
we  were  capable  of  profecuting  it 
to  the  utmoft  extent,  the  whole 
profits,  which  they  formerly  fhared 
with  us,  would,  in  that  cafe,  cen¬ 
ter  entirely  in  our  own  hands.  But 


he  was  obliged  to  acknowledge, 
that  the  prefent  fcarcity  of  feamen 
prevented,  in  a  very  great  degree, 
our  profiting  of  that  circumfiance  ; 
and  upon  being  clofely  prefled,  he 
leemed  uncertain,  whether,  laying 
by  all  coniideration  of  the  Euro¬ 
pean  markets,  we  fhould  even  be 
able  to  fupply  our  WeH-India 
iHands  from  that  fiihery,  if  the 
prefling  of  feamen  was  continued 
in  its  prefent  rigour  by  the  Admi¬ 
ralty.  He  acknowledged  that  we 
were  obliged  to  employ  American 
harpooners  in  the  Newfoundland 
whale  fifhery. 

On  the  11th  of  February,  the 
committee  being  refumed,  the 
Duke  of  Richmond  recapitulated 
the  evidences  which  he  had  brought 
before  them,  preparatory  to  a  fet 
of  motions  which  he  had  to  make, 
being,  he  faid,  only  refolutions 
of  plain  matters  of  faff,  arifing 
from  the  evidence  before  them, 
and  which  would  be  grounds  for 
their  lordfhips  further  delibera¬ 
tion.  * 

Kis  Grace  accordingly  Hated  his 
refolutions  to  the  following  effedt : 
That  in  the  courfe  of  trade,  a 
very  confiderable  balance  was  al¬ 
ways  due  from  the  merchants  in 
North  America  to  the  merchants 
of  Great  Britain,  towards  the  dif- 
charge  of  which  remittances  were 
made  in  goods  to  a  great  amount, 
fince  the  commencement  of  the 
prefent  troubles,  and  whilfl  the 
trade  between  this  kingdom  and 
the  colonies  was  fufFered  to  remain 
open. —That  fince  the  paffing  of 
the  feveral  acts  for  prohibiting  the 
fifheries  of  the  colonies  in  North 
America,  their  mutual  intercourfe 
with  each  other,  all  trade  and  com¬ 
merce  between  them  and  this  king¬ 
dom,  and  for  making  prize  of  their 

Blips, 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE*  [127 


•  ips,  and  diflributing  their  value, 
as  if  they  were  the  efte&s  of  our 
enemies,  amongft  the  feamen  of 
his  Majefly’s  navy,  the  number  of 
vefels  belonging  to  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  taken  by  ftiips  of  war 
an>i  privateeers  belonging  to  the 
da  id  colonies,  amount  to  733  — 
That,  of  that  number,  it  appears 
that  47  have  been  releafed,  and 
127  retaken  ;  but  that  the  lofs  on 
the  tatter,  for  falvage,  intereft  on 
lit-  value  of  the  cargo,  and  lofs  of 
a  market,  mult  have  been,  very 
c  iderable. — That  the  lofs  of  the 
remaining  539  vefiels,  which  have 
been  carried  into  port,  appears, 
1  ro;  ;  the  examination  of  merchants, 
to  amount  at  lead  to  2,600,000  1 — 
That  of  200  fhips  annually  em- 
plo'  ed  in  the  African  trade,  beiore 
tne  commencement  of  the  preient 
civil  war,  whofe  value,  upon  an 
average,  was  about  9,00©  1.  each, 
there  are  not  now  forty  fhips  em¬ 
ployed  in  that  trade,  whereby  there 
is  a  diminution  in  this  branch  of 
commerce  of  160  fhips,  which  at 
9,000  1.  each,  amount  to  a  lofs  of 
1 ,44.0,0001.  per  annum. — That  the 
price  of  infurance  to  the  Weft- 
Indies  and  North  America,  is  in- 
creafed  from  two,  and  two  and  a 
half,  to  five  per  cent,  with  con¬ 
voy  ;  but  without  convoy,  and  un¬ 
armed;  the  faid  infurance  has  been 
made  at  fifteen  per  cent.  But  ge¬ 
nerally  fhips  in  fuch  circumftances 
cannot  be  infured  at  all.— That 
the  price  of  feamen’s  wages  is 
raifed  from  one  pound  ten  fhil- 
lings,  to  three  pounds  five  fhil- 
lings  per  month. — That  the  price 
of  pot-afh  is  encreafed  from  eight 
fhillings,  to  three  pounds  ten  (hil¬ 
lings  per  hundred  weight — That 
the  price  of  fperma-ceti  oil  has  i«- 
creafed  from  thirty-five  pounds  to 


feventy  pounds  per  ton. — That  the 
price  of  tar  is  raifed  from  feven 
and  eight  fhillings,  to  thirty  fhil- 
lings  per  barrel. —  That  the  price 
of  fugars,  and  all  commodities 
from  the  Weft  Indies,  and  divers 
forts  of  naval  ftores  from  North 
America,  is  greatly  enhanced. — 
That  it  appears  to  this  committee, 
that  the  prefent  diminution  of  the 
African  trade,  the  interruption  of 
the  American  trade  to  the  Weil 
Indies,  and  the  captures  made  of 
the  Weft-India  fhips,  have  greatly 
diitreffed  the  Britifh  colonies  in 
the  Weft  Indies. — That  the  num¬ 
bers  of  American  privateers,  of 
which  authentic  accounts  have 
been  received,  amount  to  173;  and 
that  they  carried  2556  guns,  and 
at  leaft  13,840  feamen,  reckoning 
80  men  in  each  fh ip. — And  that, 
of  the  above  privateers,  34.  have 
been  taken,  which  carried  3,217 
men,  which  is  more  than  94  men 
to  each  veffel. 

The  noble  Lord  at  the  head  of 
the  Admiralty  declared,  that  every 
day’s  experience  ferved  to  confirm 
him  in  his  original  opinion,  that 
the  enquiry  into  the  ftate  of  the 
nation  was  pregnant  with  the.moft: 
ruinous  confequences,  and  could 
not  be  productive  of  the  fmaileft 
benefit.  That  it  only  went  to 
publifh  to  the  world  thofe  things 
which  in  prudence  and  policy 
fliould  be  concealed.  That  no 
war  could  be  conducted  without 
difficulty,  embarraffment,  and  lofs; 
but  that  it  was  a  new  fyftem  of 
policy  to  let  enemies  into  the  fecret 
of  national  difficulty  or  imbecil- 
lity.  But  he  alfo  contended  that 
the  American  commerce  had  fuf- 
fered  more  than  ours  by  the  war  ; 
that  upon  the  whole,  we  had  in 
that  refpeCl  been  gainers  in  the 

conteft  ; 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


xa8] 

conteft;  and  that  upon  a  fair  ex¬ 
amination  a  conliderable  ballance 
would  be  found  in  our  favour. 

In  fupport  of  this  pofition,  he 
controverted  the  evidence  given  by 
the  merchants  ;  faid  that  their 
eftimates  in  point  of  value  were 
rated  too  high  ;  and  their  lifts  of 
fhips  taken  bythe  enemy  erroneous. 
Thatif  fome  branches  of  commerce 
failed,  (which  ever  was  and  will 
be  the  cafe  with  all  nations,  whe¬ 
ther  in  peace  or  in  war)  others  of 
greater  value  were  eftablifned. 
Upon  this  ground,  he  eftimated 
the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  the 
fouthern  ftfhery,  and  even  its  pre- 
fent  value,  at  a  very  high  rate; 
and  the  American  (hare  of  the 
Newfoundland  ftlhery,  which  was 
calculated  in  its  duplicate  ftate  of 
a  prize  to  us,  and  a  lofs  to  them, 
was  appreciated  in  the  fame  man¬ 
ner.  The  noble  Lord  ftated  the 
number  of  American  prizes  which, 
had  been  taken  at  904,  which 
eftimated,  he  faid,  at  the  very  mo¬ 
derate  valuation  of  2,000 1.  each 
fhip  and  cargo  upon  an  average, 
would  amount  to  1,808,000 1.  to 
which,  if  the  value  of  the  fifheries 
was  added,  it  would  appear  that 
this  country  was  not  benefited  lefs 
already  by  the  war  than  2,2co,oool. 
befides  that  every  (hilling  of  that 
money  was  a/  total  lofs  to  our  re¬ 
bellious  colonies.  He  concluded, 
-that  thefe  faflts  totally  overthrew 
the  Duke’s  refolutions  in  point  of 
eftabliihing  an  eftimate  of  nati¬ 
onal  lofs  r  and  that  although  no¬ 
body  wifhed  more  for  an  end  to 
the  war  than  he  did,  yet  its  conti¬ 
nuance  was  in  many  refpefts  advan¬ 
tageous  to  this  country,  and  would 
be  dill  more  fo. 

On  the  other  fide  the  Lords 
were  earneftly  called  upon  to  con- 


fider,  that  the  queftions  whi 
they  were  to  decide  upon,  we 
fads  already  eftablilhed  befo; 
them,  and  to  which,  without 
total  violence  to  reafon  and  pr 
priety,  they  could  not  refufe  the. 
aftent.  That  fo  far  the  grout 
was  cleared  for  their  further  delb 
berations,  and  opened  a  view 
one  great  national  departmen  , 
how  far  the  further  profecution 
the  war  would  be  confident  with 
found  policy,  and  with  the  public 
welfare.  And  the  fuppofed  danger 
of  affordinginformation  to  our  ene 
mies,  relative  to  fads  which  were 
already  of  public  notoriety,  m 
with  that  degree  of  ridicule  wi  h 
which  the  fubjed  had  of  late  bet 
not  unfrequently  treated. 

The  noble  Duke  who  was  t  2 
propofer  of  the  motions  obferyec 
that  as  they  did  not  mix  with  any 
other  matter,  the  noble  Earl’s  de¬ 
tail  did  not  in  any  degree  interfere 
with  them,  and  could  not  with 
any  colour  of  propriety  or  reafon 
be  brought  to  fet  them  afide.  He 
obferved  with  exceeding  feverity, 
that  the  dangers  with  which  we 
were  furrounded,  and  the  calami¬ 
ties  in  which  this  country  was  over¬ 
whelmed,  could  no  longer  excite 
furprize  or  wonder,  when  a  mini- 
fter  at  the  head  of  the  marine,  that 
moft  capital  department  of  the 
ftate,  and  upon  which  its  power 
and  prefervation  entirely  depend¬ 
ed,  fhould  betray  fuch  (hameful 
and  total  ignorance  of  trade  and 
commerce,  as  to  lay  down  as  an 
incontrovertible  pofition,  that,  be¬ 
cause  the  great  number  of  (hips  we 
had  loft  in  the  war  might  be  ba¬ 
lanced  by  another  number  of  veb 
fels  taken  from  the  Americans,  the 
nation,  upon  the  whole,  confe- 
quently  fuftained  no  lofs*  He  a(k«. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


ed,  whether  any  other  Lord  pre- 
fent  could  be  perfuaded,  that  the 
commerce  of  this  country  was  not 
afFedted  by  the  lofs  of  773  veifels, 
eilimated  in  value  at  confiderably 
above  two  millions  of  money, 
which  had  been  taken  from  our 
merchants,  becaufe  an  equal  value 
in  prizes  (fuppofing  the  fact  to  be 
true,  which  was,  however,  by  no 
means  admitted)  had  been  taken 
from  the  Americans,  and  diflri- 
buted  among  the  feamen  of  the 
royal  navy.  The  cafe  was  ftill  the 
more  deplorable,  he  faid,  as  the 
value  of  all  thofe  cargoes,  if  we 
had  not  been  at  war  with  the  Ame¬ 
ricans,  would,  in  the  circuitous 
courle  of  trade,  have  centered  in 
Great  Britain. 


C  H  A 


[129 

Some  difficulty  arofe  as  to  the 
mode  of  difpofmg  of  the  queltion. 
For  the  nature  of  the  fadts  Hated  in 
the  refolutions  fcarcely  admitted 
of  a  diredt  negative,  and  the  put¬ 
ting  of  the  previous  queftion  is 
not  culiomarily  pradlifed  in  com¬ 
mittees.  To  folve  this  difficulty 
a  noble  Lord  high  in  office  mov- 
cd,  that  the  chairman  fhould  quit 
the  chair,  on  which  the  commit¬ 
tee  divided,  when  the  motion  was 
carried  by  a  majority  of  80  to  32 
Lords.  The  Houfe  being  thus 
refumed,  the  Duke  of  Richmond 
moved  his  firing  of  refolutions, 
when  the  previous  queilion  was 
put  upon  each  feparately,  and 
carried. 


P.  VII. 


Petition  from  the  county  cf  Norfolk.  Lord  North1  s  conciliatory  propoftions. 
V  wo  hills  brought  in  thereon .  Effect  of  the  Minifer1 s  fpeech.  Condudi  of 
the  minority  with  refpedt  to  his  conciliatory  Jcheme.  Mr.  Fox  fates  his 
information  of  the  conclufrn  of  a  treaty  between  France  a.nd  the  American 
deputies ;  calls  upon  the  Minifer  for  an  explanation  on  that  fubjcdl.  Pro - 
grejs  of  the  bills .  Mr.  Serjeant  Adair1  s  motion  for  the  appoint  ment  of  com - 
miff  oners ,  after  much  debate ,  rejedied.  Mr.  Powys1  s  motion  to  admit  a 
claufe  for  the  repeal  of  the  Maffac  hufett1  s  Charter  Adi ,  rejected  on  a  dins  if  on. 
Motion  by  Mr.  Powys  for  the  repeal  of  the  American  Fea  Adi ,  and  by 
Mr.  Burke  for  extending  the  provifons  cf  the  Declaratory  Bill  to  the  Wef 
Indies',  both  agreed  to.  Conciliatory  bills  p of s  the  Commons.  New  houfe* 
tax.  Mr.  Gilbert  moves  for  a  tax  of  one  fourth  upon  falaries ,  annuities , 
penfons,  fees ,  and  perquiftes  of  cffces  under  the  crown.  Motion  carried 
upon  a  divifon  ;  but  rejedied  the  following  day ,  on  receiving  the  report 
from  the  Committee ,  by  a  fmall  majority .  Mr.  Fox1  s  motion  in  the  Com - 
tnittee  of  Enquiry ,  relative  to  the  jl ate  of  the  royal  navy ,  after  much  de¬ 
bate,  Jet  aftde  by  the  previous  quefion.  Mr.  J.  Luttrell's  motion  for  an 
infrudiion  enabling  the  American  commiff  oners  to  promife  the  removal  of 
any  minifer  or  minifer  s ,  voho  they  Jhould  dif cover  to  be  Jo  obnoxious  to  the 
colonies ,  as  thereby  to  prevent  the  ref  oration  of  tranquillity >  rejedied  upon  a 
divifon.  Letter  from  General  Gates  to  the  Earl  of  Thanet  read  by  the 
Marquis  of  Rockingham.  Motion  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond ,  that  the 
letter  Jhould  lie  on  the  table ,  after  fome  debate,  rejedied.  Duke  of  Rich¬ 
mond'  s  motion ,  relative  to  the  fate  of  the  forces  in  America,  after  much 
Vo l.  XXL  [/]  debate 


130]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 

debate ,  fet  afide  by  the  previous  quejlion .  State  and  amount  of  the  expends, 
incurred  by  the  voar  in  America ,  fet  forth  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond ;  vuh» 
propofes  a  number  of  refolutions  founded  thereon ,  which  are  all  fet  afde  as 
before .  Motion  for  the  attendance  of  the  Surveyor  of  the  navy ,  made  by 
the  Duke  of  Bolton ,  and  rejected  upon  a  divijion.  Several  fubfequent  mo¬ 
tions  made  by  the  fame  nobleman ,  and  tending  to  an  enquiry  into  the  fate 
of  the  navy ,  after  confiderable  debates  rejected.  American  conciliatory  bills 
paffied  by  the  Lords .  Enquiry  into  the  condutt  of  the  tranfport  fervice  by 
the  Earl  of  Effingham ,  whofe  refolutions  thereon  are  rejetted. 


A  Petition  of  uncommon  ener¬ 
gy,  figned  by  5,400  inha¬ 
bitants  of  the  county  of  Norfolk, 
including  the  city  of  Norwich,  was 
prefen  ted  and  read  to  the  Com¬ 
mons  on  the  morning  of  the  day 
that  the  Minifter  was  to  lay  open 
his  conciliatory  plan  with  Ame¬ 
rica.  In  this  piece,  a  comprehen¬ 
sive  view  was  taken  of  the  conduct 
of  public  affairs,  and  the  effedl 
of  public  meafures,  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  Among  others,  the 
meafure  of  raifmg  men  and  mo¬ 
ney  by  free  gifts  and  contributions 
for  the  fervice  of  the  crown,  a  pur- 
pofe  for  which,  they  fay,  they  were 
called  upon  themfelves,  in  a  man¬ 
ner  equally  alarming,  by  perfons 
of  great  power  and  rank  in  his 
Majefty’s  fervice,  receives  the  moil 
explicit  marks  of  their  difappro- 
bation.  The  piece  abounds  with 

ftrong  expreffions. - “  A  mifre- 

*(  prefentation  of  our  unhappy 
<f  fituation  would  be  a  mockery  of 
6i  our  diftrefs.  An  empire  is  loft. 
*s  A  great  continent  in  arms  is  to 
**  be  conquered  or  abandoned. ’* 
After  a  melancholy  reprefen tation 
of  public  affairs,  they  truft,  that 
tf  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  whofe 
€C  duty  calls,  and  whofe  compe- 
*c  tence  and  conftitution  enables 
st  them  to  come  to  the  bottom  of 
thofe  evils,  will  ferioufly  en- 
quire  into  the  caufes  of  our  pre- 
Cent  calamitous  fituation,  for 


£f  we  greatly  fear  that  we,  with 
“  the  reft  of  your  conftituents, 
((  have  been  hitherto  greatly  de- 
“  ceived  and  deluded,  with  re- 
“  gard  to  the  nature,  the  caufe, 
<£  and  the  importance  of  the  Ame- 
st  rican  troubles,  as  well  as  con- 
c£  cerning  the  means  of  quieting 
fe  them,  both  legal  and  coercive; 
<e  elfe,  we  lhould  not  have  the 
<e  misfortune  of  feeing  a£ls  of  par- 
t£  liament  made,  only  to  be  fent 
“  back  to  be  repealed ;  armies 
“  fent  out  to  enforce  them,  only 
‘e  to  be  returned  to  us  as  prifoners 
£<  under  capitulation  ;  and,  to 
“  fpeak  with  the  filial  confidence 
<f  of  free  fubje£ls,  we  plainly 
te  declare  ourfelves  unwilling  to 
commit  any  more  of  our  na- 
<c  tional  glory  to  attaint,  and  the 
“  perfons  of  more  of  our  country- 
££  men  to  foreign  hardfhips '  and 
“  perils,  without  any  common 
£‘  human  fecurity,  that  they  fhall 
not,  by  the  fame  errors,  be 
“  expofed  to  the  fame  calamities 
6f  and  difgraces,  which  many  of 
(6  thofe  have  fallen  into,  who  have 
ts  already  been  fent  forth.  With- 
“  out  wife  councils  at  home,  we 
tc  cannot  have  empire  or  reputa- 
fC  tion  abroad.” 

The  noble  Lord  at  the  head  of 
affairs,  however  little  fatisfied  he 
might  be  with  the  cenfures  paffed 
or  implied  in  this  petition  upon 
publiccondu&andmeafures,  could 

find 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [ij* 


find  nothing  in  it  to  militate  with 
any  proportions  that  tended  to  a 
conciliation  with  Ame- 
Feb.  17th.  rica.  He  introduced 
his  conciliatory  propo¬ 
rtions  with  a  recital  of  his  creed 
in  all  American  matters.  In  that 
he  afferted,  that  peace  had  at 
all  times  been  his  governing  prin¬ 
ciple.  That  with  that  object  in 
view,  his  conduct  had  been  uni¬ 
form,  and  his  meafures  confident  ; 
but  that  events  had  been  in  gene¬ 
ral  exceedingly  untoward.  That 
he  had  always  known,  that  Ame¬ 
rican  taxation  could  never  produce 
a  beneficial  revenue  ;  that  there 
were  many  forts  of  taxes  which 
could  not  at  all  be  laid  on  that 
country  ;  and  of  thofe  that  could, 
few  would  prove  worth  the  charge 
of  colle&ion.  That  although  the 
Stamp  Ad  was  the  mod  judicious 
that  could  be  chofen  for  that  pur- 
pofe  ;  yet,  notvvithftanding  the 
high  rate  at  which  that  duty  had 
been  formerly  eftimated,  he  had 
not  believed  its  produce  would  have 
been  a  very  confiderable  objed. 

That  he,  accordingly,  had  ne¬ 
ver  propofed  any  tax  on  the  Ame¬ 
ricans  ;  he  found  them  already 
taxed  when  he  unfortunately  came 
into  adminifiration.  That  as  his 
principle  of  policy  was  to  have  as 
little  difcufiion  on  thefe  fubjeds  as 
pofiible,  and  to  keep  the  affairs  of 
America  out  of  parliament ;  fo,  as 
he  had  not  laid,  he  did  not  think 
it  advifeable  for  him  to  repeal  the 
tea  tax ;  nor  did  he  look  out  for 
any  particular  means  of  enforcing 
it.  That  the  meafure  of  enabling 
the  Eafl  India  Company  to  fend 
teas  on  their  own  account  to  Ame¬ 
rica,  with  a  drawback  of  the  whole 
duty  here,  was  a  regulation  of  fuch 
a  nature,  being  a  relief  inltead  of 


an  oppreifion,  that  it  was  impolli- 
ble  he  fhould  fuppofe  it  could  have 
excited  afingle  complaint  amongfl 
the  Americans,  much  lefs  to  be 
produdive  of  the  confequences  that 
followed.  Thefe  he  attributed  in 
part  to  the  difaffeded,  and  in  part 
to  thofe  who  were  concerned  in  a 
contraband  trade,  who  reprefen  ted 
it  to  the  populace  as  a  monopoly  ; 
fo  that  the  people  were  excited  to 
tumult  upon  a  principle  totally 
aiilind  from  every  idea  of  taxa~ 
tion, 

Withrefped  to  the  coercive  ads, 
he  faid,  they  were  called  Forth  by, 
and  appeared  neceffary  in,  the 
difiernper  of  the  time  ;  but  that  in 
the  event  they  had  produced  effeds 
which  he  never  intended,  nor 
could  pofiibly  have  expeded.  That 
immediately  upon  the  difcovery  of 
that  failure,  he  propofed,  before 
the  fword  was  drawn,  a  conci¬ 
liatory  propofition.  Kis  Lordlhip 
faid,  he  thought  at  the  time,  and 
kill  continued  to  think,  the  terms 
of  that  propofition  would  form  the 
happieft,  moil  equitable,  and  molt 
lading  bond  of  union  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies. 
But,  that  by  a  variety  of  difcuf- 
fions,  a  propofition  that  was  ori¬ 
ginally  clear  and  fimple  in  itfelf, 
was  made  to  appear  fo  obfcure,  as 
to  go  damned  to  America  :  fo  that 
the  Congrefs  conceived,  or  took 
occafion  to  reprefent  it  as  a  fcheme 
for  fowing  divifions  and  introduc¬ 
ing  taxation  among  them  in  a 
worfe  mode  than  the  former,  and 
they  accordingly  rejected  it. 

He  complained  that  the  events 
of  war  in  America  had  turned  out 
very  differently  from  his  expecta¬ 
tions,  and  from  what  he  had  a 
right  to  expect ;  and  that  the  great 
and  well  appointed  force  lent  our, 

[/]  2  and 


,32]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


and  amply  provided  for  by  govern¬ 
ment,  had  produced  a  very  difpro- 
portioned  effect  hitherto.  That  he 
could  not  but  confefs  himfelf  ex¬ 
ceedingly  difappointed  at  this  fai¬ 
lure  of  effedt  in  our  military  force. 
He  did  not  mean  at  that  time  to 
condemn,  or  even  to  call  into  quef- 
tion,  the  conduct  of  any  of  our 
commanders,  but  he  had  been  dif¬ 
appointed.  That  Sir  William 
Howe  had  been  in  the  late  actions, 
and  in  the  whole  courfe  of  the  cam¬ 
paign  not  only  in  the  goodnefs  of 
troops,  and  in  all  manner  of  fup- 
plies,  but  in  point  of  numbers  too, 
much  fuperior  to  the  American 
army  which  oppofed  him  in  the 
field*.  That  General  Burgoyne, 
who  was  at  length  overpowered  by 
numbers,  had  been  in  numbers, 
until  the  affair  at  Bennington,  near 
twice  as  Hrong  as  the  army  under 
General  Gates.  Conlidering  all 
thefe  things,  the  events  had  been 
very  contrary  to  his  expectation. 
But  to  thefe  events,  and  not  to 
thofe  expectations,  he  mail  make 
his  plan  conform. 

As  the  foundation  of  his  con¬ 
ciliatory  fcheme,  he  propofed  the 
bringing  in  two  bilk  under  the  fol¬ 
lowing  heads:  A  bill  for  de¬ 

claring  the  intentions  of  the  par¬ 
liament  of  Great  Britain,  concern¬ 
ing  the  exercife  of  the  right  ofim- 
pofing  taxes  within  his  Ma jelly’s 
colonies,  provinces,  and  planta¬ 
tions  in  North  America,”  And, 
*<  A  bill  to  enable  his  Majelly  to 
appoint  commiffioners,  with  fuffi- 
cient  powers  to  treat,  confult,  and 
agree  upon  the  means  of  quieting 
the  diforders  now  fubfifling  in  cer¬ 
tain  of  the  colonies,  plantations, 
and  provinces  of  North  America.” 

The  noble  Lord  obferved,  that 
it  was  intended  to  appoint  five 


commiffioners,  and  to  endow  them 
with  very  extenlive  powers.  They 
fhould  be  enabled  to  treat  with  the 
Congrefs  by  name,  as  if  it  were 
a  legal  body,  and  fo  far  to  give  it 
authenticity,  as  to  fuppofe  its  aCts 
and  conceffions  binding  on  all 
America.  To  treat  with  any  of 
the  provincial  affemblies  upon 
their  prefent  conllitution,  and 
with  any  individuals  in  the:r  pre¬ 
fent  civil  capacities  or  military 
commands,  with  General  Wafh- 
ington,  or  any  other  officer.  That 
they  fhould  have  a  power  to  order 
a  fufpenfion  of  arms.  To  fufpend 
the  operation  of  all  laws.  And  to 
grant  all  forts  of  pardons,  immu¬ 
nities,  and  rewards.  That  they 
fhould  have  a  power  of  reftoring 
all  the  colonies,  or  any  of  them, 
to  the  form  of  its  ancient  confiitu- 
tion,  as  it  Hood  before  the  trou¬ 
bles  ;  and  in  any  of  thofe  where 
the  King  nominated  the  governors, 
council,  judges,  and  other  magi- 
firates,  to  nominate  fuch  at  their 
difcretion,  until  his  further  plea- 
fure  was  known. 

That  as  the  deficiency  of  powers 
in  the  former  commiffioners  had 
been  objected  to,  fo  the  Congrefs 
had  railed  a  difficulty,  on  pretence 
of  the  non-admiffion  of  their  title 
to  be  independent  Hates.  To  re¬ 
move  that  difficulty,  fhould  the 
Americans  now  claim  their  inde¬ 
pendence  on  the  outfet,  he  would 
not  infill  on  their  renouncing  it, 
until  the  treaty  had  received  its 
final  ratification  by  the  King  and 
parliament  of  Great  Britain,  That 
the  commiffioners  fhould  be  in- 
Hrudted  to  negociate  for  fome  rea- 
fonable  and  moderate  contribution 
towards  the  common  defence  of 
the  empire  when  re-united  ;  but  to 
take  away  all  pretence  for  not  ter- 
4  sninating 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


irunating  this  unhappy  difference, 
the  contribution  was  not  to  be  in- 
iid ed  on  as  a  fine  qua  non  of  the 
treaty  ;  but  that  if  the  Americans 
fhould  refufe  fo  reafonable  and 
equitable  a  proportion,  they  were 
not  to  complain,  if  hereafter  they 
were  not  to  look  for  fupport  from 
that  part  of  the  empire  to  whofe 
expence  they  had  refufed  to  con¬ 
tribute. 

He  obferved  it  mHht  be  afke 
if  his  fentimenfL  had  been  always 
fuch  with  refpefl  to  taxation  and 
peace  as  he  had  now  dated  them 
to  be,  why  he  had  not  made  this 
proportion  at  an  earlier  period  ? 
To  this  he  anfwered,  his  opinion 
had  ever  been,  that  the  moment 
of  victory  was  the  proper  feafon  for 
offering  terms  of  conceffion,  And 
with  an  eye  to  feveral  reflexions 
which  had  of  late  been  thrown 
upon  him  by  the  tory  party,  and 
hoping  perhaps  to  obviate  fome 
part  of  that  greater  weight  of  cen- 
fure  which  he  now  apprehended 
from  that  quarter,  he  declared, 
that  for  his  part,  he  never  had 
made  a  promife  which  he  did  not 
perform,  or  receive  any  informa¬ 
tion  which  he  did  not  communi¬ 
cate.  That  he  only  kept  back  the 
names  of  thofe  who  had  given  him 
information,  and  which  it  would 
have  been  unfaithful  and  inhuman 
to  divulge.  That,  he  promiffd  a 
great  army  fhould  be  fent  out,  and 
a  great  army  had  accordingly  been 
fent  out,  to  the  amount  of  60,000 
men  and  upwards  ;  that  he  had 
promifed  a  great  feet  fhould  be 
employed,  and  a  great  fleet  had 
been  employed,  and  is  hill  em¬ 
ployed  ;  he  promifed  that  they 
fhould  be  provided  with  every  kind 
of  fupply,  and  they  had  been  fo 
mod  amply  and  liberally,  and 


T<33 

might  continue  to  be  fo  for  years 
to  come.  And,  that  the  houfe 
had  all  along  been  in  full  poffef- 
iion  of  the  whole  fubjedl,  fo  that 
if  they  were  deceived,  they  had 
deceived  themfelves. 

The  minifter  concluded  a  long, 
able,  and  eloquent  fpeech,  which 
kept  him  full  two  hours  up,  by 
faying,  that  on  the  whole  his  con¬ 
ceffion  s  were  from  reafon  and  pro¬ 
priety,  not  from  neceffity  ;  and 
that  we  were  in  a  condition  to  carry 
on  the  war  much  longer.  We 
might  raife  many  more  men,  and 
had  many  more  men  ready  to  fend  ; 
the  navy  was  never  in  greater 
ftrength,  the  revenue  but  little 
funk,  and  a  few  days  would  fhew 
that  he  fhould  raife  the  funds  for 
the  current  year  at  a  moderate 
rate.  But  he  fubmitted  the  whole, 
with  regard  to  the  propriety  of  his 
pad  and  prefent  conduct  to  the 
judgment  of  the  houfe. 

A  dull  melancholy  filence  for 
fome  time  fucceeded  to  this  fpeech. 
It  had  been  heard  with  profound 
attention,  but  without  a  fingle 
mark  of  approbation  to  any  part, 
from  any  defcription  of  men,  or 
any  particular  man  in  the  houfe. 
Adonifhment,  dejeXion,  and  fear, 
over-clouded  the  whole  affembly. 
Although  the  minifter  had  de¬ 
clared,  that  the  fentiments  he  ex- 
preffed  that  day,  had  been  thofe 
which  he  always  entertained  ;  it  is 
certain,  that  few  or  none  had  un- 
derdood  him  in  that  manner  ;  and 
he  had  been  reprefented  to  the  na¬ 
tion,  at  large,  as  the  perfon  in  it 
the  mod  tenacious  of  thofe  parlia¬ 
mentary  rights  which  he  now  pro- 
pofed  to  refign,  and  the  mod  re¬ 
mote  from  the  fubmiffions  which 
he  now  propofed  to  make.  It  was 
generally  therefore  concluded,  that 
[/]  3  fome- 


i34]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


fomething  more  extraordinary  and 
alarming  had  happened  than  yet 
appeared,  which  was  of  force  to 
produce  fuch  an  apparent  change 
in  meafures,  principles  and  argu¬ 
ments. 

It  was  thought  by  many  at  that 
time,  that  if  the  oppofition  had 
then  preffed  him,  and  joined  with 
the  warm  party  which  had  hitherto 
fupported  the  minifter,  but  which 
was  now  difgufted  and  mortified  in 
the  higheft  degree,  the  bills  would 
have  been  loft.  But,  in  fad,  they 
took  fuch  a  hearty  part  with  the 
minifter,  only  endeavouring  to 
make  fuch  alterations  in,  or  addi¬ 
tions  to  the  bills,  as  might  increafe 
their  eligibility,  or  extend  their 
effed,  that  no  appearance  of  party 
remained  ;  and  fome  of  his  com¬ 
plaining  friends  vexatioufly  con¬ 
gratulated  him  on  his  new  allies. 
Thefe  new  allies,  however,  though 
they  fupported  his  meafures,  (hew¬ 
ed  no  mercy  to  his  con  dud. 

Mr.  Fox  complimented  the  mi¬ 
nifter  on  his  converfion,  and  con¬ 
gratulated  his  own  party  on  the 
acquiiition  of  fo  potent  an  auxi¬ 
liary.  He  was  glad  to  find  that  his 
propofi tions  did  not  materially  dif¬ 
fer  from  thofe  which  had  been  laid 
before  them  by  his  friend  Mr. 
Burke  three  years  before;  and  re¬ 
minded  the  houfe,  that  although 
they  were  then  rejected  by  the  mi¬ 
nifter,  three  years  war  had  con¬ 
vinced  him  of  their  utility.  He 
obferved  that  the  noble  lord  was 
fo  perfect  a  profelyte,  that  the  very 
fame  arguments  which  had  at  that 
time  been  fo  ineffectually  uled  by 
the  minority,  and  in  nearly  the 
fame  words,  were  now  adopted  by 
his  lordfhip.  He  ironically  ap¬ 
plaud*  nis  refolution  in  reiin- 
quifhing  the  right  of  taxation,  from 
the  high  fatisfadion  which  it  muff 


afford  to  feveral  country  gentle¬ 
men,  who  had  placed  fo  firm  a  re¬ 
liance  on  his  former  declarations. 
Nor  was  he  lefs  pleafed  with  the 
power  to  be  given  to  the  cornmif* 
fioners  for  reltoring  the  charter  of 
Maffachufetts,  as  that  was  a  proof 
of  his  lordfhip’s  wifdom  in  fram¬ 
ing  the  aft  by  which  it  was  de- 
ftroyed.  For,  to  do,  and  to  undo, 
to  deftroy  and  to  reftore,  were  not 
only  the  fmgular  prerogative,  and 
high  felicity  of  power,  but  they 
were  alfo  the  moft  exalted  ads  of 
wifdom. 

He  wifhed  that  this  conceffion. 
had  been  made  more  early,  and 
upon  principles  more  refpedful  to 
parliament.  To  tell  them,  that 
if  they  were  deceived,  they  had 
deceived  themfelves,  was  neither 
kind  nor  civil  to  an  affembly, 
which,  for  fo  many  years,  had  re¬ 
lied  upon  him  with  the  moft  unre- 
ferved  confidence.  That  all  pub¬ 
lic  bodies,  like  the  houfe  of  com¬ 
mons,  muft  give  a  large  confidence 
to  perfons  in  office;  and  their  only 
method  of  preventing  the  abufe  of 
that  confidence,  was  to  punifh 
thofe  who  mifinformed  them  con¬ 
cerning  the  ftate  of  their  affairs, 
or  who  had  conduded  them  with 
negligence,  ignorance,  or  incapa¬ 
city. 

The  noble  lord’s  defence  of 
meafures,  if  he  could  have  efta- 
blifhed  a  real  defence,  would  have 
done  the  higheft  honour  to  his 
logical  abilities,  as  it  would  have 
been  no  lefs  than  a  j unification  of 
the  moft  unjuftifiable  meafures  that 
had  ever  difgraced  any  minifter, 
or  ruined  any  country.  But  his 
whole  arguments  might  be  col- 
leded  into  one  point,  and  all  his 
excuies  into  one  apology,  when 
the  whole  would  be  comprifed, 
and  fully  expreffed,  in  the  fimple 

word 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [ijj 


word  ignorance  !  a  palpable  a*d 
total  ignorance  of  every  part  of  the 
fubjeCt — He  hoped,  and  he  was 
difappoin  ted. — He  expelled  a  great 
deal,  and  found  little  to  anfwer 
his  expectations.  — -  He  thought 
America  would  have  fubmitted  to 
his  laws,  and  they  refilled  them.-*- 
He  thought  they  would  have  fub- 
mitted  to  his  armies,  and  they  beat 
them  with  inferior  numbers. — He 
made  conciliatory  proportions,  and 
he  thought  they  would  fucceed, 
but  they  were  rejected. — He  ap¬ 
pointed  commiffioners  to  make 
peace,  and  ' he  thought  they  had 
powers,  but  he  found  they  could 
not  make  peace,  and  nobody  be¬ 
lieved  thev  had  any  powers. 

He,  however,  faid,  that  as  the 
prefent  proportions  were  much 
more  clear  and  fatisfaCtory  than 
the  former,  for  neceftity  had  at 
length  compelled  the  noble  lord 
to  fpeak  plain,  they  fhould  ac¬ 
cordingly  receive  his  fupport,  and 
he  fuppofed  that  of  all  his  friends 
on  the  fame  lide  of  the  houfe. 
Undoubtedly,  faid  he,  they  would 
have  given  full  fatisfaCtion,  and 
have  prevented  all  the  lofs,  ruin, 
and  calamity,  which  England  and 
America  have  fince  experienced, 
if  they  had  been  offered  in  time. 
But  if  the  conceffion  fhould  be 
found  ample  enough,  and  then 
found  to  come  too  late,  what  pu- 
nifhment  will  be  fufficient  for  thofe 
minillers  who  adjourned  parlia¬ 
ment,  in  order  to  make  a  propo¬ 
rtion  of  conceffion,  and  then  ne¬ 
glected  to  do  it,  until  France  had 
concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Inde¬ 
pendent  States  of  America,  ac¬ 
knowledging  them  as  fuch  ?  He 
did  not  fpeak  from  furmife,  he 
faid  ;  he  had  it  from  authority 
which  he  could  not  queltion,  that 
the  treaty  he  mentipned  had  been 


figned  in  Paris  ten  days  before, 
counting  from  that  inftant.  He 
therefore  wifhed  the  miniftry  would 
give  the  houfe  fatisfaCtion  on  that 
very  interefting  point  ;  for  he 
feared  that  it  would  be  found,  that 
their  prefent  apparently  pacific  and 
equitable  difpofition,  with  that 
propofition  which  feemed  the  re- 
fult  of  it,  owed  their  exigence  to 
the  previous  knowledge  of  the  con- 
clufion  of  a  treaty,  which  mult, 
from  its  nature,  render  that  pro¬ 
pofition  as  ufelefs  to  the  peace,  as 
it  was  humiliating  to  the  dignity 
of  Great  Britain. 

Others  of  the  oppofition  faid* 
that  they  would  vote  for  the  pro¬ 
pofition,  as  they  would  for  any 
thing  that  looked  even  towards, 
or  that  could  in  any  poffible  event 
tend  to  a  reconciliation  ;  but  they 
declared  at  the  fame  time,  that 
they  had  not  the  fmalleft  hope  of 
its  producing  any  good  effeCtf  For 
they  did  not  think  it  to  be  in  na¬ 
ture,  and  confequently not  poffible, 
that  the  Americans,  after  having 
been  driven  to  the  final  extremity 
and  laft  refuge  of  mankind  againft 
opprefiion,  fhould  now,  when  they 
had  fuccefsfully  eltablifhed  their 
independency  by  arms,  again  com¬ 
mit  thofe  rights  and  immunities, 
which  they  have  juft  redeemed  at 
fo  dear  a  price,  to  the  cuftody  of 
thofe  very  men,  who  have  con- 
vulfed  the  empire  in  all  its  parts, 
through  the  unnatural  violence  of 
the  efforts  which  they  ufed  for 
their  deftruCtion  ;  nor  that  any  art 
could  induce  them  to  receive  the 
olive  branch  from  thofe  hands, 
which  wdfe  fo  deeply  polluted  ana 
ftill  reeking  with  the  blood  of  their 
country. 

Some  of  the  country  gentlemen, 
who  had  all  along  fupported  the 
miniftry  in  general,  and  who  were 
[/]  4  fuppofed 


i36]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


fuppofod  particularly  attached  to 
.this  min iiler,  being  much  piqued 
at  that  expreffion  of  his,  that e<  they 
had  not  been  milled  or  deceived/1 
rofe  in  great  warmth  and  afferted, 
they  faid,  wi  h  indignation,  that 
they  had  been  grofsly  deceived  and 
milled  by  the  uniform  language  of 
government  for  three  years  pall; 
and  one  gentleman  went  i’o  far  as 
to  fay,  that  he  fhould  feel  for  the 
humiliating  blulh  of  his  fovereign, 
when  he  gave  his  alien t  to  the  pro- 
pofed  bills.  On  the  declaration  of 
a  great  law  officer,  that  a  fecurity 
for  the  congrefs  debts,  and  a  re- 
ellablilhment  of  the  credit  of  their 
paper  currency,  would  be  one  of 
the  objects  of  the  commiffion,  and 
one  of  the  principal  inducements 
held  out  to  that  body  to  return  to 
its  allegiance,  another  gentleman, 
zealoully  attached  to  the  court  de¬ 
clared,  that  he  would  much  more 
readily  confent  to  give  currency  to 
forged  India  bonds,  and  counter¬ 
feit  bank  notes,  than  to  paper 
which  had  been  fabricated  to  carrv 
on  rebellion  agrainfl  the  king  and 

o  o 

parliament  of  Great  Britain.  In 
general  that  party  declared,  that  as 
the  point  of  taxation,  which  could 
he  the  only  rational  ground  of  the 
war,  was  now  given  up,  peace 
fhould  be  procured  by  any  means, 
and  in  the  fpeedieft  manner.  Nor 
did  the  minifter  efcape  being  alk- 
ed,  as  taxation  had  not  at  any 
time  been  his  objedi,  what  were 
the  real  motives  of  the  war  ?  and 
whether  he  had  fported  away  thirty 
thoufand  lives,  with  thirty  mil¬ 
lions  of  money,  and  in  that  amufe- 
inent  put  not  only  the  unity,  but 
the  exigence  of  the  empire  to  the 
hazard,  merely  to  try  the  mettle 
of  the  Americans,  and  to  difcover 
what  fpirit  they  would  (hew  in  the 


defence  of  every  thing  that  was 
dear  to  them. 

Such  things  mud  be  borne  in 
fuch  fituations.  The  minifter  be¬ 
ing  clofely  preiTed  on  difterent 
hands  for  fome  explanation  rela¬ 
tive  to  the  treaty  faid  to  have  been 
concluded  between  France  and 
America,  at  length  declared,  that 
he  had  no  authority  upon  which  to 
pronounce  abfolutely  with  refpeht 
to  that  event ;  that  a  report  had 
for  fome  time  prevailed,  that  Inch, 
a  treaty  was  in  agitation  ;  that  its 
conclusion'  was  not  only  pothole, 
but  perhaps  too  probable  ; — that, 
however,  as  it  had  not  yet  been 
authenticated  by  the  ambaffador, 
the  preemption  lay  that  it  had  not 
taken  place.  This  brought  out  an 
exclamation  from  a  gentleman  in 
oppofttion,  that  when  the  nation 
was  at  a  very  large  expence,  in 
fupporting  diplomatique  eftablifh- 
ments,  and  representatives  of  ma- 
jefty,  in  the  different  courts  of 
Europe,  it  was  in  the  higheft  de¬ 
gree  (hameful,  and  not  a  little 
alarming,  that  in  a  matter  of  fuch 
momentous  concern,  the  intelli-* 
gence  of  a  private  gentleman  fhould 
be  more  early  or  more  authentic, 
than  that  of  the  minifter  of  Great 
Britain. 

In  the  progrefs  of  p  ,  , 

the  bills  Mr.  Serjeant  r'  1  y 
Adair  moved,  that  it  be  an  in- 
ftru&ion  to  the  committee  of  the 
bill  for  appointing  commiffioners, 
that  they  have  power  to  make  pro- 
vifion  for  nominating  the  commif- 
fioners  by  the  bill.  He  faid,  that 
this  was  no  infringement  on  the 
prerogative  of  the  crown  ;  it  was 
no  matter  that  lay  within  its  ordi¬ 
nary  federal  capacity  ;  it  was  a 
com  million  appointed  by  parlia¬ 
ment,  in  order  to  treat  about  the, 

rights 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [137 


rights  of  parliament  itfelf,  the  fuf- 
pending  its  laws,  and  the  furren- 
der  of  its  rights,  or  of  what  it  had 
always  conlidered  or  claimed  as 
fuch  ;  that  for  the  houfe  to  give 
blindly  fuch  a  power  out  of  its 
hands,  to  be  exercifed  at  the  mere 
pleafure  of  the  crown,  and  by  per- 
fons  to  them  utterly  unknown,  was 
in  effeft  a  complete  furrender  of 
the  whole  conftitution  of  this  coun¬ 
try  into  the  hands  of  the  king. 
That  he,  therefore,  thought  him- 
felf  bound  to  refill  this  moll  uncon- 
ffitutional  meafure  by  every  means 
in  his  power  ;  that  as  to  any  diffi¬ 
culties  which  might  be  fuppofed  in 
the  execution  of  this  mode  of  ap¬ 
pointment,  they  had  been  all  com¬ 
pletely  got  over  in  the  Eall  India 
bill,  where,  with  fuch  fufficient  fa¬ 
cility,  parliament  had  nominated 
commiffioners  for  a  matter  of  mere 
executive  government,  and  One  in 
which  no  parliamentary  rights  or 
powers  were  at  all  concerned.  That 
he  hoped,  as  himfelf  and  the  other 
gentlemen  of  the  late  minority  had 
given,  and  would  continue  to  give, 
fo  clear  a  fupport  to  the  concilia¬ 
tory  meafures  of  the  miniller,  late 
as  they  were  adopted,  he  alio  hoped 
the  miniller,  on  his  part,  would 
likewife  adl  a  fair  and  candid  part 
with  them,  and  not  take  them  in 
for  a  dangerous  extenfion  of  pre¬ 
rogative,  whilil  they  were  joining 
him  in  an  attempt  to  rellore  peace 
to  the  country. 

The  learned  gentlemen  on  the 
other  fide  contended,  that  a  com¬ 
pliance  with  the  motion  would  be 
taking  the  executive  power  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  crown.  That  to 
li old  out  to  the  world  at  this  time, 
that  parliament  entertained  any 
jealoufy  of  the  crown,  would  tend 
greatly  to  counteract,  inltead  of  in 


any  degree  promoting  the  good 
effects,  that  were  intended  by  the 
bill  ;  and  might  alfo,  in  the  pre- 
fent  critical  jundture  of  affairs,  be 
attended  with  very  pernicious  con- 
fequences  otherwife.  That  it 
would  be  a  violent  aCt,  after  having 
empowered  and  directed  the  crown 
to  carry  on  the  war,  and  after 
having  authorized  the  crown  to 
make  peace,  if  it  could  have  been 
effeCled  by  the  fubmiffion  of  Ame¬ 
rica,  for  the  legillature  on  a  fuddeu  , 
to  hold  their  hand  and  fay,  the 
crown  (hall  not  negociatefor  peace* 
That  there  was  no  inllance  of  par¬ 
liament  taking  fuch  an  appoint¬ 
ment  into  their  own  hands,  ex¬ 
cepting  once  in  the  reign  of  Rich¬ 
ard  the  Second,  and  that  a&  was 
repealed  a  few  years  after  with  re¬ 
proach,  as  an  ufurpation  of  the 
rights  of  the  crown.  That  the 
progrefs  of  fuch  a  bufinefs  in  the 
houfe  would  be  attended  with  the 
groffell  inconveniences ;  the  con¬ 
sequent  difeuffion  of  names  and  of 
individuals  would  be  odious  in  the 
highed  degree  ;  and  as  it  was  im* 
poffible  that  550  perfons  fhould 
ever  agree  in  luch  a  nomination* 
the  hillory  of  their  diffentions 
would  accompany  the  commiffion 
to  America.  But  if  it  were  true, 
as  it  was  every  day  faid  on  the 
other  fide  to  be,  that  the  miniflers 
could  command  a  majority,  then 
the  nomination  would  of  courfe  lie 
in  the  crown  without  its  avowal  ; 
and  parliament  would  thereby  be 
precluded  from  its  natural  contronl 
upon  miniflers,  of  calling  them  to 
account  for  mifadvifing  the  crown 
in  the  appointment,  however  fu¬ 
ture  circum dances  might  render 
fuch  an  interference  neceffary. 

They  further  faid,  that  the  powers 
intended  to  be  given  by  the  com- 

million. 


138]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


sniffion,  could  not  be  fafely  exe¬ 
cuted  by  any  other  perfons  than 

thofe  appointed  by  the  crown _ 

That  the  crown  had  been  entrufted 
with  the  appointment  of  commif- 
jfsoners  to  treat  upon  the  union  of 
the  two  kingdoms,  who  had  power 
to  fufpend  the  adts  of  parliament 
which  prevented  a  free  trading  in- 
tercourfe  between  both,  during  the 
progrefs  of  the  treaty  ;  and  that 
they  had  been  ordered  to  keep  the 
whole  tranfattions  fecret,  which 
order  they  had  inviolably  obferved. 
They  concluded,  that  nothing 
could  give  a  proper  weight  and 
fupport  to  the  prefen  t  com  million, 
but  the  perfect  confidence  which 
parliament  fhewed  that  they  re¬ 
po  fed  in  government. 

The  motion  was,  notwithftand- 
ing,  fupported  with  great  fpirit  by 
foxpe  of  the  principal  fpeakers  in 
the  oppoiition.  They  faid,  that 
the  prefent  was  a  queftion  merely 
of  men.  That  the  meafure  was 
already  decided  upon,  which  was 
to  give  a  full  power  to  difpofe  of 
all  the  legiflative  a&s,  and  all  the 
legislative  powers  of  parliament, 
fo  far  as  they  concerned  Ame¬ 
rica.  That  there  never  had  been 
fuch  a  truft  delegated  to  men,  and 
that  therefore  nothing  was  ever 
more  important  than  the  proper 
choice  of  them.  That  if  minifters 
had  hitherto  Shewn,  in  any  one 
inftance,  that  they  had  formed  a 
right  judgment  on  men,  they  would 
admit  that  they  ought  to  be  en¬ 
trufted  with  the  nomination  of  men 
upon  this  occafion.  Exclufive  of 
honefty,  which,  they  faid,  they 
Would  enter  into  no  difcuffion  of 
with  the  minifters,  the  ground  of 
confidence  in  men  was  founded  on 
two  things;  namely,  that  they  were 
incapable  of  deceiving  others,  and 


were  alike  incapable  of  being  de* 
ceived  themfelves.  That  the  mi¬ 
nifters  had  been  repeatedly  and 
publicly  charged  in  that  houfe,  by 
thofe  who  had  all  along  fupported 
their  meafures,  with  having  de¬ 
ceived  them  ;  and  that  their  only 
j unification  had  been,  that  they 
were  themfelves  deceived  in  every 
particular  relating  to  America, 
Now,  take  it,  faid  they,  which 
way  you  pleafe,  whether  they  were 
deceivers,  as  their  friends  aftert, 
or  deceived,  as  themfelves  alledge, 
they  are  not  fit  on  either  ground  to 
be  trufted.  They,  who  had  judged 
fo  ill  of  the  men  they  had  credited, 
in  all  their  information  concerning 
America,  would  not  judge  better 
in  the  choice  of  thofe  whom  they 
nominated  to  get  rid  of  the  fa¬ 
tal  confequences  of  that  ill  in¬ 
formation.  They  faid,  that  the 
conftant  defence  made  by  the  mi¬ 
nifters  v  with  regard  to  the  ill  fuc- 
cefs  of  their  army  in  America,  was 
the  incapacity,  error,  or  negleft, 
of  the  generals  they  had  themfelves 
appointed;  that  although  they  did 
not  believe  that  to  have  been  the 
real  caufe,  yet  on  their  ov/n  con- 
feftion,  they  had  made  a  wrong 
judgment  of  the  perfons  they  had 
employed  ;  and  if  they  were  fo 
unhappy  in  the  choice  of  generals, 
what  reafon  was  there  to  fuppofe 
they  would  prove  more  fortunate 
in  the  choice  of  negociators  ? 

They  further  contended,  that 
nothing  could  fo  eftedtu ally  defeat 
the  purpofe  of  the  commiftion, 
as  the  leaft  thought  that  parlia¬ 
ment  repofed  any  confidence  in 
the  prefent  fervants  of  the  crown. 
That  this  would  be  a  perpe¬ 
tual  fource  of  diftruft,  jealoufy 
and  animofity  to  the  Americans. 
That  nobody  could  pretend,  nor 

could 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


could  they  themfelves  venture  to 
affert  that  this  miniftry,  or  any 
perfons  oftheir  appointment,  could 
have  any  title  to  the  confidence  of 
America.  The  minifters  were  all 
the  declared  and  eftablifhed  ene¬ 
mies  of  America,  and  were  only 
brought  to  a  late  and  abjeft  fub- 
miffion,  by  a  failure  of  their  ut- 
moft  efforts  to  opprefs  them  by 
force.  If  thefe  have  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  commiflioners,  they  will 
neceffarily  be  men  of  their  own 
{lamp,  character,  and  complexion : 
perfons  who  would  be  much  more 
folicitous  to  fcreen  their  employers 
than  to  ferve  their  country;  and 
who  from  nature,  education,  and 
habits,  are  much  better  qualified  to 
irritate  than  to  appeafe  America. 
An  high  officer  of  the  {fate,  faid 
they,  who  has  been  the  author  of 
all  the  violent  and  coercive  mea- 
fures  again  ft  the  colonies,  will,  in 
virtue  of  his  office,  have  the  no¬ 
mination  of  the  commiflioners. 
Suppofe,  faid  they,  the  Americans 
fliould  laydown  as  an  indifpenfable 
preliminary  to  an  accommodation, 
the  removal  or  punifhment  of  this 
minifter,  would  any  body  pretend 
that  the  perfons  nominated  by  him 
could  be  confidered  as  impartial 
commiflioners,  or  fitting  perfons  to 
difchargethe  great  truftrepofed  in 
them  by  the  ftate  and  parliament 
of  Great  Britain  ?  But  they  were 
aftonifhed,  they  faid,  at  the  info- 
lence  of  minifters,  who,  when  they 
fhould  be  wrapped  in  fackcloth 
and  afhes,  for  the  defolation  and 
ruin  which  they  had  brought  upon 
their  country,  were  prefumptu- 
oufly  making  demand  of  unlimited 
confidence,  and  calling  to  have  the 
few  remaining  powers  which  had 
been  left  to  parliament,  furren- 
4ered  into  their  hands. 


[139 

They  concluded  with  laying  it 
down  as  an  axiom,  that  no  good 
could  proceed  from  any  negociation. 
whatever,  in  which  the  prefent 
minifters  had  any  fhare  or  concern. 
They  obferved,  that  the  prefent 
momentous  affair  was  not  too  little 
to  be  undertaken  by  parliament 
itfelf ;  that  if  parliamentary  rights 
muft  be  negociated  upon,  it  was  fit-, 
ting  to  be  done  by  a  committee  of 
the  two  houfes  of  parliament.  That 
in  order  to  fettle  India  affairs,  a 
committee  of  the  houfe  had  fat  in 
Leadenhall-ftreet  ;  they  might  as 
well  fit  in  America  ;  if  the  diftance 
was  greater,  fo  was  the  magnitude 
and  importance  of  the  object.  But 
they  faid,  the  fcherne  and  drift  of 
the  whole  was  evident.  The  mi¬ 
nifters  intended  to  pay  their  court, 
and  to  obliterate  their  crimes,  by 
increafing  the  prerogative  in  the 
fame  proportion  that  they  leffened 
the  empire.  And  thus  the  prefent 
war,  which  was  pretended  to  be 
made  for  the  double  purpofe  of  pre¬ 
venting  the  crown  from  obtaining 
a  revenue  from  America  indepen¬ 
dent  of  parliament,  and  afterting 
the  power  of  the  houfe  of  com¬ 
mons  to  tax  all  the  Britifh  domi¬ 
nions,  would  at  length  terminate 
in  afurrenderof  the  right  of  taxa¬ 
tion  ,  and  of  all  other  parliamentary 
rights,  whether  of  advice  or  con- 
troul,  which  interfered  in  any  de¬ 
gree  with  the  power  of  the  crown.. 

The  motion  was  reje£ted  with¬ 
out  any  divifion  being  demanded 
by  the  oppofition.  The  minifters 
took  no  fhare  in  the  debate,  and 
the  oppofition  feemed  unwilling  to 
throw  any  impediment  in  the  way 
of  the  bills,  when  the  only  hope, 
fmall  as  it  was,  which  they  placed 
on  their  fuccefs,  depended  on  the 
difpatch  with  which  they  were 

expedited 


ho]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


expedited  through  parliament,  and 
afterwards  forwarded  to  America. 

Upon  the  difpofal  of  this  mo¬ 
tion,  another  v/as  made  by  Mr. 
Powys,  That  it  fhould  be  an  in- 
hruftion  to  the  committee  on  the 
conciliatory  bills,  to  receive  a  claufe 
for  the  repeal  of  the  Maffachufetts 
charter  adfc.  This  motion  drew 
cut  much  mixed  converfation  upon 
American  affairs  ;  official  men 
feemed  not  now  to  be  fo  much 
pinned  to  opinion  as  ufual  ;  and 
fome  other  gentlemen,  who  had 
not  generally  made  any  great  dif- 
|>Iay  of  their  fentiments,  were  now 
rather  more  communicative  upon 
the  fubjedt.  Upon  the  whole,  it 
would  have  appeared  at  this  mo¬ 
ment  that  a  great  majority  of  the 
l]£)ufe  had  at  all  times  execrated  the 
American  war;  but  that  many  had 
been  led  individually  in  the  crowd 
from  one  hep  to  another,  without 
looking  much  farther  before  them, 
and  hill  expedling  the  !ah  to  be 
eonclufive,  until  the  American  de¬ 
claration  of  independence  aflonifh- 
ed  them  with  a  new,  awful,  and 
unexpected  fituation  of  public  af¬ 
fairs.  This  alarming  appearance 
of  things  feemed  to  leave  no  other 
alternative,  than  the  fitting  down 
fupinely  with  the  lofs  of  the  colo¬ 
nies,  or  the  greatefl  national  union, 
and  the  moft  vigorous  exertions  for 
their  redudiion.  The  failure  in 
arms  exhibited  another  feeae  eq  ual- 
ly  novel  and  unexpedted,  and  feem¬ 
ed  at  this  time  pretty  generally  to 
excite  a  kind  of  melancholy  wifh, 
that  many  of  thofe  extremities  had 
been  avoided,  which  it  was  not 
now  in  the  power  either  of  fortune 
or  wifdom  entirely  to  remedy. 

Several  of  the  miniher’s  friends, 
however,  hrongly  condemned  his 
prefsnt  conciliatory  meafures;  and 


indeed  the  only  ruW  the  bills  met 
with  in  their  paffage  was  from  his 
own  fide.  Some  of  thefe  infilled 
upon  the  exercife  as  well  as  the 
right  of  taxation  in  their  utmoh 
Extent;  and  even  went  lo  far  as  to 
affert,  that  it  was  a  right  fo  in- 
herent  in  parliament,  and  fo  ef- 
fentially  woven  into  the  conhitu- 
tion,  that  no  resignation  of  it  could 
be  valid.  Others,  who  were  more 
numerous,  lamented  the  degrada- 

•  ,  O 

tion  which  the  bills  would  bring 
upon  the  government,  the  coun- 
fels,  and  the  dignity  of  this  coun¬ 
try.  They  inMed,  that  our  re- 
fources  were  not  only  great,  but 
inexhauhible  ;  and  that  nothing 
but  a  fpinted  and  vigorous  exertion, 
of  our  powers  was  v/anting  for  the 
accornpllfhment  of  much  greater 
matters  than  the  fubjugation  of 
America.  They  bitterly  lamented 
that  pusillanimity  in  our  counfels, 
which,  after  fo  great  an  expence 
of  blood  and  treafure,  could  fub- 
mit  not  only  to  give  up  all  the 
objeCts  of  the  conteh,  but  meanly 
enter  into  a  public  treaty  with 
armed  rebels,  and  thereby  virtu¬ 
ally  acknowledge  and  ehablifh  that 
independence  which  they  claimed. 
They  faid,  that  while  it  would 
ferve  greatly  to  excite  the  courage 
of  the  rebels,  and  increafe  their 
infolence  in  the  higheh  degree,  it 
would  on  the  other  hand  greatly 
difpirit  our  own  troops,  totally 
diifolve  all  that  confidence  and 
hope,  which  the  loyal  or  well-dif- 
pofed  Americans  had  repofed  in 
our  faith  or  our  power,  and  would 
beiides  render  us  contemptible  in 
the  eyes  of  all  European  hates. 
To  crown  this  climax  of  ill  con- 
fequences,  they  predicted  that  the 
bills  would  not  produce  the  end 
propofed. 


To 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


To  this  the  oppofition  faid,  that 
although  they  totally  "differed  with 
thofe  gentlemen  in  all  their  other 
pofitions,  they  very  nearly  agreed 
with  them  in  their  prediction. — 
They  had  great  apprehenfions, 
that  from  the  latenefs  of  adopting 
the  meafure,  it  would  not  produce 
that  happy  effect,  which  they 
themfelves  fo  much  wifhed,  and 
which  they  were  certain  a  great 
majority  of  the  nation,  deriving 
conviaion  from  feelings  which 
were  much  more  forcible  than  any 
logical  dedudions,  began  now 
molt  ardently  to  pant  after.  They 
acknowledged,  that  the  chances  in 
point  of  calculation  were  infinitely 
againft  the  fuccefs  of  the  meafure; 
but  ftill  there  was  a  chance  ;  and 
the  objeCt  of  a  peace  with  America 
was  of  fo  tempting  a  nature,  in¬ 
cluding  not  only  the  happinefs  but 
the  prefervation  of  this  country, 
that  the  fmalleft  chance  againft 
whatever  fuperiority  of  odds,  was 
not  to  be  given  up  at  any  price. 
It  was  upon  this  account,  they  faid, 
that  they  overlooked  many  things 
which  they  difapproved  of  in  the 
bills,  as  they  would  not  in  any 
manner  impede  or  delay  the  b u fi- 
nefs,  where  fuch  a  prize  was  at 
ftake. 

Mr.  Powys’s  motion  occafioned 
along  mixture  of converfation  and 
debate,  which  was  continued  till 
half  paft  twelve  at  night.  Some 
gentlemen,  even  in  office,  wifhed 
to  extend  it  to  the  total  repeal  of 
all  the  American  obnoxious  laws. 
Indeed  it  was  agreed  on  all  fides, 
that  upon  the  principle  of  conci¬ 
liation,  this  mull  be  a  meafure  of 
neceflity  ;  and  the  minifter  himfelf, 
in  opening  his  propofitions,  had 
declared  his  willingnefs  to  give  up 
all  the  obnoxious  American  laws. 


from  the  ioth  of  February,  1763. 
The  only  difference  of  opinion 
now  upon  the  fubjeCt  was  the  time 
of  carrying  the  meafure  into  exe¬ 
cution  ;  that  is,  whether  it  fhould 
be  preliminary  to,  cr  a  confequence 
of  the  treaty.  Although  the  mi¬ 
nifter  gave  no  fpecific  opinion  up¬ 
on  the  fubjeCt,  and  indeed  mixed 
but  little  in  the  debates  fince  the 
introduction  of  the  bufinefs,  yet 
as  thofe  confidential  perfons,  who 
are  at  all  times  fuppofed  to  be  in 
the  fecret  of  affairs,  took  the  latter 
part  of  the  alternative,  and  that, 
notwithftanding  the  prefent  conci¬ 
liatory  temper  of  the  houfe,  the 
motion  was  at  length  rejected  by  a 
majority  of  18 1  to  108  ;  no  doubt 
can  be  entertained  that  his  fenti- 
ments  were  on  the  fame  fide  of  the 
queftion. 

The  bills  underwent  great  al¬ 
terations  in  their  progrefs  both 
through  the  houfe  and  the  com¬ 
mittee.  Whether  it  proceeded 
from  a  change  of  opinion,  or  from 
whatever  other  caufe,  the  powers  to 
be  entrufted  with  the  commiflloners 
were  much  narrowed  from  what  had 
been  at  firft  held  out  by  the  mini¬ 
fter.  The  oppofition  complained 
that  parliament  had  divefted  itfelf 
effeftually  of  thofe  powers  ;  but 
inftead  of  their  being  communi¬ 
cated  to  thofe  perfons  who  were  to 
negociate  a  treaty  at  fo  great  a 
diltance,  where  immediate  conclu- 
fions  migh t  be  abfolutely  neceffary, 
a  circumftance  which  alone  af¬ 
forded  the  oftenfible  motive  for 
their  being  demanded  or  granted., 
they  were  referved  at  home  in  the 
hands  of  the  minifters,  to  be  here¬ 
after  detailed  as  they  thought  pro¬ 
per.  This  was  eafily  accomplifhed 
by  the  means  of  the  crown  lawyers, 
under  the  colour  of  making  thofe 

powers 


142]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


powers  agree  with  inftruflions, 
whofe  nature  and  purpofe  were  to¬ 
tally  unknown  to  all  perfons  ex¬ 
cepting  themfelves  and  the  mi- 
niilers.  Some  of  the  oppofition 
complained  greatly  of  this  conduct, 
which  they  faid  was  totally  fub- 
verfive  of  the  great  principle  of 
the  bill,  viz.  That  commilioners 
upon  the  fpot  would  be  better  able 
to  determine  what  was  immedi¬ 
ately  fitting  to  be  done,  than  par¬ 
liament  or  any  other  body  could  * 
at  the  diftance  of  three  thoufand 
miles  ;  but  the  expunging  from 
the  bill  of  thofe  difcretionary  pow¬ 
ers  which  were  intended  for  the 
commifliqners,  rendered  it,  they 
faid,  with  refpefl  to  its  avowed 
purpofe,  little  more  than  a  piece 
of  wafte  paper  :  fo  that  as  it  then 
Hood,  its  real  effect  could  be  only 
to  Veit  in  the  minifters  a  fufpend- 
ing  power  out  of  parliament,  under 
the  form  and  colour  of  inftruftions 
to  commiffioners,  inftead  of  the 
©pen  and  ufual  mode  of  carrying  it 
by  bill  through  both  houfes.  The 
danger  of  the  precedent,  in  this 
view  of  the  bufinefs,  and  the  com¬ 
petence  of  thofe  who  were  to  be  en¬ 
trusted  with  fuch  a  power,  afforded 
fufhcient  ground  for  animadver- 
lion ;  but  the  eager  hope  of  attain¬ 
ing  the  great  point  in  view,  fub- 
dued  all  other  confiderations,  and 
prevented  any  great  degree  of  op- 
pofition. 

Some  members  of  the  oppofition 
were  the  means  of  confiderably  ex¬ 
tending  the  effect  of  the  bills  with 
refpeft  to  their  original  purpofe. 
Mr.  Powys  having  moved, 

'  That  it  be  an  inftruflion  to 
the  committee,  to  receive  a  claufe 
for  the  repeal  of  the  American  tea- 
aft,  paffed  in  the  year  1 767,  it  was 
agreed  to.  And  Mr.  Burke,  having 


on  the  fame  day  moved,  that  the 
provifions  of  the  bill  Should  be  ex¬ 
tended  to  the  Weft  Indies,  his  mo¬ 
tion  was  likewife  agreed  to. 

The  title  of  the  bill  relative  to 
taxation  was  alfo  totally  altered 
from  its  original  flate.  It  was 
forefeeni  that  the  words  “  for  de¬ 
claring  the  intentions  of  the  par¬ 
liament  of  Great  Britain  concern¬ 
ing  the  exercife  of  the  right  of  im- 
pofing  taxes,”  would  be  exceed¬ 
ingly  offenfive  to  the  Americans, 
as  being  declaratory  of  the  right, 
and  merely  a  fufpenfion  of  the  ex¬ 
ercife.  The  new  title,  under  which 
it  was  pafied,  being  in  more  gene¬ 
ral  terms,  it  was  hoped  would  have 
given  fatisfaclion,  and  was  as  fol¬ 
lows  :  <e  For  removing  all  doubts 
and  apprehenfions  concerning  tax¬ 
ation  by  the  parliament  of  Great 
Britain,  in  any  of  the  colonies, 
provinces  and  plantations  in  North 
America  and  the  Weft  Indies,  and 
for  repealing  fo  much  of  an  aft 
made  in  the  feventh  year  of  the 
reign  of  his  prefent  Majeity,  as 
impofes  a  duty  on  tea  imported 
from  Great  Britain  into  any  colony 
or  plantation  in  America,  or  re¬ 
lates  thereto.” 

Although  the  third  reading  of 
the  bills  brought  out  a  confiderable 
fhare  of  mixed  debate  and  conver- 
fation,  yet  they  were  M  ,  , 

both  pafied  without  a 
divifion. 

The  minifter  found  it  necefiary 
to  lay  a  new  tax  on  houfes,  and 
another  upon  wines,  in  order  to 
fecure  the  intereft  of  fix  millions 
which  he  was  obliged  to  borrow  for 
the  fervices  of  the  enfuing 
year.  This  occafionea  fome 
debate  in  the  committee  of  fupply, 
the  houfe-tax  being  confidered,  by 
the  gentlemen  in  oppofition,  as 

being 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [r43 


being  not  only  a  land-tax  in  effedt, 
but  as  being  alfo  exceedingly  dif- 
proportionate  and  oppreflive,  and 
falling  particularly  heavy  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  London  and  Wed- 
minder,  who  already  paid  fo  vad 
a  proportion  to  the  land-tax,  and 
whofe  burdens,  including  with  that, 
poor-rates,  window -tax,  watch, 
lights,  pavement,  and  other  im- 
pods,  amounted  in  feveral  paridtes 
to  more  than  eight  {hillings  in  the 
pound.  Whild,  to  render  it  dill 
more  grievous,  it  frequently  hap¬ 
pened  that  thofe  who  were  the  lead 
able  to  bear  them,  bore  theheavied 
burthens. 

The  quedions  being  however 
agreed  to,  Mr.  Gilbert,  having 
fome  days  before  given  notice  to 
the  houfe  of  his  intention,  after  la¬ 
menting  the  negligence  and  prodi¬ 
gality  with  which  the  national  bu- 
finefs  was  conducted,  and  dating 
the  necedity  of  appointing  a  com¬ 
mittee  to  enquire  into  the  expendi¬ 
ture  of  the  public  money,  more 
particularly  into  the  exorbitancy 
of  contradls,  and  the  abufes  of 
office,  then  moved.  That  the  better 
to  enable  his  Majedy  to  vindicate 
the  honour  and  dignity  of  his 
crown  and  dominions,  in  the  pre- 
fent  exigency  of  affairs,  there  be 
granted  one-fourth  part  of  the  nett 
annual  income  upon  the  falaries, 
fees,  and  perquihtes  of  all  offices 
under  the  crown,  excepting  only 
thofe  held  by  the  Speaker  of  the 
Houfe  of  Commons,  the  Chancel¬ 
lor,  or  Commidioners  of  the  Great 
Seal,  the  Judges,  Miniders  to  fo¬ 
reign  parts,  Commidioners,  Offi¬ 
cers  in  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  all 
thofe  which  do  not  produce  a  clear 
yearly  income  of  two  hundred 
pounds  to  their  pofleifors  ;  the  tax 
alio  extending  to  all  annuities. 


pendons,  dipends,  or  other  yearly 
pendons  iffuing  out  of  the  Ex¬ 
chequer,  or  any  branch  of  the  re¬ 
venues  ;  and  was  to  commence 
from  the  25th  of  March,  1778, 
and  to  continue  for  one  year,  and 
during  the  continuance  of  the 
American  war. 

Such  was  the  temper  which  at  that 
immediate  time  happened  to  be  pre¬ 
valent,  or  rather,  fuch  was  the  effedt 
aridng  from  the  general  didatisfac- 
tion  excited  by  the  untoward  ap¬ 
pearance  of  public  affairs,  that  this 
motion, whichwas  made  by  agen  tie- 
man  in  office,  and  clofely  connedled 
with  one  branch  of  minidry,  to  the 
adonilhment  of  every  body,  and  to 
the  exceeding  alarm  of  adminiftra- 
tion,  was  carried  by  a  majority  of 
100  to  82  in  the  committee.  And 
although  the  miniders  fummoned, 
all  their  forces  from  all  quarters 
within  reach  on  the  enfuing  day,  in 
order  to  oppofe  the  motion  on  re¬ 
ceiving  the  report  from  the  com¬ 
mittee,  yet  with  all  their  drength, 
it  was  rejected  only  by  a  majority 
of  fix,  the  numbers  upon  a  dividon 
being  147,  to  1 4 1  who  fupported 
the  quedion.  Nor  would  it  have 
been  lod  if  the  oppodtion  had  been 
at  all  unanimous  in  its  fupport. 
For  fome  of  their  principals  cond- 
dered  it  as  a  meafure  which  would 
have  been  exceedingly  didreifing 
to  individuals,  without  any  ade¬ 
quate  public  advantage.  For  men 
in  office  frequently  had  no  other 
fupport  but  their  income,  and  had 
been  long  ufed  to  live  up  to  its  full 
extent ;  and  thofe  who  had  intered 
with  government  would  be  repaid 
from  the  public  purfe  (frequently 
with  auvantage)  what  they  had 
feemed  to  contribute  towards  it ; 
and  the  only  real  contribution 
would  arife  from  thofe,  who  being 
11  deditute 


144]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


deditute  of  interest,  were  the  leaft 
capable  of  bearing  the  tax. 

Ilth  On  the  following  day,  the 
committee  into  the  fate  of 
the  nation  being  refumed,  the  date 
of  the  navy  was  the  fubjeCt  intro¬ 
duced  by  Mr.  Fox,  who  after  clear¬ 
ing  and  laying  out  his  ground 
with  his  ufual  ability,  and  feveral 
in  trod  u  dory  motions,  propofed  the 
following  as  the  refult  of  the  whole, 

Refolved,  that  the  prefen t  date 
of  the  royal  navy,  for'  the  defence 
of  G  reat-Britain  and  Ireland,  is 
inadequate  to  the  very  dangerous 
crifis  of  public  affairs. ” 

Mr.  T.  Luttrell  took  a  principal 
fhare  in  this  debate,  and  apologifed 
for  the  length  of  time  which  his 
courfe  of  invedigation  mull:  necef- 
farily  take  up,  from  the  double 
confideration,  that  mod  of  the 
naval  papers  which  had,  after  fo 
much  trouble,  been  at  length  laid 
before  them,  were  ordered  by  the 
Houfe  in  confequence  of  motions 
made  by  himfelf,  and  that  he  was 
bound,  now  that  the  means  were 
in  his  hands,  of  maintaining  and 
making  good  thofe  reiterated 
charges,  which,  in  the  two  pre¬ 
ceding,  as  well  as  the  prefent  fef- 
iion,  he  had  brought  again d  the 
Miniders  of  the  Admiralty  depart¬ 
ment.  In  this  courfe  of  in  vediga- 
tion  and  calculation,  which  took 
up  about  three  hours,  he  particu¬ 
larly  dated,  that  the  public  had 
paid,  about  double  the  fum  for  the 
ordinaries  and  extraordinaries  of 
the  navy  during  the  lad  eight  years, 
which  the  edimates  of  the  fame 
fervices  had  amounted  to  in  the 
eight  years  which  commenced  with 
the  year  *755,  and  ended  with 
1762,  a  period  which  included  the 
whole  of  the  late  war. 


The  motion  was  well  fupported, 
all  the  principal  fpeakers  of  the 
oppofition  taking  an  aCtive  fhare 
in  the  debate.  A  great  naval  com¬ 
mander,  in  whom  the  nation  re- 
pofea  the  greated  hope  and  con¬ 
fidence  in  cafe  of  foreign  danger, 
took  the  fame  fide,  although  he 
was  then  under  appointment  to 
the  command  of  the  grand  fleet 
which  was  intended  for  our  home 
defence.  On  the  other  fide,  the 
quedion,  in  point  of  debate,  was 
only  oppofed  by  the  admiralty  and 
treafury  benches.  It  was  at  length 
got  rid  of  by  the  previous  quedion, 
without  a  dividon. 

On  the  following  day  the  Mini¬ 
ders  were  not  a  little  furprifed  at 
an  unexpected  motion  made  by 
Mr.  James  Luttrell,  for  an  addrefs 
to  his  Majedy,  that  he  would  be 
gracioufly  pleafed  to  indruCt  the 
Comrnifiioners,  whom  he  might 
name,  for  the  purpofes  of  carrying 
into  execution  tne  prefent  Ameri¬ 
can  bills,  that  in  cafe  they  fhould 
And,  that  the  continuance  in  office 
of  any  public  Minider  or  Minis¬ 
ters  of  the  crown  of  Great- Britain 
fhould  be  found  to  imprefs  fuch 
jealoufies  or  midrud  in  one  or  more 
of  the  revolted  colonies,  as  might 
tend  materially  to  obdruCl  the  hap¬ 
py  work  of  peace  and  flncere  re¬ 
conciliation  between  Great-Britain 
and  her  colonies  ;  that  the  faid 
Commiflioners  might  be  enabled 
to  promife,  in  his  Majedy’s  name, 
the  earlied  removal  of  fuchMinif- 
ter  or  Miniders  from  his  coun¬ 
cils. 

This  motion  was  highly  refented 
by  the  Miniders,  and  not  lefs 
warmly  fupported  by  a  great  part 
of  the  oppofition.  Others,  how¬ 
ever,  on  that  fide  differed  in  opi¬ 
nio^ 


/ 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [145 


r,ion,  and-  although  they,  acknow¬ 
ledged,  that  there  was  but  little 
room  to  hope  for  conciliation  or 
peace  with  America  under  the  au- 
fpices  of  the  prelent  Minifters,  yet 
they  confidered  the  propofed  mea- 
fure  as  too  humiliating  and  de¬ 
grading  to  this  country  ;  and 
thought,  that  if  it  Ihould  be  found 
neceffary  (as  they  conceived  it 
was)  to  change  Minifters,  it  ought 
to  be  done  previoully,  and  not  to 
be  the  confequence  of  a  treaty  with 
the  Americans.  The  motion  was 
at  length  rejected  upon  a  divifion 
by  a  majority  of  150  to  55. 

Whilft  various  matters  were  thus 
continually  agitated  by  the  Com¬ 
mons,  the  Lords  did  not  ieem  to 
be  much  more  at  eale  in  their 
Houfe.  For  what  with  the  enquiry 
into  the  Hate  of  the  nation,  the  oc- 
cafionalobje&s  of  difcuffionofwhich 
the prefent  times  were  fo  productive, 
and  the  ufual  ftationary  bufinefs, 
‘  few  days  palled  without  affording 
fomething  interefting.  A  fingular 
letter  had  been  written  by  General 
Gates,  foon  after  the  convention 
of  Saratoga,  to  the  Earl  of  Thanet, 
with  whom  it  appears  that  General 
had  formerly  lived  in  habits  of 
great  intimacy  and  friendlhip. 
This  letter,  which  was  forwarded 
to  the  ncble  Earl  through  the  me¬ 
dium  of  General  Burgoyne,  was, 
excepting  a  Ihort  obfervation  on 
the  feverity  of  General  Lee’s  con¬ 
finement,  and  a  fhorter  remem¬ 
brance  to  two  common  friends, 
entirely  upon  public  bufinefs. 

The  conquering  General,  after 
a.  fhort  view  of  the  fate  of  the 
northern  Britilh  army,  haftens  to 
declare,  that  <c  born  and  educated 
in  England  ;  he  cannot  help  feel¬ 
ing  for  the  misfortunes  brought 
Vol.  XXL, 


upon  his  native  country,  by  the 
wickednefs  of  that  adminiftration, 
who  began,  and  had  continued 
this  mo  ft  unjuft,  .impolitic,  cruel, 
and  unnatural  war.”  He  ftates, 
tliat  the  difmemberment  of  the 
empire,  the  lofs  of  commerce,  of 
power  and  confequence  amongft 
the  nations,  with  the  downfall  of 
public  credit,  are  but  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  thofe  evils,  which  muft 
inevitably  be  followed  by  a  thou- 
fand  more,  unlefs  timely  prevent¬ 
ed  by  fome  lenient  hand,  fame 
great  jftate  phyfician,  with  the 
firmnefs,  integrity,  and  abilities  of 
a  Chatham,  joined  to  the  wifdom, 
virtue,  and  juftice  of  a  Camden. 
Such  a  man,  he  fays,  aided  and 
fupported  by  perfons  as  independent 
in  their  fortunes  as  unfullied  in 
their  honour,  and  who  never  bowed 
their  heads  to  Baal3  might  yet  lave 
the  finking  Hate. 

But  that  great  objeCl  he  con¬ 
tended  could  only  be  obtained  by 
a  confirmation  of  that  indepen¬ 
dency,  which  the  people  of  that 
continent  were  determined  only 
to  part  with  along  with  their 
lives.  Such  a  minifter,  he  faid, 
would  do  as  all  other  wife  ftatefmen 
had  done  before  him.  He  would 
be  true  to  the  welfare  and  intereft 
of  h'is  country ;  “  and,  by  re¬ 
funding  the  refolutions  palled  to 
fupport  that  fyftem  which  no  power 
on  earth  can  eftablilh,  he  will  endea¬ 
vour  topreferve  fo  much  of  the  em¬ 
pire  in  profperity  and  honour,  as  the 
circum fiances  of  the  times,  and  the 
mal-adminiftration  of  thofe  who 
ruled  before  him,  have  left  to  his 
government.” 

et  The  united  ftates  of  Ameri¬ 
ca,”  he  faid,  are  willing  to  be  the 
friends,  but  never  will  fubmit  to  be 

[JST]  the 


146}  ANNUAL.  REGISTER,  1778. 


the  {laves  of  the  parent  country. 
They  are  byconfanguinity,  by  com¬ 
merce,  by  language,  and  by  the 
affection  which  naturally  fprings 
from  thefe,  more  attached  to  Eng¬ 
land  than  any  other  country  under 
the  fun.  Therefore,  fpurn  not  the 
bleffing  which  yet  remains.  In- 
llantly  withdraw  your  fleets  and 
armies ;  cultivate  the  friendfhip 
and  commerce  of  America.  Thus, 
and  thus  only,  can  England  hope 
to  be  great  and  happy.  Seek  that 
in  a  commercial  alliance  j  feek  it 
ere  it  be  too  late,  for  there  only 
you  mull  expefl  to  find  it.” 

He  concluded  with  the  following 
declaration  :  “  thefe,  my  Lord, 
are  the  undifguifed  fentiments  of  a 
in  an  that  rejoices  not  in  the  blood 
filed  in  this  fatal  conteft  ;  of  a 
man  who  glories  in  the  name  of 
an  Englishman,  and  wifhes  to  fee 

kJ  ?■  m 

peace  and  friendship  between  Great 
.Britain  and  America,  fixed  upon 
the  firm  elf  foundation,” 

The  noble  Earl  who  had  re¬ 
ceived  the  letter  was  fo  much  in¬ 
ch  (pole  d  with  a  cold ;  that,  on  the 
j6th  of  February,  when  he  intro¬ 
duced  it,  he  was  only  able  barely 
to  inform  the  Koufe  who  it  came 
from,  its  purport,  and  to  defire 
it  might  be  read  by  the  clerk. 
'This  was  oppofed  by  the  court 
Lords,  who  held  that  it  would  be 
exceedingly  improper  for  that 
Houfe  to  enter  into  any  corre¬ 
spondence  with  a  rebel  officer  or 
General,  or  to  frame  any  refolu- 
tion  upon  his  information ;  and 
that  the  letter  might  alfo  contain 
matter  which  it  would  be  highly 
unfitting  for  their  Lordfhips  to 
hear.  As  it  could  not  however  be 
controverted,  that  the  noble  Earl 
would  have  had  a  right  to  read  the 
letter  as  a  part  of  his  fpeech,  if 


he  had  been  in  health  fo  to  do,  the 
objections  were  accordingly  re¬ 
moved  by  the  Marquis  of  Rock¬ 
ingham’s  undertaking  that  office 
for  him. 

The  Duke  of  Richmond  then* 
moved  that  the  letter  fhould  lie 
on  the  table,  which  brought  on  a 
very  confiderable  debate  ;  it  being 
contended  on  one  fide,  that  the 
authority  which  it  came  from,  a  re¬ 
bel  General  in  arms  again  ft  his 
Sovereign,  would  have  been  in  it- 
felf  a  fufficient  ground  for  the  re¬ 
jection  of  the  motion.  But  that 
it  was  befides  only  a  private  letter 
from  one  gentleman  to  another,, 
and  containing  merely  the  opinions 
of  an  individual.  Were  the  Con- 
grefs  bound  to  abide  by  any  pro- 
pofitions  held  out  byGeneral  Gates* 
or  to  ratify  his  conclufions  ?  It  was 
beneath  their  own  dignity  to  make 
a  private  correfpondenee,  if  it  had 
not  been  even  encumbered  with 
thofe  particular  ciixmmftanceswhich' 
rendered  it  totally  inadmifiible,  in 
any  degree  the  fubjeft  of  their 
deliberations.  But  what  in  faftdid 
this  letter  hold  out  ?  The  very 
terms  vaguely  mentioned  in  it, 
were  fuch  as  their  Lordfhips  had 
repeatedly  reprobated,  when  pro- 
pofed  to  them  by  fome  of  their 
own  body,  and  placed  in  a  much 
more  agreeable  drefs  and  form. 
It  contained  an  infinuation,  that 
America  was  determined  to  pre- 
ferve  her  independency.  Was 
General  Gates’s  word  a  fufficient 
authority  to  the  King’s  fervants 
for  acceding  to  that  pofition  f 
Were  they  to  withdraw  the  army 
and  the  fleet,  and  to  throw  the  na¬ 
tion  at  the  feet  of  America,  mere¬ 
ly  upon  his  advice  or  aflertion  f 
That  part  of  it  which  confifted  ia 
an  iaveftive  againft  the  prefent  ad- 

mi  nift  rat  ion*, 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [147 


jninidration,  they  fuppofed  would 
rather  draw  the  contempt  than  the 
attention  of  the  Houfe,  Thofe 
who  were  fond  of  inve&ives  againd 
Miniders  might  frequently  have 
an  opportunity  of  hearing  them 
much  more  forcibly  and  elegantly 
expreffed,  by  noble  Lords  within 
thefe  walls  than  by  Mr.  Gates. 

On  the  other  fide  it  was  con¬ 
tended,  that  General  Gates,  from 
his  fituation,  rendered  exceedingly 
confpicuous  by  his  late  fuccefs, 
was  a  perfon  of  great  weight  and 
importance  in  America  ;  that  the 
only  means  of  obtaining  the  lenfe 
of  the  people  in  that  country,  was 
by  hearing  the  fentiments  of  fuch 
men  ,  that  the  circumftance  of  his 
being  an  Englifhman,  and  the 
confderation  of  that  affe&ion, 
which,  if  he  had  not  even  declared 
it,  every  body  mull  judge  from  his 
own  feelings,  that  he  Hill  inevita¬ 
bly  retained  for  his  native  country, 
ought  to  afford  the  greater  weight 
to  his  opinions ;  that  it  would  have 
been  happy  indeed  if  fuch  informa¬ 
tion  had  been  hitherto  properly  re¬ 
garded,  inftead  of  the  delufive  and 
fatal  reprefentaticn  of  things, 
which  had  been  tranfmitted  by 
prejudiced  or  in terefted Governors, 
and  otherofficial  perfons,  by  which 
Miniders  had  repeatedly  acknow¬ 
ledged  themfelves  to  have  been 
milled,  and  through  whole  means, 
the  nation  had  been^ evidently  de¬ 
luded  into  that  ruinous  war,  which 
has  brought  on  all  our  prefent  ca¬ 
lamities.  That  the  motion  was 
attended  with  a  peculiar  propriety 
at  prefent,  from  the  notice  given 
by  the  Minider  in  the  other  Houfe, 
of  his  intention  to  lay  a  plan  of 
pacification  with  America  fpeedily 
before  parliament;  a  mealure 
which  mult  render  every  fpecies  of 


information  neceffary;  and  why 
not  read  Mr.  Gates’s  letter  here, 
when  Commiffioners  were  to  be 
lent  with  powers  to  treat  with  him 
perfonally  in  America  ?  1  hey  faid 
that  the  fprings  of  government  had 
been  hitherto  polluted,  becaufe  the 
channels  of  intelligence  had  been 
Hopped ;  that  Minifters  had  not 
only  ftiut  their  own  eyes  conftantly 
to  the  light  of  truth,  but  had  uni¬ 
formly  endeavoured  to  render  it 
equally  invifible  to  parliament  j 
and,  that  to  rejedt  the  motion, 
would  be  to  (hew  a  determination, 
of  ftill  purfuing  that  ruinous  fyf- 
tem,  which  had  already  produced 
fuch  fatal  effefts,  of  Ihutting  their 
ears  to  information,  and  continu¬ 
ing  wilfully  and  perverfely  in  er¬ 
ror. 

The  motion  being  rejected  with¬ 
out  a  divifion,  the  committee  of 
enquiry  into  the  date  of  the  nation 
was  refumed,  when  the  Duke  o£ 
Richmond  opened  the  bufinefs  of 
the  day  by  obferving  that  he  had 
feveralrefolutions  topropofe,jwhich 
were  intended  to  eftablilh  the  date 
of  the  army,  and  the  number  of 
effective  men  ferving  in  America, 
in  the  different  years  of  1774,  1775* 
1776,  and  1 777,  with  the  fervices 
and  events  of  each  campaign,  as 
they  appeared  from  the  papers 
which  were  referred  to  the  cond- 
deration  of  the  committee.  Hav¬ 
ing  then  dated  the  neceftity  of  the 
committee’s  coming  to  fome  refult 
upon  matters  that  appeared  be¬ 
fore  them,  as  the  name  or  pretence 
of  an  enquiry  would  otherwife  be¬ 
come  an  abfolute  mockery  ;  he 
moved  his  firft  refolution,  viz. 
“  that  it  appears  to  this  comrmt- 
.  tee,  fo  far  as  they  are  informed 
from  the  returns  referred  to  them, 
that  the  greased  number  of  regular 
2"  land 


£48]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1772, 


land  forces ferving  in  North  Ame¬ 
rica,  in  1774,  did  not  exceed  6884 
men,  including  officers. 99 

The  Lords  in  Adminiftration  op- 
pofed  the  motion  upon  the  ground 
of  impropriety  and  inexpedience. 
It  would  be  needleft,  they  faid,  to 
repeat  the  arguments  which  they 
had  ufed  in  a  late  debate,  as  they 
applied  in  every  inftance  tothepre- 
fent  occafion.  The  circumftances 
correfponded  fo  exactly  in  both 
cafes,  that  there  could  be  no  doubt, 
that  the  fame  motives  which  then 
induced  their  Lordffiips  to  rejed 
thofe  refolutions  which  originated 
in  the  fame  quarter,  would  operate 
equally  with  refped to  the  prefent. 
If  the  noble  Duke  perfifted  in  his 
motion,  they  would  be  under  a 
neceffity  therefore  of  moving  that 
the  Chairman  ffiould  quit  the  chair, 
in  order  to  make  way  for  the  pre¬ 
vious  queftion. 

This  comcife  method  of  prevent¬ 
ing  the  eftabliffiment  of  fads,  and 
fruftradng  the  ends  of  the  enquiry, 
was  reprehended  with  great  warmth 
and  vehemence  by  fome  of  the 
Lords  on  the  other  fide.  They 
laid,  that  if  Minifters  were  thus 
enabled  and  determined,  to  get 
rid  of  every  proportion  founded 
on  undeniable  fads  which  appeared 
in  the  enquiry,  merely  by  a  brief 
rejedion,  and  without  any  reafons 
affigned,  it  would  be  better  at  once 
to  put  an  end  to  an  inveftigation, 
from  which  fo  much  good  had  been 
augured,  and  by  which  the  nation 
had  been  fo  long  amufed.  That  it 
would  be  ading  a  much  more  man¬ 
ly  part,  tor  the  Minifters  to  avow 
their  fentiments  openly,  and  to 
break  up  the  committee,  than  thus 
infmiou fly  to  deceiye  the  public, 
by  holding  out  an  opinion  that 
they  countenanced  the  enquiry,  and 


at  the  fame  time  ufing  fuch  under- 
hand  meafures  aseffiedually  check¬ 
ed  its  progrefs,  and  rendered  it 
totally  ufelefs  and  nugatory.  And 
that  the  only  idea  which  they  had 
hitherto  held  out,  for  the  commit¬ 
tee’s  not  coming  to  refolutions  of 
fad,  <f  left  it  ffiould  afford  a  know¬ 
ledge  of  our  real  condition  to  our 
enemies, ”  was  fo  replete  with  ab- 
furdity,  that  it  would  appear  a  li¬ 
bel  upon  any  body  of  men,  who 
were  only  furniffied  with  the  mo  ft 
moderate  ffiare  of  common  intelli¬ 
gence,  to  fuppofe  it  could  have  the 
fmalleft  influence  upon  their  con- 
dud.  But  that  even  that  argu¬ 
ment,  wretched  as  it  was,  could 
not  apply  in  the  prefent  inftance  ; 
for  refolutions  of  fads,  by  being 
merely  propofed,  expofed  all  that 
could  be  known  to  the  world,  as 
effedually  under  the  previous  quef- 
tion,  or  a  negative,  as  under  an 
affirmative  vote.  The  effed  there¬ 
fore  of  their  refufing  to  concur, 
would  not  be  the  preventing  of 
truth  from  being  known  ;  bat 
making  it  known,  that  they  had  a 
diftike  to  declaring  the  truth. 

A  great  law  Lord,  who  has  been 
long  out  of  office,  declared,  that 
it  had  been  at  all  times  the  ufageof 
parliament  to  form  refolutions  on 
matters  of  fad,  which  refolutions 
were  confidered  as  the  data  from 
which  the  conclusions  were  to  be 
drawn  ;  and  finally  to  be  the 
ground  of  the  meafures  meant  to 
be  propofed,  in  confequence  of 
fuch  information.  He  faid,  he 
was  free  to  declare,  that  the  pre¬ 
fent  mode  of  putting  a  negative 
on  every  refolution  propofed,  was 
in  fad  pretending  to  give  informa¬ 
tion,  but  refufing  the  ufe  of  that 
information.  For  when  every  fad 
was  eftabliffied,  the  whole  enquiry 

at 


HISTORY  O 

at  an  end,  and  the  grand  conclu- 
fions  relative  to  future  meafures 
came  to  be  made,  where  were  the 
fadts  to  be  found  on  which  the 
Houfe  was  to  proceed  ?  They 
were  indeed  to  be  found  in  the 
Journals,  but  under  the  inflidion 
of  a.  negative  by  the  previous 
queftion,  which  in  Ifo  many  words 
imported,  that  as  it  had  not  been 
n-eceffary  or  proper  to  refolve  the 
fads,  it  mult  of  courfe  be  unne- 
ceflary  and  improper  to  agree  to 
the  conclufions.  This  argument, 
he  faid,  was  obvious  and  incontro¬ 
vertible.  It  would  in  fad  amount 
to  a  premature  diffolution  of  the 
committee  ;  and  if  administration 
were  determined  to  adhere  in  the 
future  progrefs  of  the  enquiry  to 
thatcondud  they  had  hitherto  ob- 
ferved,  he  thought  it  much  better 
to  diffolve  it  at  once;  much  more 
candid  to  flop  its  mouth,  than  by 
a  mere  outfide  fhew  of  an  enquiry, 
toamufethe  people  without  doors 
with  high  expedations,  when  it 
was  finally  refolved,  by  thofe  who 
led  majorities  within,  that  no  one 
benefit  or  advantage  whatever 
Should  be  derived  from  it.  He 
concluded,  that  from  the  condud 
of  the  Minifters,  he  had  long 
apprehended  with  concern  that 
this  would  have  been  the  fate  of 
the  committee  :  but  that  as  foon 
as  he  was  informed  that  the  Mini¬ 
ster  in  the  other  Houfe  had  pro- 
pofed  introducing  a  plan  for  peace, 
(which  was  the  foie  objed  of  the 
committee)  pending  the  enquiry, 
his  doubts  were  changed  to  a  cer¬ 
tainty,  and  he  faw  at  once  through 
the  whole  fchemeof  the  manoeuvre. 
He  faw  that  a  fubftitute  was  adopt¬ 
ed  in  the  place  of  the  enquiry,  to 
prevent  a  clamour  without  due's; 
and  that  under  the  cover  of  this 
contriyance,  the  committee  would 


F  EUROPE-  [149 

meet  with  a  violent  and  3mmature 
death  from  the  hands  of  the  Mini- 
ller  and  his  mutes. 

The  feverity  of  manner  as  well 
as  of  language,  with  which  thefe 
and  other  ftridures  were  palled, 
could  not  fail  to  draw  out  feme 
explanation  from  the  other  fide. 
The  Lords  in  adminifiration  de¬ 
clared,  that  they  could  not  fee  the 
utility  or  the  necefiity  of  the  com¬ 
mittee’s  coming  to  any  refolution 
at  prefent  ;  nor  did  they  think, 
in  faff,  that  it  was  their  bufmefs 
fo  to  do;  that  they  were  to  pro¬ 
ceed  regularly  with  the  enquiry, 
and  after  having  gone  through  it 
progreflively,  and  adverted  to  every 
diftind  objed  of  it,  were  to  form 
fome  general  conclufion  deduced 
from,  and  grounded  upon  the  refult 
of  the  whole  invefligation.  A  great 
law  Lord,  in  the  fir  It  office  of  the 
flare,  agreed,  that  it  was  always 
cuftomary  for  committees  to  agree 
to  refolutions  of  fad  :  but  he  en¬ 
deavoured  to  weaken  the  force  of 
that  conceffion  by  afierting,  that 
the  conclufions  intended  to  be  de¬ 
duced  from  thofe  fads  ought  to  be 
opened  to  the  committee,  previous 
to  their  entering  into  any  refolu¬ 
tion  upon  the  fubjedj  and,  that 
as  the  noble  Duke’s  intentions,  in 
that  refped,  were,  as  yet,  alto¬ 
gether  a  fecret  to  the  committee, 
although,  fo  far  as  he  could  guefs, 
they  were  probably  of  die  fame 
nature  with  fome  inndmiffible  pro- 
pofitions,  that  had  been  lately 
heard  of  in  favour  of  America,  he 
would  accordingly  vote  for  the 
Chairman’s  leaving  the  chair. 

The  queftion  being  at  length 
put,  for  Lord  Scarfdale  to  leave  the 
chair,  it  was  carried  in  the  affirm¬ 
ative  by  a  majority  of  forty  ;  the 
numbers  being  65  to  26.  The 
committee  being  thus  diffolved  for 
[K]  3  the 


I5°l  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


tlie  prefent,  the  Duke  of  Richmond 
made  his  original  motion,  which 
he  followed  with  eleven  others 
upon  the  ground  we  have  already 
Rated,  all  of  which  were  feparate^ 
ly  rejected  by  the  previous  quedion 
without  a  divifion. 

The  committee  being  again  re* 
fumed  on  the  iqth  of  February, 
the  Duke  of  Richmond  propofed 
their  entering  into  an  inveftigation 
of  the  expences  which  the  Ameri¬ 
can  war  had  cod  the  nation  5  and  in 
order  to  obviate  that  dread  and 
averfion  which  he  knew  was  pre¬ 
valent,  with  refpect  to  the  intri¬ 
cate  and  tirefome  nature  of  ac¬ 
counts,  he  had  already  himfelf, 
with  exceeding  labour  and  perfe- 
verance,  gone  through  all  the  ope- 
rofe  work  of  calculation.  Thus, 
infinite  quantities  of  matter,  de¬ 
tail,  and  calculation,  being  com- 
preffed  under  their refpedlive  heads, 
and  comprized  in  a  comparatively 
imall  compafs  of  fpace,  became, 
without  any  great  degree  of  trou¬ 
ble  or  fatigue,  manageable  fub- 
]e«5ls  of  comment  and  enquiry. 

The  noble  Duke  having  dated 
the  caufes  which  rendered  their 
being  well  informed  on  this  part 
of  the  fubjeci  of  the  war  particu¬ 
larly  neceffary,  proceeded  to  date 
the  extraordinary  expences  arifing 
from  the  war,  of  each  of  the  four 
lad  years  feparately,  and  the  whole 
being  ascertained,  as  nearly  as  it 
could  yet  be  poffibly  done,  amount¬ 
ed  to  the  grofs  fum  of  23,894,792!. 
He  then  fhewed,  from  the  example 
of  the  lad  war,  as  well  as  by  va¬ 
rious  calculations,  that  if  the  great 
work  of  peace  was  to  be  now  ac- 
complifhed  in  the  fpeedied:  pof- 
fib’e  manner,  there  would  remain 
behind  a  farther  tail  of  expence, 
which,  at  the  mod  moderate  com* 


putation,  would  amount  to  at  lead 
nine  millions.  So  that  the  public 
expence  attending  the  American 
conted,  however  fpeedily  and  hap¬ 
pily  it  might  now  be  brought  to 
a  conclufion,  and  independent  of 
all  other  contingent  Ioffes,  would, 
at  the  lowed  calculation,  amount 
to  near  thirty-three  millions  der- 

ling- 

Toedablifh  thefe  faffs,  he  fram¬ 
ed  a  dring  of  refolutions,  founded 
upon  the  accounts  before  them, 
declaring  the  feveral  heads  of  fer- 
vice,  and  the  amount  of  the  total 
extra  expence  in  each  year*  He 
hoped,  that  as  the  refolutions  of 
f a£t  which  he  was  about  to  propofe, 
would  effentially  further  the  pro¬ 
ject  for  peace,  which  they  knew 
was  fpeedily  to  coine  within  their 
Lordfhips  confideration,  and  as 
they  would  alfo  ferve  to  open  the 
eyes  of  the  public,  and  convince 
the  people  at  large  of  the  neceffity 
of  putting  an  immediate  end  to 
the  war,  that  they  would  meet 
with  no  oppofition ;  much  lefs 
that  they  fhould  not  experience  the 
fate  of  the  feveral  others  which  he 
had  moved  in  the  courfe  of  the 
enquiry.  He  then  concluded  by 
moving  his  leading  or  preliminary 
refolution. 

The  Lords  in  adminidration  did, 
not  attempt  to  controvert  the  cal¬ 
culations,  but  concifely  declared, 
that  the  refolutions  were  highly 
inexpedient,  unparliamentary,  and 
incapable  of  anfwering  any  ufeful 
purpofe.  That  they  could  by  nq 
means,  agree  to  the  doftrine,  thae 
the  mere  matter  of  refolutions  be¬ 
ing  founded  in  fadl,  could  be  any 
fufficient  caufe  for  their  being 
agreed  to.  There  were  many  truths 
that  might  be  eafily  afcertained^ 
which  it  vyould  be  exceedingly  im¬ 
proper 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [151 


proper  to  declare,  or  to  gi  ve  a  par¬ 
liamentary  fanction  to.  That  it 
was  equally  inexpedient  and  foolilh 
to  expofe  the  national  weaknefs  and 
infirmities.  And,  that  inllead  of 
promoting  the  purpofe  held  out  by 
the  noble  Duke,  the  publifhing  of 
fa&s  declarative  of  weaknefs,  would 
produce  a  dire&lv  contrary  effect, 
and  render  any  plan  of  peace  that 
could  be  propofed,  infinitely  more 
hazardous  and  difficult.  That  if 
they  had  forefeen  the  purpofes  to 
which  it  had  been  intended  to  di¬ 
rect  the  committee,  they  would 
have  oppofed  its  formation  origi¬ 
nally  in  the  mod;  open  and  diredt 
manner.  They  threw  out  fome 
hi  nts  towards  its  diffolution,  and 
concluded  with  moving  that  the 
Chairman  fhould  leave  the  chair. 

The  Duke  of  Richmond  re¬ 
plied,  that  our  weaknefs  was  al¬ 
ready  perfectly  known  to  every 
body  but  ourfelves,  and  had  been 
fo  long  before  the  commencement 
of  the  committee  ;  but  if  (any 
doubt  could  remain  on  that  head, 
the  refolutions  themfelves  recorded 
upon  the  Journals,  and  from  thence 
communicated  to  the  public,  under 
full  information  that  their  authen¬ 
ticity  as  fails  could  not  be  queftion- 
ed,  even  by  the  perfons  who  had 
given  them  a  negative,  annihilated 
all  pretence  of  concealing  our  pre- 
fent  dangerous  and  defencelefs  date, 
either  from  our  enemies,  or  fiom 
the  people  of  this  country.  It 
would  therefore,  he  faid,  be  much 
more  confonant  with  that  haughty 
and  explicit  tone  affeited  by  Mi- 
nifters,  to  declare,  that  the  mo¬ 
tive  which  induced  them  to  put  a 
negative  upon  fuch  matters  of  un¬ 
doubted  fait  was,  that  thofe  fails 
contained  the  mod  full  and  une¬ 
quivocal  proofs  of  their  mifconduft; 


that  they  informed  the  nation,  that 
its  prefent  alarming  and  ruinous 
firuation  was  brought  upon  it  by  a 
fee  of  Miniders,  who  had  wantonly 
plunged  it  into  an  unjuft  and  unna¬ 
tural  war;  who  had  fpilt  its  be  ft 
blood,  and  already  wafted  twenty- 
four  millions  of  its  treafure;  and 
who  at  length,  after  perfiding  in 
thofe  weak  and  wicked  meafures  for 
more  than  three  years,  and  after 
refufing  fo  much  as  to  hear  of  any 
terms,  out  fuch  as  would  have  re¬ 
duced  the  colonies  to  abfolute  Ha- 
very,  were  now  preparing  to  fue 
for  peace,  and  to  make  the  moll 
humiliating  concefions. 

The  queftion  being  put  upon 
the  motion  for  quitting  the  chair, 
it  was  carried  upon  a  divifion  by  a 
majority  of  6 6  to  28.  The  Duke 
of  Richmond  then  moved  his  fe- 
veral  refolutions,  which  were  all 
feparately  fet  afide  by  the  previous 
queftion. 

Previous  to  the  divifion,  that 
nobleman  had  taken  notice,  that 
he  had  gone  through  as  many  heads 
of  the  public  enquiry,  as  came 
properly  within  his  knowledge,  ha¬ 
bits  of  life,  or  mode  of  applica¬ 
tion  ;  that  he  hoped  fome  other 
Lords  would  take  up  the  bufinefs 
where  he  ended  ;  and  that  parti¬ 
cularly,  thofe  papers  on  the  table, 
relative  to  the  navy,  would  be 
taken  into  due  confideration,  by 
thofe  Lords  who  were  properly 
mailers  of  the  fubjeit.  In  this  he 
evidently  pointed  to  a  noble  Duke 
and  Earl,  who  being  themfelves 
high  in  the  naval  fervice,  had  for 
fome  time,  by  the  folicitude  of 
th^ir  enquiries  into  its  ftate  and 
condition,  given  no  imall  occaiion 
to  call  forth  the  ability  of  the  noble 
Lord  who  prefided  in  that  depart¬ 
ment.  This  part  of  the  enquiry 
[K]  4  *  wa» 


152]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177?. 


was  accordingly  taken  up  and  pur¬ 
sued  by  the  Duke  of  Bolton,  who 
was  particularly  and  profeflionally 
feconded  by  the  Earl  of  Briflol. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  the 
Duke  of  Bolton  moved  that  the 
Surveyor  of  the  navy  fhould  attend 
the  Houfe,  This  was  perfonally 
oppofed  by  the  noble  Lord  at  the 
Bead  of  the  navy,  who  infilled 
that  the  giving  any  further  in¬ 
formation  on  the  fubjeft,  was  both 
unneceffary  and  inexpedient.  He 
had  ever  held  but  one  opinion, 
he  faid,  in  that  refpedt,  which  was, 
that  it  would  be  highly  imprudent, 
even  in  its  prefent  very  flourifliing 
Hate,  to  divulge  its  condition. 
On  the  other  lide  it  was  contended, 
that  the  motion  was  in  direct  con¬ 
formity  with  the  order  of  the 
Houfe,  which  had  long  fince  di¬ 
rected  an  enquiry  into  the  Hate  of 
the  navy,  and  that  all  information 
relative  to  the  fubjecl  lhould  be 
communicated  to  the  committee  ; 
without  which,  indeed,  the  name 
or  pretence  of  an  enquiry,  would 
appear  too  ridiculous  for  the  place 
and  fubjeCt. 

The  debate  of  courfe  brought 
out  much  animadverfion  with  re- 
fpeCt  to  that  great  and  fiourifhing 
fate  of  the  navy,  which  had  been 
fo  triumphantly  held  out,  and  fo 
frequently  repeated,  fmce  the  open¬ 
ing  of  the  feffion.  Nor  was  this 
unmixed  with  declarations  of  ap- 
prehenfion  and  concern,  at  now 
difcovering  (as  they  expreffed  it)  in 
this  feafon  of  danger,  that  thofe  re- 
prefentations  were  totally  unfound¬ 
ed,  and  the  flatrering  hopes  raifed 
upon  them  of  courfe  illufive.  The 
noble  Lord  at  the  head  of  that  de¬ 
partment,  fill,  however,  fupport- 
ed,  with  unabated  tumnefs,  the  va¬ 


lidity  of  his  former  pofition,  and 
infilled,  that  the  navy  was  never 
in  a  greater  or  more  flourifhing 
fate  than  at  prefent  ;  but  fome- 
thing  having,  feemingly,  flipped 
from  him,  probably  owing  to  the 
warmth  of  altercation,  as  if  it 
were  a  maxim  of  policy  with  all 
fates,  not  only  to  keep  their  naval 
affairs  a  profound  fecret,  but  to 
give  exaggerated  reprefentations 
of  their  maritime  force,  and  to 
fate  fhips  upon  paper  which  were 
not  aftually  fit  for  fervice;  thefe 
expreffions,  or  fomething  tanta¬ 
mount  to  them,  did  noc  by  any 
means  ferve  to  leffen  the  feverity 
of  obfervation  on  the  other  fide. 

Two  precedents  were  alfo  brought 
by  a  noble  Lord,  one  from  the 
Journals  of  the  Lords,  and  the 
other  from  the  Commons,  flow¬ 
ing,  that  in  the  year  1707,  a  fimi- 
lar  enquiry  to  the  prefent  having 
been  then  infituted,  notwithfand- 
ing  the  dangerous  and  widely  ex¬ 
tended  war  in  which  we  were  in¬ 
volved,  and  notwitbftanding  that 
Prince  George  of  Denmark  was 
then  at  the  head  of  the  admiralty, 
yet  without  any  regard  to  thofe 
confiderations,  or  to  that  necefiity 
of  fecrecy  now  dwelt  upon,  an  ac¬ 
count  was  laid  before  both  Houfes, 
of  the  quantity  and  value  of  the  na¬ 
val  ftores  in  all  the  yards,  and  many 
other  matters  of  equal  importance 
and  delicacy  to  the  full,  as  the  ob¬ 
jects  of  the  prefent  enquiry,  were 
then  fully  and  publicly  difcuffed. 
This  brought  out  an  obfervation, 
that  if  the  prefent  motion  was  re¬ 
jected,  it  would  be  a  proof  that 
they  treated  the  prefent  firft  Lord 
of  the  admiralty  with  greater  re- 
fpeCt,  than  their  ancefors  had  done 
the  hufband  of  the  Queen  of  Eng¬ 
land 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [i53 


land  upon  a  fimilar  occafion.  The 
motion  was  however  rejected  by  a 
majority  of  23  to  1  1  Lords. 

The  committee  being  again  re¬ 
fumed  on  the  2d  of  March,  the 
Duke  of  Bolton  opened  the  bufi- 
nefs  with  a  fpeech,  tending  to 
point  out  from  the  papers  before 
them,  much  mifmanagement  in  the 
condud  of  naval  affairs.  He  dwelt 
particularly  upon  the  great  mercan¬ 
tile  Ioffes  we  had  fuftained  ;  which 
he  attributed  principally,  to  the 
refufal,  or  mifemployment  of  con¬ 
voys,  and  to  the  want  of  judgment 
in  Rationing  our  fhips  and  frigates 
of  war. 

He  entered  into  the  negleds  and 
errors  with  relation  to  a  proper  de¬ 
fence  of  the  Weft  Indies.  He  then 
took  a  wide  range  through  the 
whole  circuit  of  naval  affairs,  in 
which  he  difplayed  much  profef- 
fional  fkill  and  ability,  and  con¬ 
cluded  a  long  fpeech  with  feveral 
motions  for  refolutions,  tending 
principally  to  fhevv  the  flats  of 
our  fleet  ferving  in  America  under 
Lord  Howe,  with  refpesft  both  to 
fhips  of  war  and  frigates ;  their 
original  complement  of  men,  with 
the  lofs  they  had  fuftained  in  the 
war  ;  with  the  (late,  number,  and 
condition  of  the  line  of  battle  fhips 
for  home  defence,  and  of  the  fri¬ 
gates  for  home  fervice. 

The  noble  Earl,  whole  conduct 
had  been  the  fubjedt  of  cenfure  in 
this  fpeech,  after  correcting  fome 
errors  in  point  of  fadt  or  calcula¬ 
tion,  which,  he  faid,  the  noble 
mover  had  fallen  into,  entered  into 
a  difcourfe  of  no  fmall  length  in  or¬ 
der  to  do  juftice  to  the  merits  of 
his  own  adminiftration  of  naval  af¬ 
fairs.  In  this  detail,  he  repeated 
fome  affertions,  which  had  long 
before  been  the  fubjedt  of  much 


animadverfion,  relative  to  the  de 
plorable  and  moll  ruinous  ftate  in 
which  he  had  found  the  navy  at 
his  coming  into  office.  In  the 
conclufion,  he  entered  into  a  de¬ 
fence  or  j unification  of  his  con- 
dudt  relative  to  the  Ioffes  fuftained 
by  commerce.  He  acknowledged 
that  trade  had  fuffered  ;  but  faid  it 
was  an  inconvenience  which  could 
not  have  been  prevented.  It  was 
a  confequence  of  the  mode  of  car¬ 
rying  on  the  war  in  America.  Fri¬ 
gates  were  abfolutely  neceffar y  for 
that  fervice  ;  and  if  we  had  poffef- 
fed  a  fufficient  number  of  them, 
to  have  alfo  fupplied  the  ftations 
which  the  noble  Duke  had  alluded 
to,  there  could  not  be  a  doubt 
that  our  commerce  would  have 
been  better  protedled.  To  weak¬ 
en,  hcwever,  the  idea  of  the  da¬ 
mage  fuftained  by  commerce,  he 
denied  that  the  rapid  decline  of 
the  African  trade  had  proceeded 
from  the  war.  That  branch  of 
commerce,  he  faid,  had  been  over¬ 
done  ;  the  trade  had  been  on  the 
decreafe  for  feveral  years  before 
the  troubles  with  America  com¬ 
menced,  and  muft  have  been  by 
this  time  nearly  on  its  prefent  ftate 
if  they  had  never  taken  place. 
Other  matters  of  charge  or  cenfure 
he  excufed,  by  faying  the  beft  had 
been  done,  that  the  particular  cir- 
cumltances  would  admit.  But  if 
it  had  been  otherwife,  and  the 
fatts  were  juft  as  the  noble  Duke 
had  ftated  them,  ftil  1  he  could  not 
be  liable  to  any  cenfure  ;  he  a&ed 
only  minifterially ;  the  meafures 
were  deliberated  and  refolved 
upon  elfewhere ;  and  if  he  did 
his  duty  in  executing  the  or¬ 
ders  he  received,  he  was  by  no 
means  refponfibie  for  the  confe- 
quences. 


The 


154]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1773. 


The  matter  was  agitated  for 
fome  time  with  great  bitternefs  by 
the  Lords  on  the  other  fide.  They 
could  not,  they  faid,  reprefs  their 
grief  and  indignation  at  the  de¬ 
plorable  date  of  our  navy,  which 
was  not  only  clearly  proved  by  the 
noble  Duke  who  conducted  the  en¬ 
quiry,  but,  to  their  ailoniffiment, 
fubltantially  acknowledged  by  the 
great  officer  who  prefided  in  that 
department,  notwithilanding  his 
endeavours  to  palliate  and  qualify 
fabts,  and  to  evade  the  conclufions 
which  they  evidently  led  to.  They 
reminded  him  and  his  colleagues  in 
office,  of  the  high  founding  lan¬ 
guage  and  boaftings  which  they 
had  held  through  the  feffion.  When 
themfelves  had  complained  of  the 
weaknefs  of  our  internal  military 
defence,  and  of  its  infuffidency  for 
the  protection  of  this  ifland,  they 
were  anfwered  that  it  was  a  matter 
of  little  confequence  ;  that  our 
navy  was  our  great  national  bul¬ 
wark  ;  it  was  that  we  were  to  de¬ 
pend  upon  in  the  day  of  trial  ;  it 
was  invincible,  and  fuperior  to  any 
thing  our  natural  enemies  could 
bring  againft  us.  ee  We  are  able 
to  cope  with  the  whole  united 
<e  force  of  the  Houfeof  Bourbon. iy 
— t(  The  more  France  and  Spain 
ee  know  of  our  navy,  the  better  ; 

a  thorough  knowledge  of  its 
**  date  is  the  bed  means  of  fe- 
**  curing  us  again  ft  the  defigns  of 
<£  our  enemies.”  Such  was  the 
current  language  of  miniders.  But 
what,  faid  they,  do  we  hear  on 
this  day  $  That  all  our  apprehen¬ 
sions  were  well  founded  ;  and  that 
^.11  thofe  headings  were  the  off¬ 
spring  of  fallacy  and  deceit  This 
was  not  a  bare  affirmation  without 
proof  ;  the  noble  Earl,  they  faid, 
who  prefid.es  in  the  counsels  of  this 


country,  had  jud  told  the  Houfa 
fo  in  as  many  words.  He  did  not 
put  a  negative  on  the  refolutions 
for  their  not  being  founded  on 
truth,  but  merely  becaufe  they 
would  be  an  avowal  of  our  naval 
weaknefs. 

The  court  party,  without  admit* 
ting,  or  much  controverting  there 
portions,  dood  firm  on  their  old 
ground  of  the  danger  and  impolicy 
of  exhibiting  fuch  details,  whether 
true  or  falfe,  to  public  infpe&ion. 
The  refolutions  were  at  length  re-* 
jected  upon  a  divinon,  by  a  majo¬ 
rity  of  64  to  26. 

The  American  conciliatory  bills 
were  carried  through  the  Lords 
without  a  divifion  ;  being  intro¬ 
duced  and  read  on  the  3d  of 
March  5  read  the  fecond  time  on 
the  5th,  and  paffed  on  the  9th. 
They  were,  however,  reprobated 
in  the  whole  or  in  part,  by  a  few 
individuals,  who  confidered  them, 
as  exhibiting  fuch  marks  of  humi¬ 
liation  and  difgrace,  as  the  mod 
unhappy  periods  in  the  hiftory  of 
this  country  had  never  before  equal¬ 
led.  Some  of  the  oppofition  con- 
iidered  them  as  highly  difgracefui 
to  this  country,  as  well  as  incapa¬ 
ble  of  producing  the  wilhed-for 
effebt.  The  lad  propofition  feerned 
to  have  been  the  general  opinion 
of  that  party. 

The  Earl  of  Abingdon,  although 
he  would  not  obilrucl  the  bills  by 
an  oppofition  in  the  Lloufe,  en¬ 
tered  his  Angle  diffentin  a  proted 
againd  them.  The  Duke  of  Graf¬ 
ton,  on  the  fecond  reading  of  the 
bills,  informed  the  Houfe  that  he 
had  received  information  which  he 
could  not  queftion,  that  a  treaty 
had  been  actually  figned  between 
the  court  of  France  and  the  Ame¬ 
rican  deputies.  He  laid  that  his. 

noble 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [i5s 


noble  klnfman  had  put  the  queftion 
in  the  other  Houfe  to  the  Minifter, 
from  whom  he  was  able  only  to 
procure  an  evafive  anfwer.  That 
fome  clear  explanation  of  a  matter 
in  itfelf  of  fo  important  a  nature, 
and  which  was  at  that  time  fo  im¬ 
mediately  critical,  was  abfolutely 
neceftary,  previous  to  their  enter¬ 
ing  into  any  difcuflion  of  bills, 
vvhofe  effeft  muft  entirely  depend 
upon  the  fa£t  which  was  to  be  ex¬ 
plained.  That,  if  the  informa¬ 
tion  was  true,  it  was  abfurd  to  in- 
fult  parliament  with  the  appear¬ 
ance  of  reconciliation,  when  it  was 
no  longer  pra&icable.  Ifminifters 
knew  the  fa<5t,  they  were  culpable 
in  the  higheft  degree,  in  conceal¬ 
ing  intelligence  of  fo  important  a 
nature  from  parliament,  and  lead¬ 
ing  it,  under  the  cover  of  that 
concealment,  into  meafures  of  fu¬ 
tility  and  public  difhonour.  Or, 
if  they  pleaded  ignorance,  their 
conduct  was  (till,  if  poffible,  more 
repreh’enfible,  and  their  incapacity 
more  glaring,  in  being  entirely  de¬ 
ficient  in  that  fpecies  of  informa¬ 
tion  which  it  was  the  firft  duty  of 
their  ftations  to  procure.  He  called 
loudly  for  an  anfwer  as  to  the  point 
of  fadl,  and  defired  it  might  be  re¬ 
membered,  that  it  was  on  the  5th 
of  March  he  put  that  queftion  to 
the  King’s  minifters. 

A  noble  Lord,  the  nature  of 
whofe  high  office  afforded  him 
every  opportunity  of  information 
in  all  public  matters,  faid,  lie  had 
indeed  heard  of  fuch  a  treaty  from 
out-door  report,  and  alfo  that  the 
queftion  had  been  put  and  fully 
anfwered  in  the  other  Houfe  ;  but 
he  allured  their  lordfhips,  in  the 
rnoft  precife  terms,  that  he  knew 
not  of  any  fuch  treaty  as  had  been 
jneiuioued,  having  been  ftened,  or 
4.3 


entered  into,  between  the  court  of 
France  and  the  deputies  of  the  con- 
grefs.  He  hoped  it  would  likewife 
be  remembered,  that  it  was  on  the 
5th  of  March  when  he  declared  in 
his  place,  that  he  knew  nothing  of 
any  fuch  treaty,  nor  had  received 
any  authentic  information  of  its  be¬ 
ing  either  in  exiitence  or  contem¬ 
plation  . 

The  committee  of  enquiry  being 
refumed  on  the  1 2th  of  March,  the 
bufinefs  was  opened  and  conduced 
by  the  Earl  of  Effingham,  who 
having  previoufty  obtained  an  or¬ 
der  for  papers  and  the  attendance 
of  witneffes,  obferved,  that  the 
profufion  which  prevailed  in  the 
different  departments  of  the  ftate, 
and  the  walk  and  mifapplication. 
of  the  public  treafure,  which  more 
particularly  attended  every  thing 
relative  to  the  prefent  unhappy 
and  unfortunate  war,  were  become 
fo  notorious  and  enormous,  as  to 
demand  their  moft  ferious  atten¬ 
tion  and  immediate  interference. 
That  this  muft  have  been  of  courfe 
a  principal  object  of  their  enquiry 
into  the  ftate  of  the  nation  ;  but 
that  in  the  prefent  unhappy  fealon, 
when  the  nation  was  already  groan¬ 
ing  under  the  weight  of  new  and 
accumulating  burthens,  when  the 
fources  of  taxation  were  already  ex- 
haufted  in  fuch  a  degree,  that  the 
whole  time  and  invention  of  the 
Minifter  feemed  unequal  to  the 
difcovery  of  new  fubje&s  for  it; 
when  he  was  already  obliged  to 
borrow  money  for  the  fervice  of  the 
current  year,  at  a  higher  premium 
than  had  been  given  in  the  courfe 
of  the  iaft  war,  and  far  beyond  the 
legal  rate  of  intereft  ;  and  when 
we  were  at  the  eve  of  a  foreign 
war  of  fuch  extent  and  danger,  as 
would  render  the  ftricteft  ceconomy 

neceftary 


156]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


rreceffary  to  our  immediate  pre- 
fervation?  under  all  thefe  circum- 
ftances,  it  became  doubly  incum¬ 
bent  on  their  lordfhips,  both  as  an 
obligation  of  public  and  private 
duty,  to  look  carefully  into  the 
expenditure  of  the  public  money, 
and  by  correcting  the  profligacy 
of  minifters  and  public  officers,  to 
apply  a  fpeedy  and  effectual  reme¬ 
dy  to  this  crying  and  ruinous  grie¬ 
vance. 

The  bufinefs  of  the  prefent  day, 
bis  Lordfhip  obferved,  went  no 
farther  than  to  the  novel  conduft, 
and  its  confequences,  of  the  Trea- 
fury  Board,  in  departing  from  its 
proper  line  of  bufinefs,  and  taking 
into  its  hands  the  unprecedented 
management  of  the  transport  fer- 
vice.  But  this  was  introductory  to 
that  thorough  inveftigation,  which 
he  intended,  of  the  public  accounts 
in  general.  He  acknowledged,  iro¬ 
nically,  that  the  whole  of  the  ex¬ 
penditure  which  was  to  be  the  ob¬ 
ject  of  their  immediate  enquiry,  a- 
mounted  only  to  about  600,000  1. 
which,  to  thofe  who  were  in  the 
practice  of  voting  or  paffing  mil¬ 
lions,  without  care  or  examination, 
might  appear  too  trifling  a  matter 
to  become  a  fubjeCt  of  their  ferious 
confideration.  But  when  he  had 
made  it  appear,  as  he  would,  that 
the  lofs  to  the  public  in  this  com¬ 
paratively  fmall  expenditure,  a- 
mounted  to  no  lefs  than  one  fourth 
of  the  whole  fum  ;  when  it  was  re¬ 
collected,  that  the  detection  in  this 
infiance  afforded  full  room  for  a 
prefumption,  that  the  fame  wafte 
prevailed  in  the  difpofal  and  ma¬ 
nagement  of  thofe  immenfe  fums 
which  were  annually  raifed  upon 
the  people;  he  trufted,  however 
trifling  or  unworthy  of  their  atten¬ 
tion  the  lofs  of  150,000!.  in  one 


article  of  expenditure  might  ap¬ 
pear,  their  lordfhips  would  fee  the 
propriety  of  fupporting  him  in  the 
commencement  of  an  enquiry, 
which  tended  to  a  general  reforma¬ 
tion,  in  a  matter  of  fuch  vaft  impor¬ 
tance,  and  fuch  univerfal  concern, 
as  the  expenditure  of  the  public 
treafure. 

It  appeared  (contrary  as  they 
ftated  to  the  general  courfe  of  offi¬ 
cial  bufinefs)  that  the  treafury  go¬ 
ing  out  of  its  proper  department, 
and  entering  upon  a  talk  to  which 
it  feemed  totally  incompetent,  took 
the  whole  bufinefs  of  the  tranfport 
fervice  into  its  own  poffeffion. 
That  inftead  of  adhering  to  the 
praCfice  of  the  navy-board,  which 
was  in  continual  exercife  under 
their  eyes,  of  publicly  advertising 
for  propofals,  and  without  any  re¬ 
gard  to  the  price  at  which  it  then 
and  fiill  procured  freight,  they  en¬ 
tered  into  a  private  bargain  with  a 
Mr.  Atkinfon,  in  confequence  of 
which  they  had  for  a  long  time  paid 
twelve  fhillings  and  fixpence  a  ton 
on  an  infinite  quantity  of  freight, 
befides  allowing  him  two  and  a 
half  per  cent,  for  his  commiffion 
or  agency.  And  that  infiead  of 
employing  a  proper  officer  from 
the  king’s  yards,  as  a  check  upon 
this  agent,  to  meafure  the  fhips, 
and  afcertain  their  condition,  thefe 
matters  were  left  entirely  to  him- 
felf,  who  informed  the  Lords  that 
he  employed  a  furveyor  for  that 
purpofe. 

Both  the  noble  Earl,  and  the 
other  Lords  who  fupported  the  en¬ 
quiry,  ftigmatized  the  whole  trans¬ 
action  with  Atkinfon  in  the  mod 
direCl  terms,  as  ajobb  of  the  mod 
difgraceful  and  ffiameful  nature. 
They  faid,  it  carried  about  it  all 
its  proper  and  charaCterifticai 

marks. 


HISTORY  O 

marks.  It  was  a  moft  beneficial 
contract,  made  in  the  dark,  with  a 
noted  and  highly  favoured  contrac¬ 
tor.  The  Treafury-board  entered 
into  a  bufinefs  with  which  they 
had  no  concern,  and  were  totally 
unacquainted,  merely,  to  all  ap¬ 
pearance,  upon  that,  and  no  other 
account.  They  had  departed,  in 
making  the  bargain,  from  all  the 
fair  and  open  rules  of  conduit, 
which  had  been  laid  down  and 
eitablifhed  by  the  navy-board  in 
the  execution  of  the  fame  fervice. 
And  all  their  boatted  merit  in  at 
length  lowering  the  price  of  freight 
fixpence  in  the  ton,  and  cutting  off 
one  per  cent,  from  their  agent’s 
commiffion,  proceeded  from  a  mo¬ 
tive  which  had  no  relation  to  pub¬ 
lic  good  or  ceconomy.  Their  fa¬ 
vourite  contractor  had,  from  the 
multitude  of  his  beneficial  bargains, 
brought  himfelf  and  them  within 
the  notice  of  parliament.  They 
were  obliged,  upon  that  account, 
after  it  had  undergone  a  parliamen¬ 
tary  difcuffion,  to  fubmit  the  itate 
and  nature  of  his  well-known  rum- 
contrait  to  the  infpeition  and  de- 
cifion  of  feveral  capital  and  intelli¬ 
gent  merchants;  and  thefe  gentle¬ 
men,  who  were  pitched  upon  by 
themfelves,  reprobated  the  whole 
tranfailion  in  the  moft  decifive 
terms.  Under  thefe  circumftances 
they  thought  it  neceffary  to  curtail 
a  part  of  the  glaring  exorbitances 
of  the  prefent  contract,  (which  we 
find  to  be  then  done  without  any 
difficulty)  and  to  make  fome  appa¬ 
rent  tender  of  reftoring  the  tranf- 
port  bufinefs  to  the  navy-board  ;  an 
offer  which  was,  however,  managed 
in  fuch  a  manner,  that  its  produ¬ 
cing  a  refufal  was  well  underftood. 

The  fioble  Lord  at  the  head  of 
the  navy  undertook  the  defence  of 
the  treafury,  which  he  performed 


F  EUROPE.  [157 

with  his  ufual  ability.  It  was 
ftated  on  that  fide,  that  the  fervice 
was  new,  and  the  neceffity  irrefift- 
ible.  It  was  the  firft  time  that  fuch 
an  army  had  ever  been  maintained 
at  fuch  a  diftance.  The  troops  mud 
be  fed  at  all  events.  Every  thing 
depended  on  the  promptnefs  of  the 
fupply.  And  notwithftanding  the 
great  exertions  ufed  for  that  pur- 
pofe,  the  letters  from  the  com¬ 
mander  in  chief  were  frequent, 
urgent,  and  complaining.  An  in¬ 
finite  quantity  of  (hipping  was  to 
be  procured,  and  muft  be  obtained 
on  any  terms.  The  greatnefs  of 
the  demand  neceffarily  raifed  the 
price.  Thecaufe  of  the  Treafury’s 
being  obliged  to  pay  higher  for 
freight  than  the  navy-board,  was 
explained  by  Atkinfon’s  evidence. 
It  appeared  by  that,  that  from 
effential  differences  in  the  two  fer- 
vices,  the  owners  of  (hipping  pre¬ 
ferred  that  of  the  naval  depart¬ 
ment,  at  a  lower  price,  and  that 
paid  in  navy-bills,  which  were 
liable  to  a  confiderable  difcount, 
to  the  Treafury  fervice,  at  an  ad¬ 
vanced  price,  and  ready  money 
payment. 

No  doubt,  it  was  faid,  could  be 
entertained,  that  every  poffihle 
ceconomy  was  practifed  by  the 
Treafury.  They  undertook  this 
troublefome  bufinefs  meerly  to  fave 
expence  by  the  appointment  of  new 
officers.  They  ftruck  fixpence  off 
the  freight  as  foon  as  it  could  be 
done;  and  they  even  reduced  the 
agent’s  commiffion  one  per  cent. 
But  they  did  not  chufe  that  an 
army  of  Englifhmen  and  friendly 
foreigners  (hould  be  ftarved  in  a 
hoftile  land,  whilft  they  were  hag¬ 
gling  about  freight.  So  that  in- 
ftead  of  a  vote  of  cenfure,  they  de- 
ferved  the  public  thanks  of  their 
country  for  their  zeal  and  alacrity 

in 


158]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 


in  this  bufinefs.  They  concluded, 
that  although  they  did  not  ques¬ 
tion  the  veracity  of  the  fads,  or 
the  exadnefs  of  the  eftimates  con¬ 
tained  in  the  noble  Earl’s  resolu¬ 
tions,  they  mull  oppofe  them  and 
all  other  resolutions  upon  matters 
of  fa<51. 

It  was  accordingly  moved,  that 
the  chairman  fhould  quit  the  chair, 
which  was  carried  upon  a  divifion 
by  a  majority  of  39  to  18.  Lord 
Effingham  then  propofed  the  firing 


of  refolutions  which  he  intended 
for  the  eftablifnment  of  his  fads  % 
which  being  all  fet  afide  by  the 
previous  queflion,  without  a  divi¬ 
fion,  he  then  moved  his  concluding 
refolution,  intended  as  a  cenfure 
upon  the  condud  of  the  Treafury, 
and  Seating  therefrom  a  loSs  to  the 
public,  to  a  very  great  amount. 
The  HouSe  divided  upon  this  quef- 
tion,  which  was  rejeded,  by  a- 
majority  of  35  to  17. 


CHAP.  VIII. 

Motion  hy  Mr.  Grenville  rejected.  French  Declaration.  Royal  Meffage* 
Great  Debates  on  the  Addrefs .  Amendment  moved  hy  Mr.  Baker * 
Amendment  rejected ;  and  the  original  Add  refs  at  length  carried  on  a,  divi • 
Jlon .  Great  debates  on  the  Meffage  and  Addrejs  in  the  Houfe  of  Lords, 
Amendment  moved  by  the  Duke  of  Manchejter.  Rejected ,  and  the  ori¬ 
ginal  Addrefs  carried ,  as  before ,  on  a  divifion.  Great  Debates  on 
Mr.  Fox'd  motions  relative  to  the  failure  of  the  Canada  expedition .  Re¬ 
jected  on  a  divifion.  Counter  motion ,  carried  in  the  Committee ,  but 
not  reported.  Col.  Barred  motion  for  a  Committee  to  infpeCl  the  public . 
accounts,  agreed  toy  under  certain  modifications .  Petition  from  Neve- 
caftle.  Motion  by  Mr.  V/ilkes ,  relative  to  private  aids,  or  loans  t& 
the  crown ,  rejected  on  a  divifion.  Oppojition  to  the  Houfe  tax  bill . 
Several  amendments  moved ,  and  rejected ,  on  feparate  divfions .  Com¬ 

mittee  appointed  to  confider  of  the  trade  of  Ireland.  Reflations  paffed , 
and  bills  brought  in,  on  that  fubjeCt.  Sir  IVzlliam  Meredith'1  s  motion 
for  a  repeal  of  the  Declaratory  Adt,  laid  by.  Bill  brought  in  and  paffed,  to 
enable  his  Majefiy  to  snake  a  fuiiable  provfion  for  the  younger  part  of  t  hi 
Royal  family ,  as  well  as  for  the  Duke  of  Gloucefterd  children , 
Motion  by  Sir  P.  jf .  Clerks  for  bringing  in  the  contraClord  bill,  carried  on 
a  divifion.  Great  oppofition  formed  to  the  Irijh  bills.  Contra  Cord 
bill  read  the  firfi  time  ;  and  the  motion  for  its  being  read  the  fe- 
cond ,  carried  upon  a  divifion.  Second  reading  of  the  contraClord  bill, 
Lofi  upon  the  queficn  of  commitment ,  by  a  majority  of  tveo  only.  Great 
debate  on  the  meffage  for  a  vote  of  credit.  Debate  on  the  fecond  read¬ 
ing  of  the  Irijh  hills .  Sir  Cecil  Wrayd  motion  rejected.  Bills  com¬ 

mitted.  Proceedings  in 
Chatham . 


the  Houfe  of  Commons  cn  the  death  of  the  Earl  of 


TH  E  time  at  length  am-  all  thofe  predidions,  which  had 
ved  when  France  was  to  been  fo  long  held  out,  and  fo  fre- 
throw  off  the  mafic  entirely  with  quently  repeated  by  the  minority, 
refped  to  America,  and  to  realize  and  which  had,  till  lately,  afforded 

a  conftant 


I 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


?»  conftant  topic  of  ridicule  to  mini- 
fters  and  majorities.  It  had  been 
repeatedly  laid,  that  the  Houfe  of 
Bourbon  would  not  fupport  the 
Americans  on  the  double  account, 
that  it  would  be  teaching  an  evil 
lefton  again  ft  themfeives,  and 
which  might  be  too  foon  praftifed, 
to  their  own  colonies,  and  that  the 
eftabliftiment  of  an  independent 
itate  and  riling  empire  in  the  new 
world,  would  be  dangerous  to  their 
future  interefts  both  in  Europe  and 
America.  A  doftrine  which,  con- 
fidered  merely  as  a  fubjefl  for  fpe- 
culative  controverfy,  might  un¬ 
doubtedly  afford  room  for  fome  dif- 
cuflion,  if,  directly  contrary  to  the 
difpofition  and  practice  of  the  reft 
of  mankind,  they  looked  more  to 
future  and  remote  contingencies, 
than  to  the  greateft  prefent  ad¬ 
vantages,  and  to  the  gratification 
of  the  moil  urgent  and  powerful 
pailions, 

■n  k  s  ,  On  the  day  previ- 

Mar.  loth.  „  .  /  %  r 

ous  to  the  laying  or 

the  declaration  from  France  before 
both  Houfes,  the  minifter  gave 
notice  to  the  Commons,  that  he 
Ihould  have  occafion,  on  the  fol¬ 
lowing  to  prefent  a  meftage  from 
the  Throne  to  that  Houfe.  Mr. 
Grenville  replied,  that  he  believed 
the  fubjefl  of  the  meiTage  was 
already  anticipated  by  the  Houfe; 
and,  in  order  that  gentlemen  might 
be  truly,  as  well  as  fully  informed, 
in  a  matter  of  fo  great  importance, 
before  they  tied  themfeives  down 
to  any  particular  meafures  by  an 
anfwer,  he  would  move  for  an  ad- 
drefs,  t(  to  lay  befcre  the  Houfe, 
**  copies  of  all  communications 
t(  from  his  Majefty’s  ambaftador 
€<  at  the  court  of  France,  or  the 
“  French  ambaftador  at  this  court, 
€t  touching  any  treaty  of  alliance, 
ct  confederacy,  or  commerce,  en- 


[159 

t{  tered  into  between  that  court 
“  and  the  revolted  colonies  in 
t(  North  America. ” 

The  minifter  direftly  moved  the 
previous  queftion,  giving  as  a  rea~ 
fon,  that  the  expofure  of  the  pa¬ 
pers  demanded,  would  be  a  moll 
unpardonable  and  pernicious  aft  of 
treachery,  to  thofe,  who  at  the 
greateft  rifque,  had  communicated 
fecret  intelligence  to  government. 
Mr.  Grenville  offered  to  prevent 
an  effeft  which  he  abhorred,  by 
inferting  the  words  “  or  extracts, ” 
after  copies,  in  the  motion  ;  but 
the  minifter  infilled  that  no  amend¬ 
ment  could  be  received  after  the 
previous  queftion  had  been  moved. 
This  conduft  was,  however,  re¬ 
probated  with  fo  much  indignation 
on  the  other  fide,  and  reprefen  ted 
as  an  aft  of  quibbling  and  chicane* 
(o  unworthy  of,  and  unfitting  for 
that  place,  that  the  minifter  with¬ 
drew  his  motion,  and  the  amend¬ 
ment  was  received.  The  previous 
queftion  being  then  again  moved;,, 
the  minifter  carried  it  upon  a  divi- 
fion  by  a  majority  of  231  to  146* 

On  the  following  day,  ^ 
the  Royal  meftage,  accom-  1  7 
panied  by  the  French  declaration*, 
figned,  on  the  13th,  by  M.  de 
Noailles,  the  ambaftador  from 
that  court,  were  prefented  to  the 
Commons  by  the  minifter.  The 
former,  after  mentioning  the  mat¬ 
ter  of  faft,  with  refpeft  to  the  no¬ 
tification,  acquainted  them,  that 
in  confequence  of  that  oftenfive 
communication,  his  Majefty  had 
fent  orders  to  his  ambaftador  to 
withdraw  from  the  court  of  France, 
Then  ftating  the  juftice  and  good 
faith  of  his  Majeity’s  conduft  to¬ 
wards  foreign  powers,  and  the 
fincerity  of  his  wifhes  to  preferve 
the  tranquillity  of  Europe,  he 
trufts,  that  he  ihali  not  ftand  re- 

fp on  fib's 


i6o]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177s. 


fponfible  for  the  difturbance  of  that 
tranquillity,  if  he  Ihould  find  him- 
felf  called  upon  to  refent  fo  un¬ 
provoked  and  fo  unjuft  an  agref- 
iion  on  the  honour  of  his  crown, 
and  the  elfential  interefts  of  his 
kingdoms,  contrary  to  the  moft 
folemn  affurances,  fubverfive  of 
the  law  of  nations,  and  injurious  to 
the  rights  of  every  foreign  power 
in  Europe.  It  concluded  with  a 
declaration,  that,  “  his  Majefty, 
relying  with  the  firmed:  confidence 
on  the  zealous  and  affectionate 
fupport  of  his  faithful  people,  is 
determined  to  be  prepared  to  exert. 
If  it  fhali  become  neceffary,  all  the 
force  and  refources  of  his  king¬ 
doms  ;  which  he  trulls  will  be 
found  adequate  to  repel  every  in- 
fult  and  attack,  and  to  maintain 
and  uphold  the  power  and  reputa¬ 
tion  of  this  country. ” 

The  French  declaration  feems  to 
ftate  the  afiual  independence  of 
the  Americans,  as  it  was  declared 
by  them  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776, 
as  a  juftification  for  confolidating, 
*>y  a  formal  convention,  the  con¬ 
nection  begun  to  be  eftablifhed 
between  the  two  nations,  and  the 
ftgning  a  treaty  of  friendfhip  and 
commerce,  intended  to  ferve  as  a 
foundation  for  their  mutual  good 
correfpondence.  Under  an  infult- 
ang  parade  of  cultivating  the  good 
wnderftartding  between  France  and 
Great-Britain,  the  knowledge  of 
this  tran faction  is  faid  to  be  com¬ 
municated,  accompanied  with  a 
declaration,  that  the  contradling 
parties  have  paid  great  attention, 
not  to  ftipulace  any  exclufive  ad¬ 
vantages  in  favour  of  France  ;  and 
that  the  United  States  have  referv- 
ed  the  liberty  of  treating  with 
every  nation  whatever,  upon  the 
fame  footing  of  equality  and  reci¬ 
procity. 


It  is  taken  for  granted,  that  the 
new  proofs  now  g'ven  of  a  conftant 
and  fincere  difpofition  for  peace, 
will  produce  fimilar  effects  on  our 
fide  ;  and  that  his  Britannic  Ma¬ 
jefty,  animated  by  fimilar  fenti- 
ments,  will  equally  avoid  every 
thing  that  might  alter  the  good 
harmony  fubfiiiing  between  the 
two  crowns  ;  and  that  he  will  par¬ 
ticularly  take  effedlual  meafures  to 
prevent  the  commerce  between 
France  and  America  from  being 
interrupted,  and  to  caufe  all  ge¬ 
neral  commercial  ufages,  as  well 
as  the  particular  rules  fubfifting 
between  France  and  England,  to 
be  obferved.  It  concludes  with  an 
intimation,  that  the  French  King, 
being  determined  to  protect  effec¬ 
tually  the  lawful  commerce  of  his 
fubjefts,  and  to  maintain  the  dig¬ 
nity  of  his  flag,  had,  in  confe- 
quence,  taken  eventual  meafures 
for  thefe  purpofes,  in  concert  with 
the  United  States  of  North  Ame¬ 
rica. 

The  minifter  moved  an  addrefs 
to  the  Throne,  which,  befides 
echoing  back  and  confirming  the 
principal  pofitions  in  the  meflage, 
declares  the  higheft  indignation, 
and  greateft  refentment  at  the  un¬ 
juft  and  unprovoked  ccndufl  of 
France,  which,  in  another  part,  it 
calls  “  that  reftlefs  and  dangerous 
fpirit  of  ambition  and  aggrandize¬ 
ment,  which  has  fo  often  invaded 
the  rights  and  threatened  the  liber¬ 
ties  of  Europe.”  It  concludes 
with; the  ftrongeft  affurances  of  the 
moft  zealous  affiftance  and  fupport ; 
and  a  declaration  of  the  firmed: 
confidence,  that,  in  every  demon- 
ftration  of  loyalty  to  his  Majefty, 
and  of  love  to  their  country,  his 
faithful  fubje&s  would  vie  with 
each  other  $  and  that  no  confidera- 

v  tions 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


tions  would  divert  or  deter  them 
from  (landing  forth  in  the  public 
defence,  and  from  fuftaining,  with 
a  Heady  perfeverance,  any  extraor¬ 
dinary  burthens  and  ex pences,  which 
fhould  be  found  necefi'ary  for  ena¬ 
bling  his  Majefly  to  vindicate  the 
honour  of  his  crown,  and  to  protect 
the  juft  rights  and  eftential  interefts 
of  thefe  kingdoms. 

Mr.  Baker  moved,  that  an  a- 
mendment  to  the  following  pur¬ 
port,  (hould  be  inferted  after  the 
words,  “  afturances  of  fu pport,” 
in  the  addrefs,  viz.  “  hoping  aqd 
trulling  that  his  Majefty  will  be 
gracioufty  pleafed  to  remove  from 
his  counfels  thofe  minifters,  in 
whofe  conduct,  from  experience  of 
the  pernicious  effects  of  their  paft 
meafures,  his  people  can  place  no 
confidence  in  the  prefent  momen¬ 
tous  fituation  of  public  affairs.  Sir 
George  Yonge  warmly  fecorsded 
the  amendment,  and  was  himfelf 
as  warmly  fupported.  The  prin¬ 
cipal  ground  of  argument  was,  the 
folly  and  danger  of  committing  the 
conduct  of  the  molt  arduous  war, 
in  which  this  country  was  ever 
involved,  to  thofe  men,  who  had 
already  fhewn  themfelves  totally 
unequal  to  its  government  in  the 
moft  profound  quiet  and  peace  ; 
whofe  pernicious  counfels  and 
meafures  had  converted  that  fea- 
fon  of  happinefs  and  profperity 
into  all  the  horrors  and  mifchiefs 
of  a  moft  unnatural,  cruel,  and 
deftrudiive  civil  war ;  whofe  igno„ 
ranee  and  incapacity  in  the  ma¬ 
nagement  of  that  war  of  their  own 
creation,  joined  to  that  incorrigible 
obftinacy,  which  difdaining  all 
counfel,  and  rejedling  all  warn¬ 
ing,  were  at  length  the  unhappy 
means,  of  for  ever  fevering  the 
Britifh  empire,  and  of  finally 
Vol.  XX r. 


[*‘6t 

plunging  this  nation  in  all  its  pre- 
fen  t  danger  and  calamity. 

But  they  dwelt  principally  upon 
the  prefent  glaring  and  criminal 
inftance  (as  they  termed  ir)  of  in¬ 
capacity  or  negligence,  in  not  be¬ 
ing  able,  in  a  time  of  profound 
peace,  and  when  intelligence  was 
fo  procurable  as  to  be  obtained  by 
a  private  gentleman,  to  difeover 
the  defigns  or  traufadfnons  of  the 
court  of  France,  until  they  were 
put  in  adlual  force  and  open  avowal 
againft  us.  Or  if  they  were  ac¬ 
quainted  with  thefe  circumftances, 
they  were  (till  more  criminally 
culpable,  they  faid,  in  having  ta¬ 
ken  no  fingie  meafure  to  guard 
againft  fo  momentous  an  event, 
nor  made  the  fmalieft  provifton  for 
the  protection  either  of  thefe  king¬ 
doms  or  of  our  foreign  pofteffions, 
which  were  every  where,  whether 
in  the  Eaft  or  Weft  Indies,  the 
Mediterranean,  or  at  home,  left 
defencelefs,  and  open  to  infult  and 
danger.  Is  then  the  fate  of  Great 
Britain,  they  cried,  in  this  critical 
feafon  of  danger,  to  be  committed 
to  the  hands  of  fuch  men  ?  Is  the 
difgrace,  ruin,  and  difcomfi.tur.e, 
which  attended  their  three  years 
war,  ftngly  with  America,  the 
motive  for  entrufting  them  now 
with  the  conduct  of  the  war  again  ft: 
the  whole  houfe  of  Bourbon,  clofe- 
ly  united  with  thofe  very  Ameri¬ 
cans  ?  It  was  in  vain,  they  faid, 
to  talk  of  calling  forth  the  fpirit  of 
the  nation,  by  men  who  had  loft  ail 
confidence  with  the  people.  They 
were  univerfully  and  juftly  con- 
ftdered  as  an  adminiftration  com- 
pofed  of  imbeciility  and  deceit;  no 
honed  and  difinterefted  man  would 
venture  to  entruft  them  with  his 
property  ;  and  it  was  no  detra&ion. 
to  their  char'after  to  fay,  that  they 
[*L]  were 


162'*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


were  not  more  detefted  at  home, 
than  they  were  the  contempt  and 
deriiion  of  all  foreigners. 

They  concluded,  that  the  know¬ 
ledge  which  the  French,  as  well 
as  the  reft  of  Europe  had,  of  the 
wretched  weaknefs  and  inftability 
of  our  counfels,  arid  of  the  preci¬ 
pitate  abfurdity,  and  continued 
mifcondudl  of  our  Minifters,  was 
the  caufe,  which,  after  long  ren- 
•dering  us  a  bye-word,  and  mock¬ 
ery  among  the  nations,  had  en¬ 
couraged  the  Houfe  of  Bourbon  to 
offer  us  the  prefent  infult.  That, 
in  fad!,  if  the  Minifters  had  been 
penfioners  to  France,  they  could 
not  have  promoted  the  interefts  of 
that  country  more  effedually  than 
they  had  actually  done.  That  in 
thefe  circumftances,  it  would  be  in 
Vain  to  offer  any  fupport  to  his 
Majefty,  without  informing  him 
at  the  fame  time  of  the  incapacity 
of  thofe  to  whom  he  had  entrufted 
the  management  of  the  public  af¬ 
fairs.  That  as  it  would  be  impoffi- 
ble,  after  fuc-h  repeated  inftances 
of  folly,  negiedt,  and  incapacity, 
for  the  nation  to  repofe  any  confi¬ 
dence  in  his  prefent  Minifters,  fo 
their  removal  could  alone  realize 
any  offers  of  fupport,  and  revive 
the  drooping  fpirit  of  the  people. 
That  fingle  meafere,  they  faid, 
Would  flrike  more  terror  into  the 
enemies  of  this  country,  than  all 
the  warlike  preparations  which  we 
were  capable  of  making,  under  the 
prefent  notorious  imbecillity  of  our 
counfels  and  meafures* 

In  an  Ever  to  this,  the  Minifter 
declared  his  ftxed  and  unalterable 
refolution,  that  in  the  prefent  fitu- 
ation  of'public  affairs,  he  would 
keep  his  place  at  ali  events.  He 
faid,  that  the  intereft  of  the  em¬ 
pire,  no  lefs  than  his  own  pride 


and  fenfe  of  honour,  now  rendered 
his  continuance  in  office  absolute¬ 
ly  neceftary.  It  would  be  a  dif- 
grace,  which  he  was  determined 
not  to  incur,  to  abandon  the  helm, 
while  the  ffiip  of  ftate  was  toiled 
about  in  a  ftorm,  until  he  had 
brought  her  fafely  into  port.  He 
could  fee  but  little  foundation  for 
the  prefent  public  alarm  ;  the  fall 
of  the  flocks,  he  faid,  was  merely 
the  effedl  of  that  fudden  panic, 
which  was  the  ufual  concomitant 
of  a  beginning  war.  The  ap¬ 
parent  backwardnefs  to  fill  the 
prefent  loan,  he,  however,  attri¬ 
buted  rather  to  the  greatnefs  of  the 
national  debt,  than  to  the  mere 
approach  of  a  war.  Great  Britain, 
had  always  been  fo  pundlual  in 
the  payment  of  the  intereft  due  to 
her  creditors,  that  fhe  could  never 
want  money  for  the  public  fervice. 
The  dread  of  an  invafion,  he  faid, 
was  a  mere  bugbear ;  and  if  it 
fhould  take  place,  the  nation 
would  have  but  little  reafon  to  be 
apprehenfive  for  the  confequences. 
Our  navy  never  was,  at  the  com¬ 
mencement  of  a  war,  in  fo  fiou- 
riffiing  a  condition  as  at  prefent ; 
the  new  levies  were  nearly  corn- 
pleated  ;  and  that  the  public 
might  be  rendered  entirely  eafy  on 
the  fubjedl  of  invafion,  his  Ma¬ 
jefty  intended  to  recur  to  that  con- 
ftitutional  fource  of  defence,  which 
was  fo  great  a  favourite  with  the 
other  fide  of  the  Houfe,  by  draw¬ 
ing  out  and  embodying  the  mili¬ 
tia.  He  concluded,  that  the  in¬ 
fult  offered  by  France  was  of  the 
mo  ft  difgraceful  nature ;  that  as 
he  knew  the  honour  of  the  nation 
was  dear  to  every  gentleman  in 
that  Houfe,  fo  he  trufted  there 
was  not  a  man  in  it  who  would 
not  rifque  his  life  and  fortune  to 

wipe 


I 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*163 


wipe  cff  the  ftain  it  had  received  ; 
and  that  consequently,  no  one 
would  refufe  to  agree  to  an  ad- 
drefs,  which  only  went  to  affure 
the  King,  that  he  fhould  find  in 
his  faithful  Commons,  every  fup- 
port  necefiary  to  maintain  the  ho¬ 
nour  of  his  people,  and  the  dignity 
of  his  crown. 

Several  of  the  mod  refpeftable 
members  of  the  oppofition,  as  well 
as  fome  gentlemen  who  were  not 
of  that  party,  conlidered  an  im¬ 
mediate  acknowledgement  of  the 
independency  of  the  Americans, 
as  not  only  the  wifeft,  but  the  only 
meafure  now  to  be  adopted,  which 
could  extricate  us,  without  Hill 
greater  Ioffes,  and  with  any  toler¬ 
able  profpeft  of  future  advantage 
from  our  antient  colonies,  out  of 
our  prefent  danger  and  difficul¬ 
ties.  Their  independence,  was  not 
only  already  eftablilhed,  but  had 
obtained  nich  time  to  fix  and  fet¬ 
tle  upon  its  foundations,  that  it 
appeared  now  too  firm  to  be  lhaken 
by  our  utmoll  efforts,  even  fup- 
pofing  it  were  left,  without  any 
foreign  fupport,  merely  to  that  of 
its  own  inherent  ftrength.  But, 
in  that  fituation,  to  form  any  hope 
of  our  being  equal  to  its  over¬ 
throw',  under  the  acknowledgment 
and  fupport  of  the  Houfe  of  Bour¬ 
bon,  was,  they  laid,  an  idea  only 
fit  to  be  entertained  by  bedla¬ 
mites  ;  and  any  attempt  of  the 
fort,  could  be  only  conlidered  as 
the  3aft  aft  of  political  defpair,  in¬ 
fatuation,  and  phrenzy. 

On  the  other  hand,  by  fubmit- 
ting  prudently  to  that  neceffity  in 
which  we  have  been  involved  by 
our  own  perverfenefs  and  folly, 
and  acknowledging  in  time  that 
independency  of  the  colonies, 
which  we  rand  otherwife  be  at 
length  compelled,  under  the  molt 


ruinous  circumftances,  to  acknow¬ 
ledge  ;  we  fhall  immediately,  and 
in  the  fird  inftance,  prevent  the 
double  war  with  the  Houfe  of 
Bourbon  and  America.  We  (hall 
thereby  prevent  thofe  mutual  con- 
neftions,  friendfiiips,  habitudes  of 
life,  communication  of  fentiments, 
manners,  and  language,  which 
mud  otherwife  be  the  inevitable 
confequence  of  fuch  a  participation 
in  a  common  courfe  of  danger  and 
warfare,  and  under  fuch  a  date  of 
apparent  obligation  on  one  fide. 
By  this  means,  faid  they,  Ame¬ 
rica  will  be  emancipated  from  all 
conneftion  with  France,  excepting 
merely  what  is  included  in  the 
dead  letter  of  a  treaty  of  com¬ 
merce,  and  what  may  depend 
upon  the  payment  of  a  public 
debt,  which,  in  this  cafe,  die 
would  not  be  long  in  difcharging  ; 
but  which,  a  continuation  of  the 
war  would  every  day  increafe,  and 
of  courfe,  not  only  bind  her  more 
clofely  to  the  houfe  of  Bourbon, 
but  if  it  became  enormous  would 
even  abridge  her  freedom  of  aft- 
ing.  In  this  cafe  alfo,  the  open 
commerce  which  America  would 
carry  on  with  all  the  world,  would 
neceffarily  leffen  her  conneftion. 
with,  and  weaken  her  dependence 
on  France.  But  what  would  dill, 
they  faid,  be  of  greater  import¬ 
ance  than  any  thing  yet  mention¬ 
ed,  the  iefentment?  of  America 
would  grow  cool  ;  the  fenie  of 
thofe  injuries  and  fufferings  which 
fhe  experienced  at  our  hands, 
would  daily  weaken  ;  commerce 
would  neceffarilv  renew  our  for- 

4 

mer  intercourfe ;  friendfiiips  and 
affeftions  would  again  be  revived  ; 
their  children  would  again  come 
here  for  their  education  ;  and  re¬ 
ligion,  language,  fimilarity  of 
laws,  cuftoms,  and  manners,  would 
[*L]  2  all 


164*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


si!  have  their  influence,  in  render¬ 
ing  us  as  nearly  one  people,  as  it 
was  (till  poffible.  And  thus,  faid 
they,  we  Ihould  derive  greater  ad¬ 
vantages  from  the  predilection  and 
aifeCtion  of  America,  in  giving  us 
a  preference  in  point  of  commerce, 
and  fupporting  us  with  a  filial  re¬ 
gard,  as  a  friendly  and  faithful  ally, 
jn  any  emergency  of  diflrefs  or  dan¬ 
ger,  than  we  could  draw  from  that 
continent,  under  any  circumftance 
of  conquefl,  or  condition  of  flave- 
ry  ;  fuppofing  the  poffibiiity  of  our 
accomplifhing  the  one,  and  inflict¬ 
ing  the  other. 

ft  was,  however,  contended  by 
thofe  who  held  the  oppofite  opinion, 
that  nothing  could  be  a  more  com- 

O 

plete  difgrace  to  the  nation,  than  to 

Surrender  its  juft  and  natural  fupe- 

tioritv  to  the  deceitful  and  infoleut 
* 

interpofltion  of  France.  That  the 
hopes  arifing  from  the  fuppofed 
new  alliance  with  the  independent 
hates  of  America,  were  wild  and 
vifionary.  That  thofe  who  would 
refufe  the  very  liberal  offers  that 
were  now  to  be  mace,  were  deter¬ 
mined  enemies  to  their  own  people 
in  America,  as  well  as  to  this  coun¬ 
try.  That  it  would  be  bafe  and  cruel 
to  expofe  thofe,  who  had  rifqued  all 
things  in  the  fupport  of  Govern¬ 
ment,  to  the  infolence  and  fury  of 
the  rebellious  party  $  and  the  more 
fo,  as  the  well  afieCfed  was  by  far 
the  more  numerous  divifion  of  that 
people. 

The  queftion  being  at  length 
put,  at  half  pad  two  in  the  morn¬ 
ing,  the  amendment  was  rejected, 
and  the  original  add  refs  according¬ 
ly  carried  upon  a  divifion,  by  a 
majority  of  263  to  113. 

The  French  notification,  accom¬ 
panied  with  the  royal  meflage, 
were  on  the  fame  day  prefented  to 


the  Lords  by  Lord  Weymouth, 
who  alfo  moved  for  an  addrefs  fi- 
milar  to  that  propofed  to  the  Com¬ 
mons.  The  cenfures  pa  fled  upon 
that  conduCt  of  public  affairs  which 
had  brought  on  the  prefent  criiis, 
were,  on  this  occafion,  and  fome 
others  that  followed,  delivered  in 
a  much  higher  tone,  and  in  more 
exprefs  and  unqualified  terms, 
than  thofe  which  were  produced 
by  the  fame  or  fimilar  fubjeCts  in 
the  other  Houfe. 

The  Duke  of  Manchefier  was 
the  firft  to  declare,  that  however 
great  the  provocation  given  by 
France  might  be,  he  mu  ft  notwith- 
ftanding  totally  oppofe  the  addrefs, 
if  the  approaching  war  was  to  be 
conducted  by  the  fame  men  who 
were  the  authors  of  all  our  prefent 
calamities.  Men,  he  faid,  in  whofe 
hands  nothing  could  fucceed  ;  and 
in  whom  it  would  be  madnefs  to 
confide.  He  reminded  the  Houfe 
of  the  frequent  admonitions  and 
warnings  Minifters  had  received 
from  the  Lords  on  that  flde  ;  and 
in  which  almoft  every  progreflive 
flep  towards  national  ruin,  even  to 
the  very  important  bufinefs  of  the 
prefent  day,  had  been  truly  and  ex¬ 
actly  foretold.  They  received,  he 
Did,  continual  communications  of 
fuch  fads  and  circumltanc.es,  as 
feemed  fufficient  to  open  the  eyes 
of  the  moll  obftinate  and  incredu¬ 
lous  ;  but  in  fpite  of  fads  and  cir- 
curniiances,  they  unhappily  got 
majorities  to  fupport  them  againft 
the  flrongeft  convictions  of  proba¬ 
bility  and  common  fenfe  ;  and 
now  have  brought  us  to  the  melan¬ 
choly  dilemma  of  not  being  in  a 
Hate  to  preferve  peace,  or  to  profe- 
cute  a  war. 

The  noble  Duke  then  moved 
the  following  amendment,  to  be 

infer  ted 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*i% 


inferted  immediately  after  the  word 
“  Iupport”  in  the  addrefs,  viz. 
“  whenever  his  Majefty  (hall,  from 
a  regard  to  the  honour  of  his 
crown,  and  the  fafety  of  his  peo¬ 
ple,  remove  from  his  counfels 
thole  perfons,  under  vvhofe  admi- 
ni  it  ration  no  plan,  civil  or  mili¬ 
tary,  has  been  fuccefsful  ;  and  the 
colonies,  fo  valuable  a  part  of  the 
empire,  have  been  loft  to  the  nation, 
and  driven  into  con nedt ions  with  the 
court  of  France  ;  and  vvhofe  longer 
continuance  in  power,  we  are  bound 
to  reprefent  to  his  Majefty,  may 
highly  endanger  the  fafety  of  his 
crown,  and  of  the  remaining  part 
ol  his  dominions.” 

Some  fecret  and  invifible  power, 
which  they  represented  as  having 
for  leveral  years  guided  ail  the 
itate  movements,  and  as  being  the 
real  and  efficient  caufe  of  all  the 
national  misfortunes  and  calami¬ 
ties,  became  an  objedl  of  loud  ani- 
mad vernon  with  feme  of  the  Lords. 
They  laid  that  this  invifible  power 
was  the  crying  evil,  and  the  great 
grievance  to  be  provided  againft. 
That  this  unconlticutional  fubfer- 
viency,  which  indeed  could  only 
be  eftabliffied,  through  the  fhame- 
ful  and  oafe  fervility  of  Minifters, 
had  been  the  fatal  iburce  of  all  the 
evils  which  had  poured  in  upon 
this  country  during  the  prelent 
reign.  That,  whoever  refilled 
this  fecret,  concealed  impulfe, 
however  able  or  fitting  to  ferve  the 
ftate  was  proscribed  ;  whilft  thofe 
who  paid  the  defired  obedience  to 
it,  however  weak,  ignorant,  or  in¬ 
capable,  were  immediately  patro¬ 
nized,  promoted,  and  required  no 
other  qualification,  to  rile  to  the 
pcftbftion  of  the  hill  and  meft  re- 
fponfible  offices. 


The  noble  Minifter  who  moved 
the  addrefs,  faid,  he  would  not 
for  the  prefent  enter  into  any  ex¬ 
culpation  of  himfelf,  or  of  his  bre¬ 
thren  in  office  ;  he  would  referve 
a  formal  defence  for  a  formal  ac- 
cufation.  He  could  not  however' 
avoid  obferving,  that  an  unproved 
accufation  of  Minifters,  and  a  con¬ 
demnation  of  their  condudl  un¬ 
tried  and  unheard,  was  as  unfair 
and  unjuft,  as  it  was  contrary  to 
all  propriety  with  refped  to  time, 
place,  and  occalion.  This  was 
not,  however,  tire  principal  ground 
upon  which  he  mult  oppofe  the 
amendment ;  but  for  its  being 
clogged  with  a  condition  which 
implied,  that  what  was  right  and 
neceftary  in  itfelf  fhould  not  be 
purfued,  unlefs  fomething  elfe 
were  granted.  At  a  time  when 
the  very  being  of  the  kingdom 
feemed  to  ftand  on  a  precarious 
bafts,  and  that  his  Majefty  re*, 
quefted  their  united  aftiftance  to 

X 

iupport  that  along  with  his  own 
dignity,  it  carried  a  moft  unge¬ 
nerous  appearance  to  tack  com- 
pulfatory  conditions,  as  the  price 
of  a  neceftary  fervice.  If  the  ad¬ 
drefs  met  their  fentiments,  let  it 
receive  their  fan&ion  as  the  ne- 
cefiary  consequence  of  its  proprie¬ 
ty  and  expedience  ;  but  let  not 
unreafonable  conceftions  be  made 
the  meafure  of  duty.  And  if  mi¬ 
nifters  were  found  incapable  or 
guilty  upon  a  proper  examination, 
an  application  then  to  the  throne, 
unniixed  with  any  foreign  matter, 
would,  undoubtedly,  meet  with 
proper  attention.  As  to  the  fecret 
influence  talked  of,  the  King’s 
Minifters  knew  of  none.  They 
had  done  their  duty  upon  their 
own  opinions.  If  thefe  opinions 
[*£]  3  were 


166*]  ANN*UAL  RE 

were  erroneous  and  honeft,  they 
would  be  pardoned  ;  if  juft  and 
well  founded,  they  would  meet 
fupport  and  applaufe.  If  their 
conduit  was  faulty,  they  would 
deferve  punnhment;  and  they  were 
ready  couragioufly  to  fupport  their 
own  conduit  in  their  own  perfons, 
and  to  abide  the  juft  fenfe  of  the 
Houfe,  without  fkulking  behind 
the  throne  or  parliament,  or  excul¬ 
pating  themfelves  upon  the  idea  of 
any  fecret  influence  whatever. 

The  very  few  Lords  on  the  fame 
fide  who  entered  into  any  part  of 
the  debate,  faid,  they  oppofed  the 
amendment  as  unprecedented  and 
indecent.  That  it  would  be  little 
lefs  than  offering  a  direct  infult  to 
the  Sovereign  ;  and  that  it  would 
be  equally  injurious  and  unjuft  to 
his  fervants,  to  condemn  them  by 
a  hafty  and  rafh  cenfure,  before 
they  were  heard  in  their  own  de¬ 
fence.  That  the  failure  of  their 
plans  was  by  no  means  a  proof  of 
inability  or  mifcondudt ;  it  might 
have  proceeded  from  numberlefs 
circumftances  with  which  they  were 
yet  unacquainted;  and  as  no  wiff 
dom  or  ability  could  command  fuc- 
cefs,  its  failure  confequently  could 
not,  without  farther  evidence,  im¬ 
ply  any  room  for  cenfure. 

On  the  other  fide  it  was  con¬ 
tended,  that  there  was  not  a  more 
proper,  or  truly  parliamentary  me¬ 
thod  of  foliciting  a  redrefs  of  griev¬ 
ances,  than  by  propofmg  that  re- 
drefs  as  the  term  of  compliance  to 
a  requeft.  It  was  the  ftrong  ground 
and  foundation  of  ail  thofe  checks 
which  parliament  held  upon  the 
crown.  Without  that  there  could 
be  no  fuch  checks,  and  parliaments 
would  be  uielefs.  The  condition 
to  be  annexed  to  the  add  refs,  was 
therefore  perfectly  in  qrder,  jmd 


GISTER,  1778. 

in  full  conformity  with  parlia¬ 
mentary  ufage.  But  if  it  had  been 
otherwife,  when  the  ftate  was 
acknowledged  to  be  fhaken  to  its 
foundations,  and  its  very  exiftence 
at  ftake,  forms  were  too  ridiculous 
to  be  thought  of.  Such  a  filia¬ 
tion  of  public  affairs,  prefented 
the  feafon  for  creating  of  new  pre¬ 
cedents  fuitable  to  the  occafion, 
inftead  of  being  fuperftitioufly 
bound  by  thofe  which  were  obfo- 
lete  and  ufelefs,  The  propofed 
condition  was  entwined  with  the 
national  welfare  ;  it  was  founded 
on  matter  of  fa£t,  and  of  public 
notoriety  ;  it  was  not  only  a  pro¬ 
per  anfwer  to,  but  it  was  demand¬ 
ed  by  the  meffage  from  the  crown; 
that  meftage  requires  affiftance  and 
fupport,  and  this  points  out  the 
only  certain  ground  by  which  they 
can  be  obtained.  The  objeftion. 
made  to  a  condemnation  without 
trial,  a  noble  Earl  humoroufly  oh- 
ferved  to  be  unfounded  ;  the  Mi¬ 
nifies,  he  faid,  had  been  long,— 
too  long  tried  ;  and  were  now  un¬ 
der  the  condemnation  of  all  the 
difinterefted  part  of  the  nation. 

Several  of  the  Lords  on  that  fide, 
objected  greatly  to  the  paffionate 
and  inflammatory  expreffions  ufed 
in  the  meftage,  and  which  were 
echoed  back  in  the  addrefs.  They 
were  no  lefs  than  tantamount,  they 
faid,  to  a  declaration  of  war.  Was 
the  nation  in  condition,  or  its  mi¬ 
litary  force  in  a  ftate  of  preparation 
to  abide  the  confequences  I  There 
was  no  call  for  any  violence  or  in¬ 
temperance  of  language.  There 
was  not  an  angry  exp^effion  in  the 
French  refcript.  The  matter  of 
fatft,  they  faid,  fhould  have  been 
ftated  plainly  to  parliament  for 
their  deliberations,  and  they  might 
well  havq  declared  in  return,  their 

deters 


HISTORY  OF 


determination  to  fupport  upon  all 
occafions,  both  the  dignity  of  the 
crown  and  the  interefts  of  the  na¬ 
tion,  without  entangling  them- 
felves  with  any  fpecific  refolution 
or  promife,  and  without  the  fmall- 
eit  occafjon  for  any  inflammatory 
language  on  either  fide.  They 
faid,  that  however  grievous  the 
meafuie  taken  by  France  might 
be,  and  in  fa£l  was,  yet  that  war 
was  by  no  means  an  inevitable, 
or  even  necefl'ary  confequence  of 
the  prefent  declaration.  We  had 
ourfelves  ufed  a  fimilar  conduce  on 
former  occafions,  with  refpett  both 
to  France  and  Spain,  without  its 
being  productive  of  any  imme¬ 
diate  war  with  either.  And,  how¬ 
ever  we  might  lament  the  occafion 
and  its  confequences,  reprobate 
the  conduCl  which  expolcd  us  to 
them,  or  vainly  and  pafiionately 
exclaim  againft  the  perfidioufnefs 
of  the  a£l,  it  was  in  reality  one  of 
thofe  meafures  of  political  advan¬ 
tage,  which  no  rival  nation,  un¬ 
der  a  wife  and  active  government 
could  have  overlooked  or  neglect¬ 
ed.  In  thefe  circumflances  then, 
there  feemed  no  necelfity  for  en¬ 
tering  into  a  war;  if,  without  in¬ 
jury  to  the  honour  of  Great  Bri¬ 
tain,  war  could  be  avoided  it 
ought. 

It  behoved  us  firft  to  confider 
what  the  objeCt  of  the  war  was, 
and  our  ability  of  attaining  that 
objeCt  ;  and  in  the  next  place  molt 
ferioufly  to  refleCl  upon  the  poflG 
ble  confequences  of  our  failing  in 
the  attempt.  The  only  objeCt  of 
a  prefent  war  with  France  mult  be 
the  recovery  of  America ;  an  ob¬ 
jeCt  which  every  man  in  his  fenfes 
mult  now  fee  to  be  totally  unat¬ 
tainable.  What  then,  faid  they, 
js  to  be  done  l  The  anfwer  is 


EUROPE.  [*167 

fhort,  and  the  flrait  line  of  con-, 
duCt  before  you.  Cancel  your  in¬ 
flammatory  votes,  and  your  me¬ 
nacing  declarations.  Annihilate 
that  ridiculous  conciliatory  fyflem, 
which  feems  to  have  been  calcu¬ 
lated  only  to  render  parliament  a 
fubjeCt  of  mockery  and  derifion. 
And,  inftead  of  fending  out  Com- 
miflioners  to  be  laughtd  at,  to  re¬ 
turn  as  they  went,  and  to  render 
our  public  counfels  Hill  more  con¬ 
temptible,  arm  them  with  powers 
to  acknowledge  the  independency 
of  the  Americans,  if  they  infill 
upon  it,  and  to  conclude  the  moll 
advantageous  treaty  of  peace  and. 
commerce  with  them,  that  can  now 
be  obtained.  But  at  any  rate  let 
your  conduCl  with  regard  to  France 
be  what  it  may,  eftablifh  peace 
with  America.  The  point  of  ho¬ 
nour,  mull  in  this  cafe  give  way 
to  neceflity.  The  attempting  im- 
poflibilities  can  only  render  our 
ruin  inevitable.  It  is  impoflible 
to  recall  what  we  have  wantonly 
thrown  away.  By  thefe  means  we 
fhall  obtain  fecurity.  We  (hall 
be  extricated  from  our  immediate 
dangers  and  difficulties.  We  (hall 
gain  breathing  time,  which  in  our 
prefent  fituation  is  a  matter  of  the 
firft  importance.  And  we  mull 
trull  to  time,  fortune,  and  future 
wifdorn,  to  remedy  fome  of  th  fe 
evils,  and  to  reftore  fome  of  thofe 
advantages,  which  our  violence 
have  produced,  or  our  folly  fquan,-* 
dered. 

The  oppofition  were  not,  how¬ 
ever,  unanimous  in  their  opiniona 
with  regard  to  admitting  the  in¬ 
dependence  of  America.  It  was 
held  and  firmly  f  pported,  as  the 
only  means  of  faying  the  nation, 
by  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham, 
and  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  and 
[  *4  j  4  ftcme4 


1 68*3  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


feejmed  to  be  entertained  by  moil, 
or  all,  of  thofe  Lords  who  com- 
pofe  that  party.  But  the  Bails  of 
Chatham,  Temple,  and  Shelburne, 
with  feme  other  Lords  whole  fen- 
timer) ts  were  generally  jn  uniion 
with  theirs,  could  not  bear  the 
idea  of  a  feparation  from  Ame^ 
rica,  nor  confequently  of  its  in- 
dependence  This  they  confider- 
ed  as  the  greateft  of  all  poffible  po¬ 
litical  and  national  evils,  and  as 
including  the  utter  degradation  and 
final  ruin  of  this  country.  The 
evil,  (though  not  to  the  utmoft  ex¬ 
tent  it  was  defended)  was  acknow¬ 
ledged  on  the  other  fide;  but  the 
poffibilby  of  preventing  it  was  the 
matter  in  queftion 

The  queftion  being  at  length 
put  upon  the  Duke  of  Manchefter’s 
amendment,  it  was  rejected  upon 
a  divifion  by  a  majority  of  ico, 
including  16  proxies,  to  36,  in¬ 
cluding  two  proxies,  who  fupport- 
ed  the  queftion,  The  main  quef¬ 
tion  being  afterwards  put  on  the 
©ripinal  addrefs,  it  was  carried  bv 
a  proportional  majority,  though 
the  numbers  were  fmaller  on  both 
fides. 

Among  the  ftngularities  of  that 
day’s  debate,  a  noble  Earl,  in  the 
warmth  excited  by  the  fubjedl  de¬ 
clared,  that  the  nation  was  be 
trayed,  and  that  nothing  lefs  than 
treachery  could  account  for  thofe 
jneafures  which  led  to  its  prefect 
lituatiou.  The  fatal  effects  of  a 
fuppofed  fvftem  cf  corruption,, 
which  was  laid  to  be  at  this  time 
generally  prevalent,  became  a  fub¬ 
jedl:  alfp  of  much  animadverfion, 
in  the  courfe  of  which  the  conduct 
of  a  majority  in  the  other  Houfe 
underwent  fuch  ftridlures,  as  were 
probably  never  before  heard  within 
thole  walls a 


The  committee  on  March  . 
the  ftate  or  the  nation  y 

being  refumed  in  the  Houfe  of 
Commons,  the  fubjedl  of  the  late 
expedition  from  Canada  was  taken 
up  by  Mr.  Fox;  who  having  firlt 
caufed  the  papers  relative  to  that 
meafure  to  be  read,  proceeded  to 
flare  the  grounds  of  his  intended 
motions.  His  principal  objedt  was 
to  fhevv  that  the  meafure  was  ori¬ 
ginally  abfurd  and  impracticable 
in  the  defign  ;  and  that  the  failure 
of  effedl  being  accordingly  inevi- 
table,  all  the  fubfequent  Ioffes  and 
misfortunes  were  to  be  directly 
charged  to  the  noble  Lord  at  the 
head  of  the  American  department, 
and  not  to  the  officers  who  were 
entrusted  with  the  execution.  He 
accordingly  propofed  three  refolu- 
tions  tending  to  eftablifh  the  fol¬ 
lowing  points,  that  the  plan  of 
the  expedition  was  impolitic,  un- 
wife,  and  incapable  of  producing 
any  good  effedt ;  that  the  provifion 
made  for  it  was  inadequate  to  the 
objedt  ;  and  that  General  Bur- 
goyne  had  adted  agreeably  to  the 
tenor  of  his  inftrudlions.  From, 
thefe,  he  faid,  he  deduced  a 
fourth  refolution,  which  he  re- 
ferved,  and  which  was  intended 
to  pafs  the  cenfure  of  the  houfe 
upon  the  noble  Lord  who  was  j:he 
often fible  author  of  the  expedi-? 
tion. 

This  bufinefs  brought  on  the 
longeft  debate  that  had  taken  place 
during  the  courfe  of  the  feftion  ; 
and  called  forth  little  lefs  than 
the  whole  ability  on  both  fides  of 
the  Houfe.  The  framer  of  the 
motion  was  thought  in  his  intro- 
dudlory  fpeech,  to  have  even  tran- 
feended  his  enftomary  ftyie  of  ex¬ 
ertion,  and  his  friends  by  nq 
ztlpaps  loft  any  ground  in  their* 

fuppor 


* 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*169 


fupport.  On  the  other  fide,  the 
ground  of  impropriety  in  bring- 
ing  on  the  bufinefs  during  the  ab- 
fence  of  thofe  generals,  who  until 
the  contrary  was  eftablilhed,  mult 
be  conlidered  as  principal  parties 
in  the  charge,  was  again  taken. 
That  there  had  been  a  fault,  and 
a  great  one,  fomewhere,  was  uni- 
verfally  allowed.  A  whole  army 
had  been  loft.  The  nature  and 
fortune  of  the  war  thereby  totally 
changed.  A  new,  and  molt  dan¬ 
gerous  foreign  war  was  the  imme¬ 
diate  confequence  ;  the  lofs  of 
America,  and  even  more,  might 
poilibly  be  the  final.  The  caufes 
that  led  to  fuch  a  feries  of  fatal 
confequences,  they  faid,  required 
undoubtedly  the  ftridteft  invefti- 
gation  ;  and  the  fault,  wherever 
it  lay,  might  demand  even  more 
than  cenfure.  But  the  general  ac¬ 
knowledgement  of  a  fault  or  crime, 
could  by  no  means  imply  the  Mi- 
nifter  to  be  the  guilty  perfon  ; 
nor  could  the  enquiry  be  properly 
conduced,  nor  the  charge  fixed 
as  juftice  directed,  until  all  the 
parties  were  prefent,  and  all  the 
evidence. 

The  diredl  charges  made  againft 
the  American  Mitiifter  by  the  op- 
pofition,  however,  neceftarily  called 
forth  fome  direct  defence  ;  and  no 
pains  were  omitted  to  fhew,  that 
the  northern  expedition  was,  in 
the  fir  ft  place,  a  wife  and  nece/Tary 
meafure  ;  that  it  was  capable  of 
fuccefs,  and  the  defign  evidently 
practicable  ;  and  that  the  noble 
Secretary,  in  whofe  department  it 
Jay,  had  emitted  nothing  which 
could  be  done  by  an  attentive  P4i- 
nifter  to  infure  its  fuccefs.  They 
alfo  endeavoured  much  to  contro¬ 
vert  a  point  infjfted  on  by  the  op- 
pofnipn,  that  General  Jiurgoyne’s 


orders  were  peremptory  with  re- 
fpedt  to  his  advancing  to  Albany. 
They  faid,  that  however  peremp¬ 
tory  the  letter  of  inftruClions  might 
appear,  a  difcretionary  latitude  of 
conduCi,  to  be  regulated  by  cir- 
cumftances  and  events,  was  al¬ 
ways  neceftarily  implied  and  un- 
derftood.  This,  with  much  more 
upon  the  fubjeCl,  will,  however, 
properly  appear,  in  the  relation  of 
the  long  difeufiion  which  this  bufi¬ 
nefs  underwent  in  the  enfuing  fef- 
fion  of  parliament. 

Tiie  queftion  being  at  length, 
put,  the  firft  refolution  was  rejected 
upon  a  divifion,  by  the  great  ma¬ 
jority  of  164  to  44.  The  event  of 
this  divifion  was  refented  by  the 
mover,  Mr.  Fox,  with  an  unufual 
degree  of  warmth,  and  an  ap¬ 
pearance  of  the  higheft  indigna¬ 
tion.  He  not  only  declared  that 
he  would  not  propofe  another  mo¬ 
tion  ;  but  taking  the  refolution  of 
cenfure  out  of  his  pocket,  tore  it 
in  pieces,  and  immediately  quit¬ 
ted  the  houfe. 

The  conquering  party  were  not, 
however,  faiisfied  with  this  vic¬ 
tory.  They  were  determined  in 
the  prefent  warmth  of  fuccefs  to 
purfue  the  advantage,  and  to  ren¬ 
der  it  complete  by  a  vote  of  nega- 
t;ve  approbation.  A  great  Jaw 
officer  accordingly  moved,  that  it 
does  not  appear  to  this  committee, 
that  the  failure  of  the  expedition 
to  Canada  arofe  from  any  negleCl 
in  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
colonies.  Although  this  motion 
was  carried  in  the  committee,  yet 
as  the  chief  argument  of  the  ma¬ 
jority  turned  upon  the  injuftice  of 
any  decifion  in  the  abfence  of  the 
parties,  a  decifion  in  favour  of  the 
party  prefent  did  not  appear  very 
equitable  $  it  was  thought,  on 

confider* 


170*1  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


confideration  among  themfelves, 
that  it  would  be  more  expedient 
not  to  proceed  upon  it;  therefore, 
the  refolution  was  not  reported  to 
the  houfe,  by  which  it  was  ren¬ 
dered  in  effeft  a  non-entity. 

As  the  charge  of  a  boundlefs  pro- 
fufion  in  the  public  expenditure, 
had  afforded  a  conilant  theme  for 
animadverfion  to  the  oppofition  in 
both  Houfes  during  the  fefiion, 
Col.  Barre,  who  had  frequently 
taken  up,  and  commented  with  fe- 
verity  upon  detached  parts  of  the 
fubjedt,  at  length  determined  to 
render  the  whole  an  objedf  of  par¬ 
liamentary  enquiry.  In  a  com  pre¬ 
hen  five  view  which  he  took  of  va¬ 
rious  parts  of  the  fubjedt,  the  con¬ 
duct  of  minifters  and  contradlors, 
with  the  exorbitant  profits  fup- 
pofed  to  be  gained  on  contradls  and 
agencies,  underwent  no  fmall  fhare 
of  cenfure  and  animadverfion.  He 
concluded  an  able  fpeech,  fome 
parts  of  which  threw  the  miniiler 
into  an  unufual  degree  of  warmth, 
and  even  betrayed  him  into  fome 
irregularity  in  point  of  order,  and 
with  refpedt  to  interruption,  by 

Mar  5-th  n10vin§  for  a 

“  mitcee  to  infpeft 

the  public  accounts  with  refpedl 
“  to  expenditure,  and  to  report 
fi  their  opinion  thereon  to  the 
M  Houfe. s> 

Several  of  the  gentlemen  in  office 

oppofed  the  motion  as  unneceffary, 
from  a  con vi diion,  they  faid,  that 
the  treafury  had  a  fled  with  the  ut- 
moft  prudence  and  ceconomy  in  the 
difpofal  of  the  public  money.  They 
faid,  that  if  any  undue  profits  had 
in  fome  particular  infiances  been 

4 

obtained  by  contractors,  the  trea¬ 
fury  would  oblige  them  to  refund 
iuch  fums,  as  foon  as  the  accounts 
could  be  examined,  and  tbs  ne- 


cefTary  enquiries  made.  They  alfo 
faid  that  this  was  not  a  fit  feafori 
for  a  committee  of  accounts  ;  the 
Houfe  was  not  in  a  proper  difpofi- 
tior.,  nor  the  nation  in  a  proper 
temper,  for  fuch  a  difcuffion  ;  it 
would  only  afford  frefh  matter  for 
the  calumnious  fpirit  of  the  times  to 
prey  upon  ;  and  might  be  produc- 
tive  of  great  mifchief,  by  difTemi- 
nating  ill-founded  charges,  and  ex¬ 
citing  caufelefs  jealoufies  and  fufpi- 
cions  among  the  people. 

Amendments  and  modifications 
were  propofed  on  the  fame  fide, 
particularly  by  leaving  the  words, 
“  to  report  their  opinions  there- 
“  on,”  out  of  the  motion,  and  by 
referring  the  matter  to  a  feieCt  com- 
mitt.ee.  Thefe  points  were  agreed 
to,  and  21  gentlemen  were  accord¬ 
ingly  chofen  by  ballot  as  a  feleCl 
committee,  although  the  gentleman 
who  framed  the  original  motion, 
Hid  he  would  rather  withdraw  it, 
than  to  join  in  deceiving  the  public 
by  hanging  out  hopes  of  redrefs, 
when  it  was  evident  from  the  train 
in  which  the  bufmefs  was  now  pro¬ 
pofed  to  be  placed,  that  nothing 
ufeful  could  be  effected. 

On  the  fame  day,  a  petition 
of  uncommon  rigour  again!!  the 
Min  liters  was  prefen  ted  from  the 
town  and  county  of  Newcaltle  upon 
Tyne.  Jn  this  piece,  after  a  long 
enumeration  of  grievances  and 
evils,  particularly  thofe  appertain¬ 
ing  to  the  civil  war,  they  call  upon 
parliament,  that  its  wifdom  and 
attention  may  be,  44  ferioufly  en- 
44  gage^  to  inveftigate,  and  effec- 
44  tually  root  out,  the  caufe  of 
4 4  thefe  evils  ;  and  to  eflablilh  the 
44  peace  and  happinefs  of  focietya 
44  by  humbly  addrelfing  his  Ma. 
“  jelly  to  remove  from  his  pre- 
44  fence  -md  counfeU  for  ever  thofe 

c  t  meu^ 


HISTORY  O 

» 

**  men,  who  from  motives  of  in- 
«*  tereft,  or  vindictive  ambition, 

««  may  have  deftroyed  this  peace, 

“  interrupted  this  happinefs,  and 
44  forfeited  the  confidence  of  the 
“  people  ;  and  to  prevent  fucceed- 
“  ing  delinquents  from  being  mif- 
44  led  by  the  flattering  hopes  of 
44  impunity,  we  pray,  that  legal 
44  but  rigorous  and  exemplary  pu- 
44  nifhments  may  be  impartially 
44  inflicted  upon  any  who  are  found 
“  to  have  betrayed  the  juft  rights, 
44  and  facrificed  the  welfare,  of 
44  their  country  ;  that  fuch  effec- 
44  tual  check  may  be  given  to  vice 
44  and  corruption,  and  fuch  coun- 
44  tenance  and  encouragement  to 
44  public  virtue,  as  may  unite  a 
44  free  and  generous  people  upon 
“  the  folid  bafis  of  loyalty  and  mu- 
44  tual  afteCtion. ” 

.  ,  A  motion  made  by 

Pn  2  •  Mr.  Wilkes  for  bring¬ 
ing  in  a  bill  44  more  effectually  to 
“  prevent  the  dangerous  and  un- 
44  conftitutional  practice  of  giving, 
44  or  granting  money  to  the  crown, 
44  as  a  private  aid,  loan,  benevo- 
44  lence  or  fubfcription,  for  pub- 
44  lie  purpofes,  without  the  con- 
44  fent  of  parliament,”  was,  after 
44  a  fhort  debate,  rejected  upon  a 
divifion,  by  a  majority  of  71,  to 

4  a. 

On  the  fame  day  the  Minifter 
gave  notice,  that  he  would  on  the 
following  move  for  fome  allowance 
to  be  made  to  the  fublcribers  on 
the  prefent  loan,  in  order  to  make 
up  the  lofs  fuftained  by  them,  in 
confequence  of  the  change  which 
had  taken  place  in  public  affairs 
fince  the  time  of  their  fubfcription , 
and  which  had  materially  affeCled 
the  marketable  value  of  the  funds. 
He  faid  this  propofal  was  equitable 
and  juft,  as  thp  event  in  queftion 


F  EUROPE.  [*171 

had  taken  place  before  their  firft 
payment  was  made.  And,  that  if 
the  fubferibers  were  to  be  the  fuf- 
ferers,  it  would  be  out  of  the  power 
of  any  Minifter  to  raife  a  loan  upon 
any  future  occafion,  however  cri¬ 
tical. 

This  propofal  was  however  re¬ 
probated  in  fuch  unreferved  terms 
by  the  oppofition,  that,  although, 
it  was  afterwards  talked  of,  the 
Minifter  never  thought  fitting  to 
bring  it  forward.  They  faid  they 
were  aftenifhed  at  the  noble  lord’s 
temerity,  and  his  confequent  con¬ 
tempt  of  parliament  ;  it  was,  in¬ 
deed,  beyond  endurance.  So  bare¬ 
faced  a  propofition  had  never  been 
made  in  that  Houfe  ;  and  if  it 
were  received  it  would  eftablifh  a 
precedent,  of  a  more  dangerous 
nature,  than  even  any  of  thofe  hi¬ 
therto  furnifhed,  for  the  practice 
of  future  Minifters.  With  fuch  a 
precedent,  all  ideas  of  loans  and  of 
contraCls  would  become  ridiculous. 
Did  not  the  noble  lord  tell  the 
Houfe,  with  his  ufual  confidence 
and  tone  of  authority,  the  great 
advantage  he  had  allowed  the  fub- 
feribers  in  this  very  loan;  and  had 
he  the  face  now  to  come,  and  pro- 
pofe  to  take  a  fum  of  money  out  of 
the  national  purfe,  in  order  to  fup- 
ply  any  deficiency  of  intended  and 
expeCted  profit  which  might  fall  to 
the  lot  of  thofe  friends,  to  whom, 
as  marks  of  favour,  of  private  and 
parliamentary  kindnefs,  he  had  al¬ 
ready  parcelled  out  that  loan  in 
fuch  fhares  as  were  due  to  their 
refpeCtive  merits  ?  Suppole,  faid 
they,  that  thefe  fubferibers  had  (as 
has  frequently  been  the  cafe)  made 
fix  or  eight  per  cent,  upon  their 
money,  would  they  come  to  the 
treafury,  or  to  that  bar,  to  acknow¬ 
ledge  that  their  gains  were  exorbi¬ 
tant. 


172*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


tant,  and  that  they  were  come  to 
refund  the  extraordinary  profits  ? 

The  houfe~tax  bill  was  either 
combated  in  the  whole,  or  contro¬ 
verted  in  its  parts,  by  fome  in  the 
opposition,  in  every  part  of  its  pro- 
grefs  through  the  Houfe  of  Com¬ 
mons.  They  faid  it  was  particu¬ 
larly  injurious,  unjull,  and  oppref. 
five,  from  its  being  unequally  and 
partially  allotted,  as  near  nine- 
tenths  of  its  burthens  were  to  be 
borne  by  the  metropolis,  and  the 
county  of  Middlefex.  That  it 
carried  more  the  appearance  of  a 
bill  of  punifhment  on  the  citizens 
of  London,  for  their  daring  to  op. 
pofe  the  American  war,  than  a  fair, 
equal,  and  proportionate  tax  on 
property.  And,  they  faid  it  was 
a  moll  grievous  and  melancholy 
confideration,  that  thofe  who,  with¬ 
in  and  without  that  Houfe,  had 
either  perfonally  oppcfed  or  exe- 
crated  all  the  meafures  that  tended 
to  that  fatal  event,  {hould  in  them- 
felves  and  their  pofterity,  have  their 
properties  taxed,  and  their  inheri¬ 
tances  perpetually  mortgaged,  to 
fupply  the  immenfe  fums  lavifhed 
in  fchemes  of  folly,  cruelty,  and 
injuftice,  which  they  equally  la¬ 
mented  and  detefted. 

Failing  in  their  oppofition  to  the 
general  principle  of  the  bill,  they 
ufed  the  moil  ftrenuous  efforts  in 
the  committee  on  the  fecond  of 
April,  for  leffening  its  effect  with 
refpedl  to  the  poorer  orders  of  the 
people.  Upon  this  principle  they 
fir  ft  moved,  that  houfes  of  i  o  1 .  a 
year,  and  under,  fhould  not  be 
rated  to  the  tax.  This  queftion, 
after  eon  Inferable  debate,  being  ioft 
on  a  divifion,  by  a  majority  of  69 
to  5 1;  they  then  moved,  that 
houfes  of  7I.  a  year,  and  under, 
(hoold  be  exempted.  Upon  this 


being  reje&ed  on  a  divifion,  they 
defcended  through  different  grada¬ 
tions  of  rents,  down  to  five  pounds 
one  fhiliing  :  having  brought  every 
queftion  to  a  divifion,  and  loft 
every  one.  The  bill  was  paffed  on 
the  6th. 

The  diftreffes  of  Ireland  had 
long  been  an  ohjeft  of  regret,  even 
with  many  of  thofe  who  had  no 
particuiar  intereft  in  that  country. 
Without  entering  into  the  caufes 
from  which  thefe  originated,  it 

O  ^  * 

will  be  fufticient  to  obferve,  that 
they  had  grown  to  their  prefent 
alarming  and  deplorable  ftate,  un¬ 
der  the  unhappy  confequences  of 
the  American  war ;  fo  that  the 
country  became  unequal  to  the 
fupport  of  that  great  eftablifhrnent, 
with  which  it  had  (perhaps  too 
inconfiderately)  encumbered  itfelf, 
when  the  fiourifhing  ftate  of  all 
other  parts  of  the  Britifh  empire, 
had  diffufed  a  confiderable  degree 
of  profperity  even  thither. 

This  ftate  of  affairs  became  now 
fo  notorious,  and  the  confequences 
were  laid  to  be  fo  urgent,  that  the 
Minxilers  were  at  length  convinced 
of  the  necefiity  of  paying  attention 
to  them ;  and  of  affording  fome 
immediate  fatisfadfion  to  the  feel¬ 
ings,  if  not  an  entire  redrefs  to  the 
grievances  of  that  people.  Earl 
Nugent  had  accordingly  on  the  2d 
of  April  moved,  that  a  committee 
of  the  whole  houfe  fhould  be  ap¬ 
pointed  to  confider  of  the  trade  of 
Ireland.  The  noble  Lord  observed, 
that  the  conduct  of  Great  Britain 
towards  its  filler  kingdom,  had 
been  no  lefs  impolitic  than  unjuft, 
and  that  the  prefent  fituation  of 
public  affairs  called  particularly  on 
this  country  to  enter  into  a  revifion 
of  the  Irifh  trade  laws. 

Tfiis  propofal  in  favour  of  Ire¬ 
land* 


s 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [U73 


land,  though  originating  from  the 
court  fide  of  the  Houfe,  was  en¬ 
tered  into  with  great  cordiality  by 
molt  of  the  principal  members  of 
the  oppolition  ;  and  indeed  by  that 
whole  party,  excepting  a  few  gen¬ 
tlemen,  who  from  their  fituation 
as  reprefentatives  of  manufadturing 
towns  or  counties,  confidered  them- 
felves  under  an  indifpenfable  ob¬ 
ligation  to  pay  the  greateft  regard 
to  the  opinions,  although  they  were 
even  founded  on  the  prejudices,  of 
their  con lfi Clients.  The  former 
faid,  that  Ireland  was  now  the  chief 
dependency  of  the  Britifh  crown, 
and  that  it  particularly  behoved 
this  country,  at  this  feafon,  and  in 
this  fituation,  to  admit  the  Irifh 
nation  to  the  privileges  of  Britifh 
citizens ;  a  meafure  which  true 
policy  and  right  wifdom  would 
have  long  fince  adopted. 

They  faid,  that  the  re  ft  ri  (51  ions 
on  the  Irifh  trade  had  defeated  the 
purpofe  for  which  they  were  in¬ 
tended,  and,  inttead  of  promoting 
the  ftaple  manufabtory  of  this  coun¬ 
try,  in  its  woollen  fabricks,  pro¬ 
duced  a  direbt  contrary  effebt. 
For  the  Irilh,  in  order  to  pay  their 
rents,  were  under  a  neceifny  of 
difpofing  of  the  produce  of  their 
lands,  and  as  they  were  not  allow¬ 
ed  to  manufadture  their  wool,  to 
find  a  market  for  it  wherever  they 
could.  All  partial  laws  and  un¬ 
natural  reftraints  muft  ever  fail  in 
their  defign,  when  oppofed  to  the 
operation  of  fuch  a  neceffity. 
France,  feeling  an  irremediable 
want  of  the  raw  material  in  her- 
felf,  afforded  a  ready  market,  and 
an  exorbitant  price  for  the  Irifh 
wool.  The  cheapnefs  of  living, 
and  other  circumltances,  were, 
however,  more  than  a  counter- 
Jballance,  for  the  cxceffive  price 


which  fhe  paid  for  the  raw  mate¬ 
rial.  And  thus,  France  was  en¬ 
abled  to  arrive  at  fuch  a  ftate  with 
refpedt  to  her  woollen  manufac¬ 
tures,  as  to  rival  us  in  that  very 
commerce  of  which  we  were  fo 
jealous. 

The  noble  Lord’s  motions,  as  they 
were  then  ftated,  or  afterwards  al¬ 
tered  in  the  Committee  or  Houfe, 
were  placed  under  four  heads,  and 
diredted  to  the  following  purpofes  : 
That  the  Irifh  might  be  permitted 
to  export  direbtly  to  the  Britifh 
plantations,  or  to  the  fettlements 
on  the  coaft  of  Africa,  in  Britifh. 
fhips  navigated  according  to  law, 
all  goods,  wares,  and  merchan¬ 
dizes,  being  the  produce  or  ma¬ 
nufadture  of  that  kingdom,  wool 
and  woollen  manufactures  only  ex¬ 
cepted,  or  commodities  of  the 
growth,  produce,  or  manufadture 
of  Great  Britain,  legally  imported 
from  that  kingdom,  as  alfo  foreign 
certificate  goods,  under  the  fame 
condition.  The  fecond  permitted 
a  diredt  importation  into  Ireland, 
of  all  goods,  wares  and  merchan¬ 
dize,  being  the  produce  of  any  of 
the  Britifh  plantations,  or  of  the 
fettlements  on  the  coaft  of  Africa, 
tobacco  only  excepted.— .The  third 
permitted  the  direbt  exportation 
from  Ireland,  to  all  places  except 
Great  Britain,  of  glafs  manufac¬ 
tured  in  that  kingdom,  —  The 
fourth,  by  taking  offa  duty  amount¬ 
ing  to  a  prohibition,  permitted  the 
importation  of  cotton  yarn,  the 
manufadture  of  Ireland,  into  Great 
Britain. —  And  the  fifth,  which  was 
moved  by  Mr.  Burke,  permitted 
the  importation  of  Irifh  fail-cloth 
and  cordage. 

Although  the  motions  were  una- 
mmoufly  agreed  to  for  the  prefent 
and  that  the  greateft  good  wifhes 

were 


4*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


were  on  all  hands  expreffed  for  the 
filter  kingdom,  yet  fome  gentle™ 
men  could  not  forbear  expreffing 
their  apprehenfions,  that  if  the 
propofed  refolutions  jfhould  pafs 
into  a  law,  it  would  prove  highly 
detrimental  to  the  manufactures  of 
this  country  ;  for  that  the  taxes  in 
Ireland  being  low,  and  labour 
cheap,  the  Irifli  would  be  able  to 
underfell  us  in  fuch  a  degree,  as 
would  probably  prove  the  ruin  of 
feveral  of  our  trading  towns. 

To  this  it  was  anfwered,  that  the 
taxes  in  Ireland  were  many  and 
high;  and  that  upon  an  accurate 
examination,  they  would  be  found, 
proportionally  to  the  means  of 
paying  them,  confiderably  greater 
than  in  England.  That  ftrangers, 
from  the  apparent  opulence  and 
fplendor  of  the  metropolis,  with  the 
magnificence  and  unbounded  hof- 
pitality  of  people  of  fa  fin  ion,  were 
liable  to  be  much  deceived  in  their 
ideas  with  refipeCi  to  the  real  date 
of  that  kingdom.  But  that  in  faCt, 
the  people  of  that  country  had  lan¬ 
guished  fo  long,  under  the  molt 
intolerable  grievances,  and  the 
weight  of  the  moll  oppreffive  laws, 
that  they  were  now  reduced  to  a 
Hate  of  the  mod  extreme  wretched- 
nefs.  Their  loyalty,  however,  and 
sffe&ion  to  this  country,  were  fo 

far  faperior  with  them  to  all  other 
* 

confiderations,  that  in  the  midft  of 
their  own  diftrefs,  they  looked  only 
to  our  danger ;  and  though  the  op- 
predi  vends  of  our  adds  compelled 
multitudes  of  their  brethren  daily 
to  abandon  their  country  and  all 
that  was  dear  to  them,  who,  with¬ 
out  crime  or  charge,  were  under¬ 
going  in  foreign  lands  all  the  mi¬ 
le  ries  incident  to  a  date  of  banifh- 
ment,  yet  their  remaining  friends 
were  dill  willing  to  drain  every 


nerve  to  fupport  us  in  the  moment 
of  our  diftrefs.  A  noble  Lord  in 
office,  who  had  embarked  warmly 
on  that  fide,  concluded  his  fpeech 
by  declaring,  that,  a  braver,  a 
more  generous,  or  a  more  loyal 
people  were  not  to  be  found  ;  and, 
he  flattered  himfelf  therefore,  that 
they  would  be  treated  by  parlia¬ 
ment  according  to  their  high  de- 
ferts. 

A  gentleman  of  high  didinClicn 
in  the  oppofition,  and  who  had 
once  been  high  in  office,  after  ex- 
preffing  his  warmed  approbation  of 
the  prefent  meafure,  and  declaring 
his  happinefs  at  feeing  that  the 
mid  of  prejudice  was  beginning  to 
difperfe ;  added,  that  it  would  in- 
creafe  his  happinefs  to  give  the 
meafure  a  broader  bottom ;  for, 
though  he  was  as  dedfad  a  protef- 
tant  as  any  gentleman  in  theHoufe, 
he  wifhed  to  fee  fome  means  adopt¬ 
ed  for  granting  fuch  indulgences 
to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland, 
as  might  attach  that  great  body  of 
men  to  government ;  their  affec¬ 
tions  had  been  alienated  ;  he 
wifhed  to  recal  them  by  indul¬ 
gent  behaviour,  and  thereby  giv¬ 
ing  them  an  intered  in  govern¬ 
ment.  He  hated  the  persecuting 
fpirit  of  the  Romifti  religion,  and 
could  not  therefore  wifli  to  be  a 
perfecutor. 

This  brought  up  the  Minider, 
and  afforded  an  opportunity  for  a 
difclofure  of  his  fentiments  on  the 
prefent  bufinefs.  The  noble  Lord 
declared,  that  he  would  with  the 
greated  cordiality  concur  in  any 
meafure  which  tended  to  fo  defir- 
able  a  purpofe,  as  that  mentioned 
by  the  gentleman  who  fpoke  before 
him  ;  but  the  propofed  red  refs  was 
not  within  their  province;  it  pro¬ 
perly  belonged  to  the  parliament 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*175 


of  Ireland  ;  the  laws  which  were 
To  fevere  againft  the  Roman  Catho¬ 
lics  had  originated  there,  and  re- 
drefs  of  domefiic  grievances  fhouid 
likewife  of  right  originate  from 
them.  The  penal  laws  of  that 
kingdom  were  the  confequence  of 
apprehenfions ;  a  caufe,  which, 
however  groundlefs,  always  pro¬ 
duces  the  moft  fevere  and  cruel 
policy.  As  thefe  apprehenfions 
had  long  ceafed,  he  made  no  doubt 
that  their  own  parliament  would 
perceive  and  redrefs  the  grievance  ; 
for  there  was  not  any  where  a  peo¬ 
ple  of  mere  liberal  lentiments  than 
the  1  r  i  fh . 

Leaving  therefore,  he  faid,  to 
the  candour  of  their  own  parlia¬ 
ment,  to  grant  fuch  indulgence 
to  the  Roman  Catholics  as  their 
loyalty  deferved,  he  requefted  the 
Houfe  would  agree  to  what  was  in 
their  power,  and  properly  within 
their  province.  The  Jrifh  com¬ 
plained,  and  complained  withjuf- 
tice,  of  the  opprefiive  reflriCtions 
of  our  trade  laws;  a  relaxation  of 
them,  would  benefit  the  Jrifh,  and 
ultimately  enrich  ourfelves ;  their 
profits,  as  in  other  cafes,  would 
finally  center  with  us  ;  embarked 
in  the  fame  common  caufe  with  us, 
they  were  not  to  be  confidered  as 
rivals  in  trade;  but  their  rivals 
weie  in  reality  ours,  as  ours  fhouid 
be  theirs.  The  exception  of  wool¬ 
len  manufactures  he  fhouid  fay  no¬ 
thing  to  ;  it  might  not,  perhaps, 
be  j uffc  ;  that  point,  however,  had 
been  given  up  by  the  Irifn  them- 
felves,  and  the  refignation  con¬ 
firmed  by  an  ancient  compaCi.  He 
concluded  by  giving  an  unreferved 
and  hearty  concurrence  to  the  mo¬ 
tion. 

«  ..  r  ,  On  the  day  previous 

Apnl.  6th.  w  (his  buf'nefS,  Sir 


William  Meredith  had  moved  for 
a  repeal  of  the  declaratory  ad  of 
the  year  1766,  as  preparatory  to 
that  of  the  other  obnoxious  Ameri¬ 
can  laws;  the  whole  meafure  being 
in  his  opinion  abfoiutely  neceffary 
before  the  departure  of  the  com* 
mitfioners,  to  afford  any  profpeCl  of 
fuccefs  to  their  negociation.  The 
motion  was  oppofed  by  Mr.  Burke, 
who  fpoke  much  at  length  to  the 
queftion,  and  with  much  applaufe 
from  the  greater  part  on  both, 
fides  of  the  Houfe.  The  ten¬ 
dency  of  his  fpeech  was  to  prove 
that  the  a  Cl,  as  an  abffraCl  propo¬ 
rtion  of  law,  was  wife  at  the  time 
it  was  made.  That  it  produced 
great  advantage  at  that  time,  to 
the  meafures  for  healing  the  diffe¬ 
rences  with  America  ;  and  that  it 
produced  no  ill  effeCl.  That  the 
Houfe  had  already  formally  re¬ 
nounced  the  obnoxious  power  in 
quellion,  which  was  fuppofed  to  foe 
involved  in  that  aCl ;  and  that 
therefore  this  repeal,  would  be  only 
for  parliament  to  give  itfelf  the 
lie,  for  no  manner  of  purpofe. 
The  motion  was  gently  rejected 
without  a  divifion,  by  a  motion 
for  its  being  adjourned  for  two 
months. 

A  mefi'age  was  re-  .  .. 

ceived from  this  throne,  *  r**  ^  •«. 
to  enable  his  majefty  to  make  fuit- 
able  provifion  for  his  younger  chil¬ 
dren  out  of  the  hereditary  revenues 
of  the  crown,  which  could  not  be 
done  without  an  a  Cl  of  parliament 
for  the  purpofe.  The  propofal 
went  to  the  fettling  an  annuity  of 
60,000  1.  on  the  fix  younger 
princes,  of  30,000 1.  on  the  five 
princeffes,  and  of  12, coo  I.  on  the 
prince  and  princefs,  fon  and  daugh¬ 
ter  to  his  royal  highnefs  the  Duke 
of  Gloucefxer,  The  annuities  only 

to 


176*]  ANNUAL  R 

to  take  effedl,  in  the  flrd  indance, 
on  the  demife  of  his  Majefty  ;  and, 
in  the  fecond,  on  the  death  of  the 
Duke  of  Gloecetler.  A  biii  was 
accordingly,  immediately  brought 
in  on  thefe  grounds,  and  a  law 
fpeedily  pad'ed  for  the  deli  red  pur- 
pofe. 

In  a  few  days  after  Sir 
Philip  Jennings  Clerke, 
brought  in  what  was  called  the 
Contractor’s  Bill,  founded  upon 
the  ground  prefcrihed  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  motion,  “  A  bill  for  reftrain- 
«4  ing  any  perfon,  being  a  member 
s<  of  the  He ufe  of  Commons,  from 
«4  being  concerned  himfelf,  or  any 
€i  perfon  in  trull  for  him,  in  any 
**  contract  made  by  the  commif- 
«  doners  of  his  majelty’s  treaiury, 
the  commiflioners  of  the  navy, 
44  the  board  of  ordnance,  or  by 
<£  any  other  perfon  or  perfon s,  for 
the  public  fervice,  unlefs  the 
cc  laid  contradl  (hall  be  made  at  a 
*4  public  bidding. !> 

The  general  odium  under  which 
this  order  of  men  had  long  la¬ 
boured,  rendered  this  bill  exceed¬ 
ingly  popular  without  doors  ;  whillt 
it  afforded  an  opportunity  within 
{which  was  by  no  means  neglebted) 
of  renewing  all  that  cenfure,  that 
had  upon  various  occadons,  with  r,o 
unfparing  hand, been  bellowed  upon 
them  in  the  courfe  of  the  feflion. 
To  this  odium  it  can  only  be  at¬ 
tributed,  that  a  motion,  which  con¬ 
veyed  a  well  -  underftood  cenfure 
upon  government,  and  which  was 
indeed  founded  upon  former 
charges,  that  equally  included  the 
treafury  bench  and  the  contractors, 
fbould,  notwithflanding  all  the 
weight  of  adminiilration,  be  car¬ 
ried  by  a  conliderable  majority. 
Yet  fuch  was  the  event.  The  mo¬ 
tion  being  carried  by  a  majority  of 


EG  IS  TER,  1778. 

71  to  50,  and  a  bill  accordingly 
brought  in. 

In  the  mean  time  a  drong  oppo- 

fition  was  forming  againlt  the  Irifh 

bills,  which  were  founded  upon 

thofe  refolutions  we  have  already 

* 

dated.  A  general  alarm  was  fpread 
through  mod  of  the  trading  and 
manufacturing  parts  of  the  king¬ 
dom.  They  confidered  the  admit¬ 
tance  of  Ireland  to  any  participa¬ 
tion  in  trade,  as  not  only  dedruc- 
tive  in  the  mod  ruinous  degree  of 
their  property,  but  as  being  equally 
fubverdve  of  their  rights.  They 
were  as  little  difpofed  to  confent, 
that  the  people  of  Ireland  fhould 
cultivate  their  own  manufactures, 
and  difpofe  of  their  native  commo¬ 
dities  at  the  picper  foreign  Mar¬ 
kets,  as  they  were  to  admit  them 
to  any  limited  degree  of  participa¬ 
tion.  In  a  word,  a  foreign  inva- 
don  could  fcarcely  have  excited  a 
greater  alarm.  It  ran  like  an  in¬ 
fection  every  where,  and  took  fuch 
abfolute  poiTefiion  of  the  mind,  that 
the  recent,  and  immediately  fore¬ 
felt  example  of  America,  with  re- 
fpeCt  to  any  general  application  of 
caufes  to  erfeCts,  was  totally  for¬ 
gotten.  The  city  of  London  pre- 
ferved  the  dignity  of  fo  great  and 
majedic  an  emporium,  and  conti¬ 
nued  uninfluenced  by  common 
opinion,  and  unmoved  by  popular 
clamour. 

The  Eafler  recefs  afforded  time 
and  opportunity  for  public  meet¬ 
ings,  for  the  preparation  of  peti¬ 
tions,  and  of  indrudlions  to  repre- 
fentatives,  which  were  accordingly 
brought  up  in  considerable  num¬ 
bers  at  the  meeting  of  parliament. 
A  curious  circumflance  occurred 
upon  this  occafion,  which  afforded 
a  driking  indance  of  the  eagernefs 
with  which  ill-founded  popular  ap- 

prehenfions 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*177 


prehenfions,  may,  in  certain  cafes, 
be  received  and  communicated.  A 
motion  had  been  made,  and  a  bill 
accordingly  brought  in,  for  the 
importation  of  fail-cloth  from  Ire¬ 
land.  This  was  however  founded 
totally  in  error,  and  the  gentleman 
who  brought  it  in  afterwards  dif- 
covered,  that  the  liberty  of  import¬ 
ing  Irifh  fail-cloth  was  already  eda- 
blilhed,  by  a  poiltive  law  of  long 
Handing.  Yet  this  bill  was  as 
violently  oppofed  by  petitions  from 
different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and 
as  ftrongly  charged  with  the  moil 
ruinous  confequences,  as  any  of  the 
ether  four  bills  its  companions, 
which  were  all  founded  upon  new- 
ground.  From  hence  it  was  in¬ 
ferred  in  debate  by  the  mover,  and 
not  unfairly  urged,  that  the  jea- 
loufy  entertained  of  the  other  Iiifli 
bills  was  equally  unfounded,  and 
only  originated  in  prejudice,  ig¬ 
norance,  and  the  felfifh  views  of  a 
few  interefted  individuals. 

^  n  On  the  firft  day  of 
y  1  ’  bufinefs  after  the  Eafter 
recefs,  the  contractors  bill  was 
brought  in  and  read  the  firlt  time. 
A  motion  being  then  made,  for  its 
being  read  the  fecond  time  on  the 
4th,  it  was  oppofed ;  but  carried 
upon  a  divifion,  by  a  majority  of 
72  to  61.  Thefe  two  victories  af¬ 
forded  no  fmall  hope  to  the  oppo- 
fition  that  they  would  carry  it 
through  ;  and  there  was  no  doubt 
of  its  fuccefs  in  the  Houle  of  Lords. 
The  expe&ation  was  dill  Wronger 
cut  of  doors,  nor  was  the  hope  by 
any  means  weaker. 

The  full  appearance  of  the  Houfe 
(for  the  feafon  of  the  year)  on  the 
fecond  reading,  afforded  room, 
however,  for  apprehenfio.n ;  at  lead 
it  evidently  demondrated,  that  no 
means  were  left  untried,  to  give  a 
Vo l.  XXI. 


turn  to  the  courfe  of  that  new  cur¬ 
rent,  which  ran  fo  violently  agaiml 
a  very  confiderable  part  of  the 
ftrength  and  fupport  of  adminidra- 
tion.  A  motion  being  made  for 
committing  the  bill,  it  was  ftrongly 
oppofed,  and  a  confiderable  de¬ 
bate  enfued.  No  ground  could 
fearcely  be  taken  by  either  fide  in. 
this  debate,  which  we  have  not  al¬ 
ready  had  occafion  to  go  over,  or 
which  will  not  be  obvious  from  the 
nature  of  the  fubjeCt,  excepting 
only  one  objection  which  was  made 
to  the  bill  by  its  oppofers ;  namely, 
that  it  was  totally  inadequate  to 
its  purpofe;  that  it  could  not  pro¬ 
vide  againd  fecret  jobbing  under 
the  cover  of  nominal  agents,  the 
effects  of  which  would  be  much 
more  pernicious,  than  any  derived 
from  the  prefent  open  pra&ice. 
Some  new  charges  of  ma-verfation 
were  indeed  made,  and  fome  oar- 
ticular  indances  to  fhew  its  necedity 
pointed  out,  in  fupport  of  the 
bill  ;  and  fome  intemperance  b£ 
language,  from  a  gentleman  who 
felt  himfelf  included  in  its  opera¬ 
tion,  was  fuddenly  checked,  and 
reprehended  with  feverity  upon  the 
fpot. 

The  quedion  being  at  length 
put  upon  the  motion  of  commit-  - 
ment,  it  was  lod  by  two  only,  the 
numbers  being  115,  to  113,  who 
fupported  the  committing  of  the 
bill  upon  a  divifion.  A  motion, 
was  then  made  by  the  vidlors,  for 
its  being  laid  by  for  two  months, 
which  was  of  courfe  carried.  Thus 
was  a  bill,  which  many  confidered 
as  being  of  the  utmod  importance 
to  the  public  interebs  of  this  coun¬ 
try,  lod  by  only  two  voices. 

The  mclfage  for  a  vote  of  t 
credit,  which  was  received 
on  the  following  day,  cauhd  much 
[*ik?]  debate 


178*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


debate  on  that  and  the  next:  and, 
as  fome  new  ground  was  now  af¬ 
forded,  brought  out  an  extraordi¬ 
nary  degree  of  cenfure  upon  the 
conduct  of  the  minifters  ;  whilft  the 
circumftances  attending  the  imme¬ 
diate  charge  afforded  them  rather 
unequal  means  of  defence.  For  it 
was  now  known  that  D’Eftaing’s 
fleet,  confiding  of  12  fhips  of  the 
line,  had  failed  from  Toulon  be¬ 
fore  the  middle  of  the  preceding 
month.  America  was  generally 
fuppofed  to  be  its  object  ;  and  as 
no  fquadron  had  been  fent  from 
hence,  either  to  intercept  it  on  the 
pafiap-e,  or  to  combat  it  on  the 
fpot,  it  was  much  apprehended, 
that  from  the  comparative  weak¬ 
ness  of  the  force  under  Lord  Howe, 
both  our  fleet  and  army  might  have 
fallen  facrifices  to  ’the  great  naval 
fuperiority  of  the  French,  in  cdn- 
jun&ion  with  the  whole  land  force 
of  America,  which,  it  could  not  be 
doubted,  would,  on  fuch  an  ac¬ 
count,  be  drawn  from  all  parts  to 
the  point  of  action.  Several  con¬ 
curring  circumftances  ferved  much 
to  widen  this  ground  of  complaint 
and  cenfure.  The  preparations  ne«* 
ceffary  for  the  equipment  of  this 
fleet  at  Toulon,  were  fo  great,  and 
had  continued  fo  long,  that  the 
defigned  expedition,  had  for  fome 
months  been  a  fubjed:  of  public 
attention,  and  of  general  conver¬ 
sation,  in  moil  parts  of  Europe  ; 
and  even  its  objefl  had  been  pub¬ 
licly  talked  of.  About  the  very' 
time  that  a  fcheme  fo  full  of  dan¬ 
ger  in  its  defign,  was  carrying  into 
immediate  effect  at  Toulon,  by  the 
departure  of  the  French  fquadron 
in  purfuit  of  its  objeft,  a  royal  na¬ 
val  review  at  Portfm'outh,  was  faid 
to  have  entirely  occupied  the  at¬ 
tention  of  the  admiralty  the  navy. 


and  of  government.  And,  as  if  it 
had  been  to  complete  and  round 
the  fubjedls  of  complaint,  it  hap¬ 
pened  that  the  abfence  of  the  mi¬ 
nifters  from  town,  at  the  time  that 
the  difpatches  arrived  at  London 
with  the  account  of  D’Eftaing’s 
failing,  prevented  for  fome  days 
the  holding  of  a  council,  and  of 
courfe  the  fending  any  timely  or¬ 
ders  to  Portfmouth,  for  endeavour¬ 
ing  to  provide  again  ft  the  danger, 
fo  that  the  wind  had  unluckily 
changed  to  a  wrong  point,  before 
any  effedlive  meafure  could  be  di¬ 
rected  or  taken. 

In  this  ftate  of  things,  the  mini- 
fter’s  motion,  for  referring  the  mef- 
fage  from  the  throne  to  the  com¬ 
mittee  of  fupply,  was  direfily,  and 
peremptorily  oppofed.  The  oppo- 
fition  faid,  that  it  would  be  the 
height  of  imprudence  and  folly,  in 
the  prefent  dangerous  crifis  of  af¬ 
fairs,  to  vote  an  indefinite  grant  of 
money,  to  an  adminiftration  fo  to¬ 
tally  incapable  of  expending  the 
public  revenue  either  with  cecono«- 
my  or  effeft.  Whilft  the  public 
affairs  were  (to  the  misfortune  and 
ruin  of  the  whole  empire)  com¬ 
mitted  to  fuch  hands,  it  was  in¬ 
cumbent  on  parliament  to  attend 
conftantly  to  its  own  bufinefs  and 
that  of  the  nation.  They  fhould 
fit  and  vote  the  money  gradually, 
as  the  wants  and  occafions  arofe. 
The  emergencies  ought  firft  to  be 
afeertained  to  the  Houfe,  the  Aims 
fpecified,  and  authentic  documents, 
or  vouchers  for  the  expenditure 
laid  upon  the  table,  before  they 
granted  a  fhilling  to  fuch  men. 
No  puniftiment,  they  faid,  could 
be  too  great  for  thofe,  who  under 
the  affectation  of  bearing  the  name, 
or  filling  the  rank  of  minifters,  or 
from  the  ftill  baler  motive  of  lucre, 
6  ventured 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*179 


ventured  to  undertake  the  conduCl 
of  public  affairs  in  a  great  nation, 
and  in  the  molt  arduous  circum- 
llances,  when  their  ignorance,  la- 
zinefs,  and  incapacity,  rendered 
them  totally  incapable  of  fulfilling 
their  duty. 

They  faid  that  incapacity  was  as 
injurious  to  the  nation  as  the 
blacked  treachery.  Of  what  avail 
was  it  to  the  public  to  inform  them, 
that  it  was  not  through  treachery, 
but  through  mere  ftupidity  and  ig¬ 
norance,  that  from  the  want  of  a 
proper  fquadron  being  ftationed  at 
Gibraltar,  D’Eftaing  was  fuffered 
to  burft  through  the  confined  limits 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  to  carry 
deftru&ion  to  our  fleet  and  army  in 
North  America,  and  fire  and  fword 
afterwards  to  our  Weft  -  India 
iflands  ?  Was  it  of  any  ufe  to  the 
nation  to  be  informed,  whether  it 
proceeded  from  treachery,  or  from 
that  fatality  which  had  ever  at¬ 
tended  the  prefent  inaufpicious  ad- 
miniftration,  and  which  had  ba- 
nifhed  every  able  and  honeft  man 
from  the  royal  counfels,  that  the 
navy  of  England  was  engaged  in  a 
holiday  pageant  at  Spithead,  to  di¬ 
vert  the  attention  of  the  people 
from  their  immediate  danger, 
whilft  our  colonies  and  foreign  de¬ 
pendencies  were  abandoned,  our 
glory  tarnifhed,  and  the  Britifh  flag 
for  ever  difgraced  ? 

Would  it  leffen  the  calamities  of 
the  nation  to  learn,  that  the  pil¬ 
lage  of  their  coafts  during  the  fum- 
mer,  the  alarm  and  terror  into  which 
different  parts  of  the  kingdom  had 
been  thrown,  under  the  apprenen- 
fion  of  immediate  invafion,  toge¬ 
ther  with  the  deftru&ion  of  their 
commerce,  and  the  lofs  of  public 
credit,  proceeded  merely  from  the 


incapacity  of  the  minifters  ?  Or 
that  the  calling  out  of  a  militia 
without  arms,  and  fending  them 
to  be  encamped  without  tents  or 
field  equipage,  fprung  from  the 
fame  caufe  ?  But  to  which  ever 
caufe  the  foregoing  inftances  may 
be  attributed,  no  doubt,  faid  they, 
can  be  entertained,  that  it  was  the 
moll  thorough  conviction  of  their 
incapacity,  which  produced  the 
French  refeript,  the  dangerous 
meafure  on  which  it  was  founded, 
and  the  infult  and  contumely 
which  the  Britifli  flag  has  under¬ 
gone  in  the  ports  of  Spain.  No¬ 
thing  lefs  than  fuch  conviction, 
could  have  emboldened  thofe  na¬ 
tions  to  venture  upon  fuch  a  con- 
duCt ;  nor  could  any  other  poflible 
direction  of  the  affairs  of  Great- 
Britain,  have  drawn  upon  it  fuck 
infult  and  injury. 

They  afked,  if  any  man  in  his 
fenfes  could  give  a  vote  of  credit  to 
a  miniftry,  who  were  always  the 
laft  to  learn  what  they  fhould  be 
the  firft  to  know  t  Who  could  be 
fo  in  fen  Able  of  the  fudden  emer¬ 
gencies  to  which  fuch  a  feafon  as 
the  prefent  was  liable,  that  when 
the  account  arrived  of  a  tranfac- 
tion,  which  every  body  expeCted, 
and  which  they  fhould  long  flnee 
have  guarded  againft,  only  one  of 
them  was  to  be  found,  and  the  reft 
were  fo  difperfed  in  the  courfe  of 
their  pleafures,  that  a  fufficient 
number  of  them  could  not  be  pro=* 
cured  for  holding  a  council,  until 
the  hour  of  debate  and  determina¬ 
tion  was  loft.  Thus  have  we  loft 
that  advantage  of  the  wind,  which, 
its  known  and  natural  courfe  in 
the  month  of  April  aftorded  ;  and 
now  fee  our  fleet  embayed  at  Portf- 
mouth,  and  likely  to  continue 

[*M]  2  there* 


j  8o*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778.' 


there,  from  its  having  as  naturally 
and  regularly  taken  the  oppoftte 
diredion. 

Who  then,  they  faid,  could  Cruft 

fuch  minifters?  or  was  it  even  poffi- 

ble  to  eftimate  their  guilt  ?  Was 

there  any  thing  more  wanting  to 

feal  that  fatal  charader  of  their 

adminiftration,  which  carried  no 

other  diftindion,  than  the  regular 

and  fucceftive  circa mftances  of  ruin 

in  which  they  had  involved  their 

country  r  But  it  feemed,  that  the 

difgrace  of  a  Burgoyne  was  to  be 

atoned  bv  the  deftrudion  of  a 
* 

Howe ;  and  the  want  of  infor¬ 
mation  relative  to  the  union  of 
France  and  America,  to  be  com- 
penfated  by  the  ignorance  of 
ITEftaing’s  failing  and  deftinacion, 
A  gentleman  oh  diftindion  on  that 
fide  ended  his  fpeech  with  an  eager 
exclamation,  (i  Whither  is  the  fpi- 
«£  rit  of  England  fled  ?  Where  is 
<«  the  wifdom  that  ufed  to  pervade 
st  her  counfels  ?  Where  are  the 

terrors  gone,  with  which  ftie 
54  was  wont  to  All  the  fcofoms  of 
te  thofe  who  dared  to  info  It  her  ? 
*'•  Britain,  he  feared,  was  betray- 
t(  ed ;  treachery  and  corruption 
34  vied  with  each  other  to  fee 
*e  which  fhould  fir il  effed  her 
**  downfall  and  disgrace.” 

The  minifters  faid  they  were 
confident,  that  if  the  gentlemen  on 
the  other  fide  were  acquainted 
with  the  preparations  that  had 
been  made,  and  the  eftedual  care 
taken  to  proted  this  country  from 
Invafion,  they  would  not  fo  rafbly 
condemn  them  for  treachery  ;  nor 
charge  them  fo  haftily  With  incapa¬ 
city*  Themmoft  exertions  had  been 
ufed,  as  well  with  refped  to  the 
navy,  as  to  every  other  mode  of 
preparation  and  defence.  And 
though  no  fleet  had  yet  failed  & 


oppofe  the  Toulon  fquadron,  that 
was  properly  to  be  attributed  to 
the  advantage  of  fupply  which  the 
French  derived  from  their  regifter, 
and  which  at  all  times  enabled 
them  to  man  out  a  fleet  fooner  than, 
we  could  ;  but  it  by  no  means  af¬ 
forded  any  juft  ground  for  the  re¬ 
peated  charges  of  incapacity  made 
againft  the  minifters*  They  be- 
fides  infilled,  that  in  the  prefent 
circuraftances  of  danger  to  which 
the  nation  was  expofed,  under  the 
immediate  threat,  and  apprehenfion 
of  invafion,  it  would  have  been 
highly  imprudent  and  unwife  to* 
have  weakened  the  home  defence 
by  any  detachment  from  the  grand 
fleet,  until  fuch  a  force  was  pro¬ 
vided,  as  would  have  been  ade¬ 
quate  to  the  different  fervices. 
And  if  it  had  been  even  otherwife, 
and  that  detachments  could  have 
been  (pared,  ftill,  they  contended, 
that  it  would  not  have  been  fitting 
to  fend  out  a  fquadron  to  oppofe 
P’Eftaing,  without  fome  clue  for 
its  guidance  in  meeting  him,  which 
could  not  be  obtained,  until  fome 
light  was  thrown  on  his  deftination 
or  objedl.  It  was  hoped,  that  if 
D’Eftaing  was  bound  to  North- 
America,  Lord  Howe  would  be 
able  to  ufe  fuch  means  of  defence, 
as  would  prevent  any  immediate 
confequence  of  moment  ;  but  in 
the  worft  that  could  poflibly  hap¬ 
pen,  Admiral  Byron,  with  the 
fleet  now  under  his  orders  at  Portf- 
mouth,  would  arrive  in  time  on 
that  coaft,  to  take  full  vengeance 
for  any  ihfult  that  was  offered. 

The  American  minifter  acknow¬ 
ledged,  that  appearances  were 
againft  the  miniftry  ;  but  appear¬ 
ances  were  not  to  juftify  a  con¬ 
demnation  ;  a  full  enquiry  into 
the  tire  urn  dances  might  place  their 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*iSr 


cafe  in  a  very  different  light.  For 
his  part,  he  was  ready  to  meet 
every  fcrutiny,  and  wifhed  punilh- 
ment  to  fall  where  it  was  deferved. 
When  the  difpatches  arrived,  he 
took  the  fpeedieft  means  to  con¬ 
vene  the  minifters  from  the  coun¬ 
try,  where  fome  of  them  then 
were.  That,  from  the  time  of 
their  arrival,  the  greateft  expedi 
tion  had  been  ufed  by  him,  in 
fending  the  orders  of  council  to 
the  proper  officers  at  Spithead  ; 
but  misfortunes  were  not  always  to 
be  avoided.  He  hoped,  he  hear¬ 
tily  wifhed,  that  our  affairs  might 
take  a  happier  turn.  The  pain¬ 
ful  pre-eminence  of  office  was,  he 
faid,  at  fuch  a  time,  little  to  be 
envied  ;  and,  for  his  part,  if  any 
gentleman  of  talents  and  inclina¬ 
tion  to  ferve  his  country  wifhed  to 
come  into  his  place,  he  was  ready 
to  refign  it. 

It  will  not  efcape  obfervation, 
that  the  acknowledgment  now 
made,  of' not  venturing  to  detach 
a  fquadron  from  the  home  defence, 
in  a  cafe  of  fuch  infinite  import¬ 
ance,  as  that  of  the  Toulon  fqua- 
dron’s  being  admitted  to  come 
freely  out  of  the  Mediterranean, 
ill  accorded  with  that  flourilhing 
ftate  of  the  navy,  which  had  been 
fo  long  and  fo  frequently  boalled. 
Nor  will  it  be  fuppofed  that  fuch 
a  circumftance  efcaped  the  watch¬ 
ful  attention,  or  the  pointed  ani- 
madverfion,  of  the  minority. 

Upon  the  whole,  notwithftand- 
ing  the  warm  part  taken  by  the 
oppofition  againft  the  minifters, 
the  danger  of  the  time  was  fo  fen- 

O 

fibly  felt,  and  the  neceffity  of  the 
meafure  fo  well  underftood,  that 
they  did  not  feem  to  mean  any  real 
obftrudtion  to  the  vote  of  credit ; 
fo  that  it  was  not  only  palled  in 


the  Committee,  but  the  report  re¬ 
ceived  and  agreed  to  in  the  Houfe 
on  the  following  day,  without  a 
divifion  being  demanded  on  either. 

The  fecond  reading  of  .  *  ,  . 

the  Iriih  bills  brought  out  U'lay  °  6 

the  whole  force  of  debate  on  that 
fubjedt.  Sir  Cecil  Wray  moved, 
that  the  words  “  on  this  day  three 
months,”  be  added  to  the  order 
for  reading  the  bills,  in  the  place 
of  the  word  “  now.”  He  was 
feconded  by  Sir  Thomas  Egerton, 
and  the  bufmefs  was  warmly  taken 
up,  and  extremely  well  fupported 
on  both  Tides.  As  the  fubjedl 
was  then,  and  dill  continues,  to 
be  an  objedt  of  the  firft  political 
consideration  with  refpedt  to  both 
kingdoms,  we  dial!  be  the  more 
particularly  attentive  in  Hating  the 
debate. 

The  Gentleman  who  moved  the 
amendment,  profefted,  in  the  firft 
place,  the  beft  difpofition  towards 
the  whole  Iriih  nation;  faid,  he  was 
ready  to  concur,  at  any  time,  in 
whatever  might  promote  the  true 
interefts  of  that  country  ;  and  ex- 
preffed  his  hearty  willies,  that  the 
Britilh  Parliament  might  render 
her  every  affiltance  in  its  power, 
without  infringing  on  the  trade  of 
Great  Britain.  He  well  knew  the 
grievances  of  that  country,  and 
lamented  them.  Of  thefe  he 
numbered,  the  Iriih  penlion-lift; 
the  finecure  offices ;  the  penal  laws 
againft  Roman  Catholics  ;  with 
abfentees,  and  fome  others.  He 
affured  the  Houfe,  that  he  would 
not  only  gladly  join  in  redreffing 
thefe  grievances ;  but  that  if  the 
amendment  he  propofed  fhould 
meet  with  their  fentiments,  he 
would  move  for  a  committee  be¬ 
fore  they  rofe,  to  take  into  confi- 
deration,  early  in  the  next  feffion, 

,  3  .  /  the 


i8a*]  ANNUAL  RE 

the  redriflive  laws  on  the  trade  of 
Ireland  ;  and  would  do  every  thing 
in  his  power  to  forward  the  in- 
tereds  of  that  country,  where  they 
did  not  immediately  interfere  with 
thofe  of  England, 

He  further  declared,  that  he  had 
no  objedion  to  admit  of  Ireland’s 
participating  equally  with  us  in 
the  benefits  of  a  free  trade,  pro¬ 
vided  fhe  bore  an  equal  fhare  of 
our  national  burthens  ;  but  that 
was  not  the  cafe,  nor  was  any 
thing  tending  towards  it  propofed 
by  the  bills.  Ireland  was  fuppofed 
to  contain  above  two  millions  of 
fouls,  and  they  were  taxed  at  one 
million  in  money ;  which  was 
about  ten  {hillings,  on  an  average, 
to  each  head.  But  Great-Britain, 
with  fix  millions  of  fools,  was  tax¬ 
ed  at  twelve  millions  of  money  • 
by  which  each  inhabitant  paid 
forty  {hillings  towards  the  fupport 
pf  government.  So  aftonifhing  a 
difference  between  the  circum- 
jftances  of  both  countries,  carried 
with  it  fuch  intuitive  conviction, 
as  to  fup er fed e  all  argument  upon 
the  fuhjed,  and  to  fhevv,  at  the 
Urd  view,  the  impolicy,  the  un- 
reafonablenefs,  and  even  the  in- 
juftice  to  our  own  people,  (who 
bad  undertaken  this  heavy  burthen 
on  the  faith  of  our  navigation 
laws,  and  the  fuppofed  fecurity 
and  {lability  of  cur  commerce)  of 
pafiing  the  bills  now  depending. 

He  was  likewife  of  opinion,  that 
the  p refen t  meafure  was  brought  in 
at  a  very  improper  time,  when  the 
piinds  of  men  were  taken  up  with 
matters  of  the  mod  fingular  im¬ 
portance  ;  the  bufinefs  was,  be¬ 
sides,  of  too  ferious  and  compli¬ 
cated  a  nature  to  be  hurrkd  through, 
at  the  latter  end  of  a  feffion.  A 
matter  of  fuch  magnitude,  as  that 


CIS  TER,  1778. 

of  overthrowing  the  whole  fyffem 
of  our  trade-laws,  was  not  to  be 
lightly  undertaken;  nor  hadily 
determined.  Such  a  meafure  de¬ 
manded  the  rooft  mature  delibera¬ 
tion,  the  drifted  inveftigation  of 
fads  and  ciicumftances,  along  with 
the  fulled  confideration  of  future 
effefts  and  contingencies. 

As  to  any  danger  of  a?rebellion 
in  Ireland,  from  a  failure  of  ex- 
peded  relief  founded  on  thefe  pro- 
pofitions,  he  could  not  think  that 
there  was  the  fmalled  foundation 
for  any  fuch  apprehenfion.  Be- 
fides  that  rebellion  was  not  in  the 
charader  of  that  nation,  the  people 
at  larpe  were  not  at  all  intereded 

O 

in  the  event  of  thefe  bills  ;  their 
operation  would  be  confined  to  the 
metropolis  and  a  few  of  the  prin¬ 
cipal  fea-ports,  where  it  could  only 
affeft  the  capital  merchants  and 
traders.  Opulence  does  not  pro¬ 
duce  the  men  for  rebellion,  and 
happily,  the  indigent  in  that 
country  have  no  concern  in  the 
quedion  ;  had  America  been  rich, 
Ihe  would  never  have  rebelled  ; 
they  are  the  rich,  who  in  all  coun¬ 
tries  are  calculated  for  flaVery. 

He  obferved,  that  the  petitions 
on  their  table  deferved  the  parti¬ 
cular  attention  of  parliament;  the 
petitioners  were  men  of  a  defcrip- 
tion  entitled  to  refped,  and  to  a 
patient  hearing  ;  their  evidence 
were  dill  to  be  examined,  and  their 
counfel  heard  ;  and  he  appealed  to 
the  candour  of  gentlemen  on  all 
Tides  of  the  Houfe,  whether  the 
month  of  May  was  the  proper  fea- 
fon  to  enter  into  fo  laborious  and 
important  an  inveftigation.  And 
faid,  that  although  he  was  not 
apprehenfive  of  a  rebellion  in  Ire¬ 
land,  that  was  more  than  he  would 
venture  to  anfwer  for  with  refpeft 

to 


FI  I  STORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*i8j 


to  England,  if  the  prefent  bills 
palled,  confiaering  the  confequent- 
ly  increafed  want  of  employment 
which  would  then  be  fuperadded 
to  the  prefent  diftrefl'es  of  our 
manufacturers.  He  concluded,  by 
ftrongly  urging  the  Houfe  to  lay 
the  bills  afide;  to  refer  the  general 
bufinefs  of  Ireland  to  a  committee  ; 
whofe  report  would  lay  the  foun¬ 
dation  for  their  future  mature  de¬ 
liberation  ;  and  enable  them  to 
afford  fuch  redrefs  to  Ireland,  as 
the  fituation  of  both  countries 
would  admit  of  without  prejudice 
to  this. 

Mr.  Burke  was  the  great  and 
powerful  fupporter  of  the  bills  in 
point  of  debate.  His  fituation  was 
rather  fingular,  and  undoubtedly 
embarraffing.  For  he  received  his 
feat  in  parliament,  without  expence, 
from  the  free  votes  and  predilec¬ 
tion  of  the  citizens  of  Briftol  in  his 
favour.  And  his  conftituents  now 
thought  their  interefts  materially 
afteCted  by  the  bills  in  queftion. 
As  this  fubjeCt  was,  perhaps,  ne¬ 
ver  before  fo  ably  difcuffed,  we 
/hall  date  fome  of  the  arguments 
that  appeared  in  fuch  abftra&s  as 
we  have  feen  of  that  gentleman’s 
fpeech. 

He  faid,  that  the  bills  before 
them  were  no  more  than  reftora- 
tions  of  what  the  wifdom  of  a  Bri- 
tifh  Parliament  had,  on  a  former 
occafion,  thought  proper  to  invert 
Ireland  with.  The  navigation  bills 
parted  in  the  12th  of  Charles  the 
Second,  extended  to  Ireland  as 
well  as  to  England.  A  kind  of 
left-handed  policy  had,  however, 
deprived  her  of  the  freedom  (he 
had  enjoyed  under  that  law,  and 
fhe  had  ever  fince  remained  under 
the  moft  cruel,  opprefilve,  and 
unnatural  rertri&ion.  Deprived  of 


every  incentive  to  indurtry,  and 
fhut  out  from  every  paftage  to 
wealth,  (lie  had  inwardly  lamented, 
but  (he  had  never  complained  of 
her  condition.  She  had  gone  the 
moft  forward  lengths  in  ferving  the 
interefts,  and  in  defending  the 
rights  of  Great-Britain.  She  had 
artifted  in  conquefts,  from  which 
(he  was  to  gain  no  advantage,  and 
emptied  her  treafury,  and  defolatei 
her  land,  to  prove  her  attachment 
and  loyalty  to  the  government  of 
this  country.  Such  had  been  her 
conduCI,  and  her  reward  had  been 
reftriClion  and  commercial  bondage 
of  the  moft  cruel  nature.  He  did 
not  mean,  he  faid,  by  defcribing  her 
fituation,  to  engage  the  humanity 
of  the  Houfe  in  her  favour  ;  he 
knew  very  well  that  alms  are  but 
poor  refources  :  juftice,  and  not 
pity,  was  to  be  the  meafure  of  our 
conduct.  The  Irifh  requefted  Bri. 
tain  to  be  wife,  not  to  be  generous  ; 
to  provide  for  her  own  good, 
and  to  fecure  her  own  intereft ; 
fenfible  that  wifdom  and  prudence 
would  diftate  ;  that,  to  accomplifh 
thefe,  a  different  conduCt  towards 
them  was  neceflary. 

The  annual  revenue  of  the  two 
kingdoms,  he  faid,  had  been  ex- 
uhingly,  but  moft  inequitably, 
drawn  into  comparifon,  to  prove 
that  Ireland  paid  no  proportion  of 
tax.  It  was  not  the  number  of 
inhabitants  that  conftituted  the 
fpecific  difference  in  the  article 
of  taxation  between  two  coun¬ 
tries  ;  but  the  diftinCtion  of  internal 
opulence  and  external  advantage. 
Compare  the  two  countries  by  that 
line,  and  it  will  be  found  that  Ire¬ 
land  is  taxed  in  a  quadruple  pro¬ 
portion  more  than  England.  The 
internal  wealth,  and  the  external 
advantage  of  trade  and  commerce, 

[*M]  4 


i84*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


are  forty  times  greater  in  England 
than  in  Ireland.  There  is,  there¬ 
fore,  no  ratio  of  proportion  in  the 
mode  of  taxing  the  latter.  She  is 
taxed  without  enjoying  the  means 
of  payment.  There  are  feveral 
excifes  which 'England  is  fubjeCt  to, 
and  which  fhe  is  not.  Suppofe 
them  laid  :  they  mud  be  laid  for 
the  fake  of  oppreffion,  not  produc¬ 
tion  ;  and  for  the  benefit  of  the 
officers,  not  of  the  revenue.  Lea¬ 
ther  is  taxed  in  England  —  but 
what  would  be  the  prod  nil  of  fuch 
a  tax,  where  fuch  innumerable 
multitudes  of  the  people  never 
wear  ffioes  ?  You  tax  candles  in 
England.  But  there  are  two  hun¬ 
dred  thoufand  houfes  in  Ireland, 
In  which  probably  a  candle,  fuch 
as  you  tax,  was  never  lighted. 
The  taxes  mull  follow  wealth,  and 
not  precede  it.  If  any  attempt 
again  ft  this  rule  is  made,  there  will 
neither  be  wealth  nor  taxes.  This, 
he  faid,  was  the  order  of  nature  ; 
which  muft  be  followed.  And  as 
to  the  judgment  of  the  proportion, 
it  mull,  be  left  to  themfelves,  or 
they  are  not  free  ;  and  furely  the 
fault  of  the  parliament  of  Ireland, 
has  never  been  illiberality  in  its 
grants.  Reftri&ed  from  trading, 
fhe  enjoys  no  opportunity  of  ac¬ 
quiring  wealth  to  defray  and  dif- 
charge  the  taxes  impofed  upon  her. 
Enlarge  her  means  of  payment, 
and,  in  proportion  to  her  ability, 
ffie  will  enlarge  her  taxes.  An 
equality  of  commercial  advantage 
could  not  be  eltabli fined  between 
the  two  countries.  The  opulence 
of  the  one  is  a  great  obflacle  to  the 
other.  The  great  dlfproportion  of 
capital  effectually  deftroys  the  pof- 
frbility  of  an  equality.  And  as  the 
ability  of  proceeding  will  increafe 
ill  the  fame  proportion,  in  the  pro- 


grefs  of  the  one  and  of  the  other, 
the  fame  proportion  of  advantage 
will  dill  remain.  The  Irifii  will* 
be  able  to  follow  the  Engliih  at  an 
equal  diftance  in  every  ftage,  both 
in  the  outfet  and  in  the  continu¬ 
ance  ;  but  they  will  never  be  able 
to  accelerate  their  motion  fo  as  to 
overtake  them. 

He  faid,  the  fuppofed  operation 
of  the  cheapnefs  of  labour  with 
refpeft  to  manufactures  was  to¬ 
tally  unfounded,  and  the  arguments 
founded  thereon  nugatory  ;  and  that 
until  the  inftant  that  the  price  of 
labour  was  equal  in  both  coun¬ 
tries,  the  fuperiority  of  manufac¬ 
ture  would  remain  with  the  Eng- 
lilh.  That  the  price  of  labour 
rifes  with  the  grow  th  of  manufac¬ 
ture,  and  is  higheft  when  the  ma. 
nufadlure  is  belt.  And  that  the 
experience  of  every  day  tells  us, 
that  where  the  price  of  labour  is 
higheft,  the  manufacturer  is  able 
to  fell  his  commodity  at  the  lowed 
price.  He  obferved,  that  the  dif¬ 
ference  of  duty  on  fome  of  the 
enumerated  imported  articles,  was 
fo  abundantly  overbalanced  by  the 
other  advantages  enjoyed  by  this 
country,  that  without  it  there  could 
not  be  the  fmalleft  degree  of  com¬ 
petition  in  manufacture  on  the  fide 
of  Ireland  ;  nor  could  that  in  any 
degree  hurt  England.  They  had,  he 
faid,  a  firange  opinion  of  the  extent 
of  the  world,  who  believed  that  there 
was  not  room  enough  in  ir  for  the 
trade  of  two  fuch  ifiands  as  thefe. 

He  obferved,  that  pi  oft,  if  not  all 
of  the  petitions  on  the  table,  tend¬ 
ed  to  exprefs  the  utmoft  fears  of 
the  eonfequences  that  would  arife, 
from  granting  a  free  exportation  of 
fail-cloth  and  iron  to  the  Irifh. 
At  the  fame  time  the  real  matter 
of  faCt  isj  that  the  Irifii  have  long 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE  [*185 


poflefled,  without  being  able  to 
turn  it  to  any  advantage  worth 
mention, '  the  free  exportation  of 
manufactured  iron  and  fled,  as 
U'eli  as  of  fail-cloth.  From  hence 
it  is  evident,  that  the  petitioners 
have  not  felt  from  the  reality, 
what  they  dreaded  in  the  idea  ; 
and  it  is  fairly  to  be  inferred,  that 
the  other  matters  of  apprehenfion 
contained  in  the  petitions,  are  as 
groundlefs  as  thefe ;  and  are  only 
founded,  like  them,  upon  mere  con¬ 
jecture.  It  alfo  appears  evidently, 
that  the  advantages  poflefled  by  the 
Englifh  are  fo  far  fuperior  in  thefe 
refpeCts,  that  the  Irifh  were  not  able 
to  profecute  thefe  manufactures  to 
any  purpofe,  nor  confequently  to 
turn  their  liberty  of  exportation  to 
account.  And  this,  he  laid,  was 
fo  truly  the  faCI,  that  every  fpecies 
of  iron  manufacture,  in  particular, 
was  actually  exported  in  incredible 
quantities  to  Ireland. 

He  fhevved  from  other  inftance?, 
as  well  as  the  prefent,  how  hallily 
and  erroneoufly  manufacturers  are 
liable  to  form  their  opinions  upon 
fubjeCts  of  this  nature  ;  and  upon 
what  flight  grounds  alarms  are 
raifed,  and  apprehenfions  propa¬ 
gated  amongft  them.  Particularly 
when,  feme  years  ago,  a  bill  was 
brought  in  for  the  free  importation 
of  woollen  yarn  from  Ireland,  an 
univerfal  alarm  was  excited,  and 
petitions  were  fent  in  from  every 
quarter,  Fating  and  complaining 
of  the  ruinous  confequences  which 
it  would  produce  ;  the  bill,  how¬ 
ever,  palled  into  a  law,  and  now, 
upon  a  full  experience  of  its  effeCts, 
they  both  feel  and  acknowledge  its 
beneficial  tendency.  But  it  was 
abfurd,  he  faid,  to  think,  that  a 
participation  of  manufacture  would 
be  detrimental  to  this  country. 


Had  we  not  feen  the  woollen  ma¬ 
nufactory  planted  in  different  parts 
of  this  country  ;  and  had  we  not 
alfo  feen  that  it  throve  by  the  com¬ 
petition  ? 

He  concluded  with  lamenting, 
that  it  could  happen  in  any  one 
inflance,  that  his  confcience  fhould 
direCl  him  to  take  a  part  contrary 
to  the  opinion  of  his  conftituents. 
It  had  been  his  invariable  aim  to 
proteCt  their  rights  and  interefts, 
and  to  ad  at  all  times  as  became 
the  fenator  and  representative  of 
the  people.  In  this  inflance  he 

had  dared  to  aCt  contrary  to  the 

/ 

willies,  though  he  was  fenfible,  not 
to  the  interefts,  of  his  conflitutents. 
And  if,  from  his  conduCt  in  this 
bufmefs,  he  fhould  be  deprived  of 
his  feat  in  that  Houfe,  as  he  ap¬ 
prehended  he  might,  his  conduCt 
being  difapproved  by  many  cf  his 
chief  friends  and  fupporters,  as 
weii  as  by  all  who  had  oppofed 
him  at  his  election  ;  he  had  the 
fatisfaClion  of  being  perfectly  af- 
fured,  that  he  fliouid  fuffer  in  the 
very  caufe  of  thofe  who  had  in- 
fliCted  the  punifhment.  He  fhould 
not  blame  them  if  they  did  rejeCt 
him  ;  the  event  would  afford  a  very 
ufeful  example;  on  the  one  hand, 
of  a  fenator  inflexibly  adhering  to 
his  opinion,  againF  fntereft  and 
againlt  popularity  ;  and  on  the 
other,  of  conFituents  exercifing’ 

of  rejection, 
not  on  corrupt  motives,  but  from 
their  perfuafion  that  he  whom 
they  had  chofen  had  aCted  againF 
the  judgment  and  intereft  of  thole 
he  reprefented. 

Other  gentlemen,  on  the  fame 
fide,  considered  the  propofuion  of 
going  into  a  committee,  as  little 
better  than  a  direCl  negative.  It 
held  out  no  fecurity,  but  a  vague 

promife 


their  undoubted  right 


k 


1 86*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


promife  to  move  a  committee, 
which  committee  fhould  appoint 
another  committee.  They  laid  it 
would  carry  too  unbecoming  an 
appearance  of  trilling  with  the  lifter 
kingdom  ;  and  they  knew  the  tem¬ 
per  of  the  people  of  Ireland  too 
well,  to  hold  any  doubt  of  their 
BOt  being  fatisfied  with  fuch  treat¬ 
ment. 

The  minifter  coincided  in  this 
opinion.  He  faid,  that  as  the  ex¬ 
peditions  of  the  Iriih  were  raifed 
from  what  had  been  already  done, 
it  would  be  unwife  to  protradt  the 
bufinefs  for  another  feflion.  The 
gentlemen  who  oppofed  the  bills 
feemed  all  to  agree,  that  fomething 
ought  to  be  done  for  the  relief  of 
Ireland,  though  they  differed  about 
the  nature  and  extent  of  what 
ought  to  be  done.  He  could  fee 
no  reafcn,  however,  why  the  pre¬ 
fen  t  bills  fhould  not  pafs,  whatever 
other  meafures  they  might  take 
hereafter.  The  Houfe  might,  not- 
with  Handing,  appoint  a  committee 
to  enquire  into  the  general  ftate  of 
the  trade,  and  upon  their  report,  in 
another  feffion,  a  more  extenfive 
plan  might  be  framed  and  adopt¬ 
ed.  He  concluded  by  faying,  that 
beheld  it  as  a  duty  of  obligation 
upon  Briton,  to  give  Ireland  a 
degree,  at  leaft,  of  recompence  for 
the  exertions  file  had  made,  fup- 
poftng  even  we  were  not  inclined, 
an  policy,  to  give  her  relief  from 
the  refirictions  lire  laboured  under  ; 
and  he  hoped  the  houfe  would  agree 
to  the  preferit  bills,  as  a  teftof  their 
intention  and  inclination  to  be¬ 
friend  her  more  fubftantiaily  in 
future. 

The  motion  was  reje&ed  upon  a 
divifion,  and  the  bills  accordingly 
committed. 


The  death  of  the  Earl  of  Chat¬ 
ham  called  forth  the  llrongeft 
marks  and  exprefiions  of  grief, 
with  the  greateft  eulogiums  on  his 
public  virtues,  from  one  fide  of  the 
Houfe,  and  was  attended  with  the 
mo  ft  exalted  and  lafting  teftimo- 
nials  of  public  efteem  and  grati¬ 
tude,  with  which  departed  merit 
can  be  honoured,  from  the  whole. 
This  celebrated  nobleman,  (but 
once  more  celebrated  commoner) 
who  had  for  feveral  years  been  a 
victim  to  a  mo  ft  excruciating  dis¬ 
order,  which  reduced  him  to  a  ftate 
of  extreme  feeblenefs  with  relpe£l 
to  his  bodily  powers,  ftill  retained 
all  that  vigour  of  mind  by  which 
in  better  days  he  was  fo  much  dif- 
tinguifhed  ;  and  was  feized  with  a 
fainting  fit,  the  forerunner  of  his 
death,  fome  days  before  in  the 
Houfe  of  Lords,  in  the  midft  of  an 
eager  fpeecb  which  he  was  making 
upon  American  affairs.  Thus,  he 
may  be  faid  to  have  died  as  he 
lived,  in  the  fervice  of  his  coun¬ 
try.  The  Earl  of  Chatham  ex¬ 
pired,  at  his  feat  at  Hayes,  in 
Kent,  on  the  morning  of  May  the 
nth,  1778.  The  high  pitch  of 
power  and  glory  to  which  this 
country  had  rifen  under  his  admi- 
niftration,  have  placed  his  public 
charafler  in  fo  confpicuous  a  point 
of  view,  that  any  attempt  towards 
a  further  difplay  of  it,  would  ap¬ 
pear,  at  leaft,  fuperfluous.  It  may 
well  he  feared,  that  the  fatal  con- 
fequences  of  his  removal  from 
power,  will  not  be  lefs  remem¬ 
bered.  Some  errors  and  inconfift- 
encies  in  his  public  conduct,  may 
well  be  overlooked  among  fuch  a 
cloud  of  public  virtues  and  fer- 
vices.  He  acknowledged  himlelf, 
in  the  firft  affembly  of  the  nation, 

that 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*187 


that  he  had  been  deceived  at  a  mod 
critical  time,  and  upon  a  mod  cri¬ 
tical  accaiiion.  This  is  the  more 
to  be  lamented,  if  (as  many  think) 
all  the  fubfequent  misfortunes  and 
calamities  of  the  Britilh  nation  and 
empire,  have  derived  their  fource 
from  that  deception.  He  will, 
however,  at  all  times,  hold  an 
exalted  rank,  among  the  firft 
names  of  ancient  or  modern  ftatef- 
men. 

^  The  evening  was  pretty 
IIk  *  far  advanced  before  the  ac¬ 
count  of  this  nobleman’s  death  was 
received  in  the  Houfe  of  Commons, 
and  fome  bufinefs,  then  in  hand, 
rendered  it  late  before  the  event 
could  be  publicly  announced.  That 
melancholy  office  was  undertaken 
by  Colonel  Barre,  who,  with  the 
ftrongeft  marks  of  the  mod  pro¬ 
found  concern  and  grief,  and  with 
as  much  eloquence  as  agreed  with 
fuch  feelings,  pronounced  a  ffiort 
eulogium  on  the  merits  of  the  de- 
ceafed  Earl,  and  then  taking  fuch 
a  iketch  of  the  obligations  which 
the  nation  owed  to  his  public  vir¬ 
tues  and  fervices  as  the  time  and 
fituation  would  allow,  moved  an 
addrefs  to  his  Majelly  for  direc¬ 
tions,  “  That  the  remains  of  Wil- 
“  liam  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chat- 

ham,  be  interred  at  the  public 
€(  expence. 5>  The  motion  was  fe- 
conded  by  Mr.  Townffiend,  and 
feemed  to  receive  the  mod  general 
approbation. 

It  is  fo  well  known  as  fcarcely 
to  require  obfervation,  that  for 
many  years,  the  fervices  of  the  late 
nobleman  had  been  fo  far  from 
being  acceptable  at  court,  that  his 
name  was  not  even  frequently 
mentioned,  by  thofe  who  were  well 
verfed  in  the  etiquette  of  conven¬ 
tion  proper  to  be  obferved  in  fuch 


fituations.  A  gentleman,  high  in 
office,  accordingly  endeavoured, 
with  his  ufual  addrefs,  to  get  rid 
of  the  motion,  by  a  propofal,  which, 
without  conveying  the  ungracious 
and  unpopular  appearance  of  di- 
redtiy  oppofing  the  honour  in¬ 
tended  to  the  memory  of  the  de- 
ceafed,  would,  however,  if  adopt¬ 
ed,  ferve  greatly  to  leflVn  its  effect. 
After  expreffing  the  greateft  re- 
fpect  for  the  unrivalled  talents  of 
the  late  ftatefman,  and  regret,  that 
his  country  ffiould  be  deprived  of 
them  at  a  time  when  they  were  fo 
much  wanted  by  her,  he  laid,  that 
he  would  undoubtedly  vote  for  the 
motion,  if  the  honourable  gentle¬ 
man  thought  fitting  to  perfift  in  it; 
but  he  could  not  help  thinking, 
that  a  monument  to  his  memory 
would  be  a  more  eligible,  as  well  as 
a  more  lafting  teftimony  of  the  pub¬ 
lic  gratitude,  than  the  defraying  of 
his  funeral  honours. 

This  propofal  produced  a  diredl- 
ly  contrary  effedt,  to  that  which, 
was  fuppofed  to  be  intended.  The 
opposition  received  it  with  joy,  as  a 
happy  recolledlion  of  what  they  had 
overlooked,  in  the  paroxyfms  of 
grief  excited  by  fo  great  a  public 
and  private  lofs.  But  inilead  of  a 
fubftitution,  they  tacked  it  as  an 
amendment  to  the  original  motion, 
in  the  following  words  :  And 

f(  that  a  monument  be  eredled  in 
“  the  Collegiate  Church  of  St. 

Peter,  Weltminfler,  to  the  me- 
“  rnory  of  that  great  and  excellent 
**  datefman,  with  an  inferiprion 
“  expreffive  of  the  fentiments  of 
“  the  people  on  fo  great  and  irre- 
,f  parable  a  lofs  ;  and  to  affure  his 
“  Majefty,  that  this  Houfe  will 
“  make  good  the  expence. ” 

At  this  inftant  the  minifler  en¬ 
tered,  who  having  quitted  the 

Houfe 


1 88*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  tyyS. 


Houfe  for  the  night,  before  this 
fubject  was  introduced,  and  re¬ 
ceiving  afterwards  intelligence  of 
what  was  going  forward,  returned 
in  the  greateil  hafte,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  oppofition  from  carry¬ 
ing  away  the  whole  credit  and  po¬ 
pularity  of  the  meafure.  He  de¬ 
clared  his  happinefs  in  arriving 
time  enough  to  give  his  vote  for 
the  motion,  which  he  hoped  would 
pafs  unanimoufly,  and  lamented 
that  he  had  not  breath  enough, 
from  the  harry  in  which  he  came, 
to  exprefs  himfelf  with  that  de¬ 
gree  of  refpect,  which  he  wifhed 
to  fhew  on  fo  great  an  occafion. 
Thus  both  parties  vied  in  the  ho¬ 
nours  which  they  paid  to  the  de- 
ceafed  Earl,  and  the  amended  mo¬ 
tion  was  carried  without  a  diffent- 


sng  voice. 


The  ready  compliance  of  the 
Crown  with  the  terms  of  the 
addrefs,  being,  on  the  following 


13th. 


day  but  one,  announced  by 


the  Minifter,  Lord  John 
Cavendifh  arofe,  and  faid,  that  he 
hoped  the  public  gratitude  would 
not  Hop  at  what  had  been  done. 
That  great  man,  and  invaluable 
minifter,  he  faid,  had  diilinguiOied 
himfelf  as  much  by  his  difintereft- 
ednefs,  as  by  his  zeal,  ability,  or 
any  other  of  his  great  qualities. 
The  confequence  of  this  exem¬ 
plary  virtue  was,  that  while  he 
conducted  the  affairs  of  the  public 
with  unparalleled  advantage  and 
glory  to  them,  he  had  fcorned  or 
negle&ed  all  means  of  advantage 
to  himfelf ;  fo  that,  with  the 
greateil:  opportunities  in  his  hands 
of  acquiring  an  ample  fortune,  he 
had,  notvvithllanding,  left  his  fa¬ 
mily  dellitute  of  all  fuitable  pro- 
vifion.  His  LordOiip  therefore 


hoped,  that  virtue  fhould  not  m 
this  inftance  be  merely  its  own 
reward  ;  but  that  the  gratitude  of 
the  public  to  Lord  Chatham’s 
defendants,  fhould  be  the  means 
of  exciting  an  emulation  in  thofe 
yet  unborn,  to  copy  fuch  an  ex¬ 
ample. 

The  Minifter  fell  in  with  the 
fentiments  of  the  noble  Lord  in 
a  manner  that  did  him  honour ; 
and  the  whole  Houfe  feemed  to 
participate  of  a  general  pleafure  in 
their  approbation  of  them.  A 
motion  was  according  made  by 
Mr.  Townfhend,  which,  (con¬ 
trary  to  the  general  courfe  of  that 
gentleman’s  fortune)  was  unani¬ 
moufly  palled,  for  an  addrefs  to 
his  Majefty,  <(  That  he  would  be 
gracioufly  pleafed  to  make  fuch 
a  lafting  provifion  for  the  family 
of  the  late  William  Pitt,  Earl  of 
Chatham,  as  his  Majefty,  in  his 
wifdom  and  liberality,  fhould  think 
fit,  as  a  mark  of  the  fenfe  the 
nation  entertains  of  the  fervices 
done  to  the  kingdom  by  that  able 
ftatefman  ;  and  to  allure  his  Ma¬ 
jefty  that  the  Houfe  would  make 
goad  the  fame.’*  Mr.  Fox  and 
Mr.  Burke  fpoke  upon  this  occa- 
fton,  in  a  manner  which  did  equal 
honour  to  their  abilities  and  their 
hearts. 

This  meftage  occafionea  the 
bringing  in  and  palling  of  a  bill, 
by  which  an  annuity  of  four  thou- 
fand  pounds  a  year,  payable  out 
of  the  civil  lift  revenue,  is  for 
ever  fettled  on  thofe  heirs  of  the 
late  Earl,  to  whom  the  Earldom 
of  Chatham  may  defcend.  This 
exalted  inftance  of  national  grati¬ 
tude,  and  honourable  reward  of 
departed  merit,  was  followed  by 
a  grant  of  twenty  thoufand  pounds 

from 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*iS9 


from  the  Commons,  towards  dif- 
charging  the  debts  of  the  late  Earl, 
All  this  bufinefs  was  conducted 
with  a  liberality  which  did  the 
higheft  honour  to  the  Houfe  ;  there 


not  having  been  the  {mailed:  alter¬ 
cation,  nor  a  Angle  difientient 
voice,  upon  any  one  proportion 
that  was  made  on  the  fubjedi. 


CHAP.  IX. 

Sir  George  Saville’s  motion  for  a  bill  to  repeal  certain  penalties  and  difqua - 
lifi cations  to  which  the  Englijh  Roman  Catholics  were  liable ,  univer- 
fully  agreed  to.  Event  of  the  Irijh  bufinefs .  Debates  relative  to  the 
' Toulon  papers ;  Sir  William  Meredith’ s  firft  motion ,  at  length  re¬ 
jected.  Motion  of  adjournment^  by  the  Minifiery  carried.  Circum - 
fiances  relative  to  the  arrival  of  General  Burgoyne.  Motion  by  Mr. 
Vyner ,  relative  to  the  Canada  expedition .  Amendment  moved  by  Mr. 
Fox.  Explanations  of  his  fituation  and  con  duff  by  General  Burgoyne. 
Debate.  Mr.  Fox’s  amendment  rejeffed  on  a  divifion.  Original  mo¬ 
tion  fit  afide  by  the  previous  quefiion.  Motion  by  Mr.  Hartley 
againfi  the  prorogation  of  Parliament ,  after  confiderable  debates ,  re¬ 
jeffed  on  a  divifion.  Similar  motion  by  Sir  fames  Lowther ,  meets  the 
fame  fate.  Motion  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond  for  withdrawing  the 
forces  from  North  America.  Previous  quefiion  moved  and  carried  on  a 
divifion.  Great  debates  on  the  Earl  of  Effingham’ s  motions  tending  to 
an  enquiry  into  the  fate  of  the  navy.  Effective  motions  rejeffed ;  two 
others  agreed  to.  Duke  of  Richmond  clofies  the  enquiry  in  the  general  Com» 
mittee  on  the  fate  of  the  nation.  Moves  an  addrefs  of  great  length , founded 
on  various  matters  of  faff ,  which  had  been  efiablijhed  in  the  courfe  of  the 
enquiry.  Debate  broke  off  on  the  fadden  illnefs  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham , 
and  adjourned  to  the  following  day.  Addrefs  rejeffed.  Protefi.  Refla¬ 
tions  ^  founded  on  the  l  oulon  papers ,  moved  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond, 
f  ufiifi cation  of  ?iaval  affairs  and  conduff ,  by  the  noble  Lord  immediately 
concerned .  Interefiing  particulars  fated  by  the  Earl  of  Brifiol.  Motions 
fet  afide ,  on  a  divifion ,  by  the  previous  quefiion.  Protefi  on  the  Chatham 
annuity  bill .  Earl  of  Derby’ s  motioyi  relative  to  the  Saratoga  bufenej's,  Jet 
afide  by  the  previous  quefiion.  Duke  of  Bolton’s  motion  for  deferring  the 
prorogation  of  P 'arliament ,  after  long  debates ,  rejeffed  on  a  divifion .  Speech 
from  the  Throne , 

—  / 

However  neceflary  the  penal  laws 
againft  Roman  Catholics  originally 
were,  whilft  the  conftitution  was 
yet  ftruggling  into  reformation, 
and  afterwards  confirming  itfelf  in 
that  happy  fetlement,  as  the  caufe 
of  perfecution  had  long  ceafed  to 
operate,  men  of  humanity  could 
r.ot  avoid  lamenting,  as  all  true 

policy 


TH  E  latenefs  of  the  feafon  did 
not  prevent  Sir  George  Se¬ 
ville  from  endeavouring  to  profit 
of  the  lenient  temper  and  liberal 
fpirit  of  the  times,  in  favour  of  a 
long-opprefTed  body  of  men,  al- 
molt  forgotten  in  the  patience  and 
filence  with  which  for  many  years 
they  endured  their  grievances. 


190*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778- 


policy  forbade*  the  keeping  up  of 
fuch  Handing  memorials  of  civil 
rancour  and  difcord,  and  perpe¬ 
tuating  a  line  of  divifion,  by  which 
one  part  of  the  people  being  cut 
off  from  the  rights  of  citizens, 
could  fcarcely  be  faid  to  poffefs  any 
ihare  in  the  common  intereH,  and 
were  rendered  incapable  of  form¬ 
ing  any  part  of  the  common  union 
of  defence.  Indeed  thefe  laws 
feemed  calculated  to  compel  a  con¬ 
siderable  body  of  the  people  to 
hold  an  hereditary  enmity  to 
government,  and  even  to  wean 
them  from  all  affection  to  their 
country. 

,  Sir  George  Saville 
May  14th.  ,  t  r 

J  ^  moved  accordingly  tor 

leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  the 
repeal  of  certain  penalties  and  aff¬ 
abilities  provided  in  an  aft  of  the 
10th  and  nth  of  William  the 
Third,  entituled,  An  aft  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  further  growth  of  popery. 
He  Hated,  that  one  of  his  principal 
views  in  propoling  this  repeal  was, 
to  vindicate  the  honour,  and  to 
affert  the  principles  of  the  Protef- 
tant  religion,  to  which  all  perfe¬ 
ction  was,  or  ought  to  be.,  wholly 
adverfe.  That  this  pure  religion 
ought  not  to  have  had  an  exigence, 
if  perfection  had  been  lawful  ; 
and  it  ill  became  us  to  praftife 
that  with  which  we  reproached 
others.  That  he  did  not  meddle 
with  the  vaH  body  of  that  penal 
code  ;  but  felefted  that  .aft,  on 
which  he  found  moll  of  the  orofe- 

■A. 

eutions  had  been  formed,  and 
which  gave  the  greated  fcope  to 
the  bale  views  of  interelled  rela¬ 
tions,  and  of  informers  for  re¬ 
ward.  The  aft  had  not  indeed 
been  regularly  put  in  execution, 
but  fometimes  it  had  ;  and  he  un- 
derftood  that  fever  al  lived  under 


great  terror,  and  fome  under  ac¬ 
tual  contribution,  in  confequence 
of  the  powers  given  by  it.  As  an 
inducement  to  the  repeal  of  thofe 
penalties,  which  were  direfted 
with  fuch  a  violence  of  feverity 
againH  Papilts,  he  Hated  the  peace¬ 
able  and  loyal  behaviour  of  that 
part  of  the  people  under  a  govern¬ 
ment,  which,  though  not  rigorous 
in  enforcing,  yet  fuffered  fuch  in¬ 
tolerable  penalties  and  difqualifff 
cations  to  Hand  againH  them  on 
the  Hatutes.  A  late  loyal  and  ex¬ 
cellent  addrefs  which  they  had 
prefen  ted  to  the  throne.  Hood  high 
among  the  in  dances  which  Sir 
George  pointed  out,  of  the  fafety, 
and  the  good  confequences,  which 
were  likely  to  attend  this  liberal 
procedure  of  Parliament.  He  ob¬ 
served,  that  in  that  addrefs  they 
not  only  expreffed  their  obedience 
to  the  government  under  which 
they  lived,  but  their  attachment  to 
the  conftitution  upon  which  the 
civil  rights  of  this  country  have 
been  eftablifhed  by  the  revolution, 
and  which  placed  the  prefent  fa¬ 
mily  upon  the  throne  of  thefe 
kingdoms.  As  a  further  guard 
and  fecurity,  however,  againH  any 
poffible  confequence  of  the  mea- 
fure,  he  propofed  that  a  fufficient 
tdt  might  be  formed,  by  which 
they  Ihould  bind  themfelves  to  the 
fupport  of  the  civil  government  by 
law  eltablifned. 

The  motion  was  feconded  by 
Mr.  Dunning,  who,  with  his  well- 
known  ability  and  knowledge  in 
fuch  fu  bjefts,  went  into  a  legal 
diffusion  of  the  principle,  objefts, 
and  pad  operation,  of  the  bill 
which  was  intended  to  be  repealed. 
The  following  he  Hated  as  the 
great  and  grievous  penalties.— -The 
pumlhment  of  Popifh  prieHs,  or 

Jefaits? 


'  HISTORY  O 

Jefuits,  who  ffiould  be  found  to 
teach  or  officiate  in  the  fervices  of 
that  church  ;  which  ads  were  fe¬ 
lony  in  foreigners,  and  high  trea- 
fon  in  the  natives  of  this  king¬ 
dom. — The  forfeitures  of  Popiffi 
heirs,  who  had  received  their  edu¬ 
cation  abroad,  and  whofe  eftates 
went  to  the  next  Proteftant  heir.— 
The  power  given  to  the  fon  or 
other  neareft  relation,  being  a  Pro¬ 
teftant,  to  take  pofleffion  of  the  fa¬ 
ther,  or  other  relation’s  eftate,  dur¬ 
ing  the  life  of  the  real  proprie¬ 
tor. — And,  the  depriving  of  Pa- 
pifts  of  the  power  of  acquiring 
any  legal  property  by  purchafe  ; 
a  word,  which  in  its  legal  mean¬ 
ing  carried  a  much  greater  lati¬ 
tude,  than  was  underftood  (and 
that  perhaps  happily)  in  its  ordi¬ 
nary  acceptation  ;  for  it  applied 
to  all  legal  property  acquired  by 
any  other  means  than  that  of  de- 
fcent. 

Thefe,  he  faid,  were  the  objeds 
of  the  propofed  repeal.  Some  of 
them  had  now  ceafed  to  be  ne- 
ceftary,  and  others  were  at  all 
times  a  difgrace  to  humanity.  The 
imprifonment  of  a  Popiffi  prieft 
for  life,  only  for  officiating  in  the 
fervices  of  his  religion,  was  hor¬ 
rible  in  its  nature  ;  and  muft,  to 
an  Engliffiman,  be  ever  held  as 
infinitely  worfe  than  death.  Such 
a  law,  in  times  of  fo  great  libera¬ 
lity  as  the  prefentj  and  when  fo 
little  was  to  be  apprehended  from 
thefe  people,  called  loudly  for  re¬ 
peal  ;  and  he  begged  to  remind 
the  Houle,  that  even  then  they 
would  not  be  left  at  liberty  to  ex- 
ercife  their  fundions  ;  but  would 
ftill,  under  the  reftridion  'of  for¬ 
mer  laws,  be  liable  to  a  year’s  im¬ 
prifonment,  and  to  the  puniffi- 
ment  of  a  heavy  fine. 


F  EUROPE.  [*i9i 

And  although,  he  obferved,  the 
mildnefs  of  government  had  hi¬ 
therto  foftened  the  rigour  of  the 
law  in  the  pradice,  it  was  to  be 
remembered,  that  the  Roman  ca¬ 
tholic  priefts  conftantly  lay  at  the 
mercy  of  the  bafeft  and  moll 
abandoned  of  mankind,  of  com¬ 
mon  informers ;  for  on  the  evi¬ 
dence  of  any  of  thefe  wretches, 
the  magifterial  and  judicial  powers 
were  of  receffity  bound  to  enforce 
all  the  ffiameful  penalties  of  the 
ad.  Others  of  thefe  penalties 
held  out  the  rnoft  powerful  tempta¬ 
tions  for  the  commiffion  of  ads  of 
depravity,  at  the  very  thought  of 
which  our  nature  recoils  with  hor¬ 
ror.  They  feem  calculated  to 
loofen  all  the  bands  of  fociety ;  to 
diffolve  all  civil,  moral,  and  reli¬ 
gious  obligations  and  duties;  to 
poifon  the  fources  of  domeftic  fe¬ 
licity  ;  and  to  annihilate  every 
principle  of  honour.  The  encou¬ 
ragement  given  to  children  to  lay 
their  hands  upon  the  eftates  of  their 
parents,  and  the  reftridion  which 
debars  any  man  from  the  honeft: 
acquifition  of  property,  need,  faid 
he,  only  to  be  mentioned,  to  ex¬ 
cite  the  utmoft  indignation  of  this 
Houfe. 

The  motion  was  received  with 
univerfal  approbation,  and  a  bill 
was  accordingly  brought  in  and 
pafted  without  a  fingle  negative,  by 
which  a  confiderable  body  of  our 
fellow-citizens  were  relieved  from 
the  preflure  of  fome  of  the  rnoft  in¬ 
tolerable  of  thofe  grievances  under 
which  they  had  long  laboured. 

In  the  mean  time,  counfel  and 
evidence  were  more  than  once 
heard  on  different  parts  of  the 
Iriffi  bufinefs ;  and  in  confequence 
of  fome  compromife  between  the 
fup porters  and  oppofers  of  thofe 

bills, 


I 


19**]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i778. 


bills,  although  the  former  fhewed 
a  great  fuperiority  of  ftrengtb,  it 
was  notwithftanding  thought  ne~ 
ceffary  to  give  up,  for  the  prefent, 
moll  of  the  advantages  that  were 
originally  intended  for  that  coun¬ 
try.  Some  enlargement  however 
was  given  to  the  linen  trade,  par¬ 
ticularly  in  the  article  of  checks ; 
find  fome  openings  given  in  the 
African  and  Weil  India  trades 
which  did  not  before  exift.  Thus 
the  meafure,  at  its  final  tranfit 
through  parliament,  might  be  ra¬ 
ther  considered  as  an  opening  to 
future  fervice,  and  an  earned  of 
good  intention,  than  as  affording 
any  immediate  benefit,  or  even  as 
holding  out  any  future  advan¬ 
tage,  of  any  great  importance  to 
Ireland. 

In  confequence  of  a  motion 
made  by  Sir  William  Meredith, 
fever al  papers  having  been  laid 
before  the  Houfe,  containing  the 
intelligence  received  by  govern¬ 
ment,  of  the  equipment  and  fail¬ 
ing  of  the  Toulon  fquadron,  that 
gentleman  opened  the  way  for  the 
motions  which  he  intended 
3  ’  to  found  upon  the  fubftance 

of  chofe  papers,  by  fome  very  fe- 
vere  reprehen fions  of  the  conduct 
,  of  adminiflration  in  refpeft  to  that 
♦jufinefs.  He  obfe'rved,  that,  amid  ft 
al!  the  dangers  that  threatened 
the  .very  being  of  this  country, 
amidft  the  violent  fhocks  of  com¬ 
merce  and  of  public  credit,  our 
Miniflers  alone  feemed  carelefs, 
thoughtiefs,  and  totally  regardlefs 
of  what  was  pad,  prefent,  or  to 
come.  They  had  not  however,  as 
erfual,  been  deficient  in  informa¬ 
tion  upon  this  occafion.  They  had 
early  and  complete  intelligence  of 
the  preparations  at  Toulon.  On 
the  3d  of  January  they  had  notice 


of  the  equipment;  on  the  gih  of 
February  they  had  advice  of  the 
number  of  fhips  that  was  to  com- 
pofe  the  fquadron  ;  and  on  the 
28th  of  the  fame  month,  that  the 
crews  were  all  completed.  They 
had  early  information  of  Monf, 
D’Eftaing’s  arrival,  and  of  the 
day  on  which  he  intended  to  fail ; 
and  that  he  adlually  did  fail  upon 
the  13th  of  April.  With  all  this 
timely  intelligence,  we  are  now 
arrived  at  the  latter  end  of  May, 
and  our  fleet  is  ftill  lying  at  Spit- 
head.  Not  a  fingie  fhip  is  fent 
out,  nor  a  fingie  meafure  taken, 
to  guard  us  again  ft  this  formidable 
armament. 

He  faid,  it  was  fo  long  ago  as 
the  20th  of  Nov.  that  the  fir  ft  Lord 
of  the  Admiralty  informed  the  pub¬ 
lic,  that  there  were  42  fnips  of 
the  line  fit  for  fervice,  of  which 
he  faid  35  might  put  to  fea  at  an 
hour’s  warning,  and  the  remain¬ 
der  feven  would  be  ready  in  a 
fortnight.  He  faid,  that  it  needed 
not  to  be  a  ftatefman  to  know',  that 
the  fir  ft  thing  to  be  done  under 
any  apprehension  of  a  foreign  war, 
was  to  difpatch  a  fleet  to  the  Me¬ 
diterranean.  This  was  no  matter 
of  theory  or  opinion,  our  conftant 
pra&ice  in  all  wars  confirmed  the 
neceflicy  of  the  meafure.  Indeed, 
to  what  other  purpofe  were  Gibral¬ 
tar  or  Minorca  conquered,  or  re¬ 
tained,  at  the  expence  of  fo  many 
millions  to  the  nation,  but  to  af¬ 
ford  a  ftation  to  our  fleets,  and 
enable  them  to  maintain  the  fo- 
vereignty  of  that  fea,  and  to  com¬ 
mand  its  communication  with  the 
ocean. 

He  then  moved  three  refolutions, 
the  firft  of  which  went  to  eftabliih, 
that  the  Miniflers  had  received 
various  intelligence,  during  the 

months 


1 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*193 


months  of  January,  February, 
March,  and  April,  of  the  equip¬ 
ment,  and,  at  length,  of  the  final 
failing  on  the  13th  of  April,  of  the 
Toulon  fleet. — The  fecond,  that  it 
did  not  appear  to  the  Houfe,  that 
any  orders  were  fent  until  the  29th 
of  April,  for  any  fleet  of  obfer- 
vation,  to  attend  the  motions  of 
that  from  Toulon  :  and  that  no 
fleet  did  actually  fail,  until  the 
20th  of  the  prefent  May,  when 
eleven  fail  of  the  line  left  St.  He¬ 
len’s.— -The  lail,  taking  for  grant¬ 
ed,  that  the  representation  of  the 
date  of  the  navy  made  in  the  pre¬ 
ceding  month  of  November,  was 
founded  in  fad,  went  upon  that 
ground  to  a  cenfure  of  the  Mini- 
ilers.  It  declared,  that  his  Ma- 
jefty’s  Minifters  were  inattentive 
to  the  public  welfare  and  fafety, 
in  not  having  ftationed  a  fleet  in 
the  Mediterranean,  as  had  been 
the  pradice  in  former  times,  and 
on  fimilar  occafions  ;  by  which 
negled,  the  advantages  to  be  de¬ 
rived  from  the  expenfive  fortreffes 
at  Gibraltar  and  Port  Mahon  have 
been  loft;  and  the  Toulon  fleet 
has  been  left  at  liberty,  for  fix 
weeks  paft,  to  proceed  towards  the 
attack  of  any  of  his  Majefty’s  de- 
fencelefs  dominions  abroad,  and  to 
form  a  jundion  with  the  fleets  in 
any  ports  out  of  the  Mediterra¬ 
nean,  and  thereby  colled  a  force 
from  which  Great-Britain  and  Ire¬ 
land  might  be  expofed  to  the  mod 
imminent  danger. 

The  motion  was  feconded  by 
Sir  George  Yonge,  and  fup- 
ported  by  fome  other  gentlemen 
on  the  fame  fide,  who  threw  out 
the  heavieft  cenfures  on  that  ftate 
of  fupinenefs,  and  irrefolution, 
into  which,  they  faid,  the  Mini¬ 
fters  had  been  thrown  by  the  ap- 
Vol,  XXI. 


pearance  of  that  danger,  into  which 
they  had  wilfully,  if  not  malicious¬ 
ly,  plunged  the  nation,  Mini¬ 
fters,  who  bluftered  and  looked 
big  whilft  danger  feemed  at  a  di- 
dance,  and  who  then  equally  de- 
fpifed  council  and  warning,  now 
fhrink  into  nothing*  and  feem  to 
lofe  all  the  powers  and  faculties 
of  men  at  its  approach. 

One  gentleman  afferted,  that 
from  his  own  knowledge  of  the 
French  Minifters  and  counfels,  and 
of  the  ftate  and  difpofition  of  par¬ 
ties  at  that  court,  he  was  to  a  cer¬ 
tainty  convinced,  that  with  any 
moderate  fhare  of  decifivenefs  or 
vigour  in  their  condud,  and  any 
rational  fyftem  to  go  upon,  it  was 
in  three  feveral  inftances,  in  the 
power  of  our  Minifters  within  a 
very  few  months,  either  to  have 
deterred  the  French  from  entering 
into  the  American  alliance,  or  to 
have  obliged  them  to  relinquifti 
it,  and  to  fue  for  a  continuation 
of  peace  fince  its  conclufion.  He 
ftated  three  meafures,  any  of  which* 
he  faid,  would  have  produced  one 
or  other  of  thefe  effeds.  But,  un¬ 
fortunately  for  thi9  country,  he 
faid,  our  Minifters  feemed  to  be 
a3  ignorant  of  the  charaders  of 
the  men  they  had  to  deal  with,  as 
they  were  blind  to  events. 

A  gentleman  old  in  office,  and 
who  is  fuppofed  by  many,  to  be 
frequently  deeper  in  the  fecret  of 
affairs  than  the  ading  Minifters, 
moved  the  previous  queftion  upon 
the  firft  refolution.  He  faid,  how¬ 
ever  true  the  fads  were,  that  the 
enquiry  was  highly  improper. 
That,  he  did  not  think  the  Houfe 
of  Commons  an  affembly  calculat¬ 
ed  for  the  difcuffion  of  ftate  af¬ 
fairs  ;  it  was  the  buftnefs  of  par¬ 
liament  to  raife  fupplies,  not  to 
[*A'J  debate 


i94*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177R. 


debate  on  the  meafures  of  govern¬ 
ment.  The  one  was  the  proper 
object  of  legiftative,  the  other  of 
executive  power.  If  Minifters  were 
criminal,  they  might  be  attacked 
at  a  proper  time ;  not  in  the  very 
midft  of  the  operations  which  were 
jhe  object  of  enquiry.  The  Ro¬ 
man  fenate,  indeed,  difcuffed  all 
political  queftions  ;  that  body  was 
compofed  of  men  of  honour  and 
difcretion,  who  could  keep  their 
own  fecrets.  But  the  debates  of 
parliament  in  England  were  pub- 
lilhed  in  every  news-paper. 

This  queftion  upon  the  compe¬ 
tency  of  parliament,  and  limita¬ 
tion  of  the  objects  of  its  dlfcuftion 
and  enquiry,  rouzed  all  the  acti¬ 
vity  of  a  gentleman,  who,  iince 
the  reje&ion  of  his  late  motions 
on  the  Rate  of  the  nation,  had 
feemed  rather  difpofed  to  tacitur¬ 
nity.  He  combated  the  dodlrine 
now  advanced,  (which  he  confi- 
dered  as  an  infult  to  every  indivi¬ 
dual,  as  well  as  to  parliament  at 
large,)  with  his  ufual  fpirit.  In¬ 
filled,  that  it  was  the  undoubted 
privilege  of  that  Houfe,  to  en¬ 
quire  into,  and  to  cenfure,  the 
condufl  of  thofe  who  were  en  trull- 
cd  with  the  executive  power  of  the 
date.  Laughed  at  the  idea  held 
out  on  the  other  fide,  that  the 
matter  before  them  was  a  fit  fub- 
je£l  for  the  deliberation  of  his  Ma- 
jeily’s  council,  but  not  for  the 
Houfe  of  Commons.  Did  he  mean 
that  the  cabinet  council  was  the 
proper  body  to  cenfure  the  want 
of  wifdom  in  his  Majefty’s  coun¬ 
fids  ?  Or  was  it  fuppoled,  that  the 
fame  council  which  had  given  fo 
many  unhappy  proofs  of  its  total 
want  of  wifdo&i,  Ihould  now  cor¬ 
rect  its  own  errdrs,  and  be  the 
avenger  of  its  own  ©fences. 


He  faid,  that  nothing  could  be 
fo  injurious  to  the  honour  of  par¬ 
liament  ;  nothing  fo  abhorrent 
from  the  ends  and  principles  of 
their  inftitution,  as  to  fuppofe  them 
incapable  of  deliberating  on  thofe 
affairs  of  Hate,  which  they  were 
immediately  fummoned  to  vote  and 
determine  upon.  To  fpeak  with 
freedom,  was  the  e (Fence  of  par¬ 
liamentary  functions  :  and  its  ex- 
ercife  became  at  prefent  more  par¬ 
ticularly  neceffary  than  at  any 
other  time,  when,,  through  the 
egregious  folly,  or  the  molt  hei¬ 
nous  treachery,  in  the  King’s  Mi¬ 
ni  flers,  and  notwithilanding  the 
enormous  fupplies  granted  by  that 
Houfe,  yet,  not  a  fingle  meafure 
had  been  taken,  to  guard  againd 
the  greateft  danger  that  ever 
threatened  this  country.  In  fueh 
a  fituation,  when  France  was  with 
great  a&ivity  fending  out  Beets  to 
reduce  our  remaining  foreign  pof- 
fefiions,  and  preparing  for  an  im¬ 
mediate  invafion  of  England  or 
Ireland,  whilll  we  were  languifb- 
ing  under  the  torpor  of  a  fupine, 
fenfelefs,  incapable  government, 
it  was  the  care,  the  vigilance,  and 
the  vigour  of  parliament  only,  that 
could  afford  even  a  hope  of  re¬ 
deeming  this  country  from  deftruc- 
tion . 

The  Minifter  fir  11  entered  into 
a  juftification  of  the  gentleman  who 
had  moved  the  previous  queftion, 
and  a  defence  of  his  motion.  This 
he  founded  on  its  expediency.  It 
would  be  impoffible,  he  faid,  for 
the  fervants  of  the  crown  to  de¬ 
fend  their  conduct,  without  their 
entering  into  fuch  explanations,  as 
the  prudence  of  the  Houfe  mud 
in  Handy  put  a  Hop  to.  With  re  - 
fpedl  to  the  danger  apprehended 
from  the  Toulon  fquadron,  he 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*195 


faid,  It  was  utterly  impoftible  to 
guard  all  the  different  parts*  of  fo 
extenfive,  and  fo  widely  disjoined, 
an  empire  as  this,  from  tne  fur- 
prize  or  attack  of  an  enemy,  on 
fome  one  or  other  of  its  remote  de¬ 
pendencies.  But  he  could  fay,  that 
meafures  were  taken  as  early  as 
poflible  ;  and  that  he  made  no 
doubt,  a  fleet  fuflicient  to  difap- 
point  D’Eftaing  would  be  found, 
let  his  object  be  what  it  would. 
He  then  entered  into  a  general 
vindication  of  his  own  conduit, 
which  he  faid,  he  would,  at  a  pro¬ 
per  time,  willingly  fubmit  to  a 
public  enquiry;  but  this  was  by  no 
means  the  feafon  for  fuch  a  huft- 
nefs.  He  faid  the  lofs  or  negleX 
of  foreign  alliances  or  connexions, 
fo  repeatedly  urged  on  the  other 
fide,  were  unjuftly  attributed  to 
him  ;  and  after  a  pretty  long  dif- 
cuflion  on  the  advantages,  and  dif- 
advantages,  of  fuch  connexions, 
aflerted,  that  though  he  had  been 
frequently  accufed  of  declaring  the 
contrary,  he  never  had  been  of 
opinion  againft  them.  But  that 
they  could  not  always  be  had  mere¬ 
ly  becaufe  they  were  wanted.  So¬ 
vereign  dates  feek  their  own  ad¬ 
vantages  ;  and  when  nothing  re¬ 
ciprocal  can  be  offered  to  them, 
no  treaties  of  alliance  can  bind 
them,  againft  what  they  think 
their  intereft.  That  fuch  is,  and 
has  been  for  fome  time  paft,  the 
pofition  of  Europe,  that  we  had 
nothing  to  offer  in  return  for  any 
afliflance  we  might  receive.  He 
did  not  feem  to  think  it  any  caufe 
of  furprize,  if  France  and  Spain 
united,  fhould  form  a  greater  na¬ 
val  force  than  that  of  this  country, 
For  if  any  great  maritime  country, 
he  faid,  applied  its  mind  and  its 
revenue  to  the  building  of  /hips, 


there  was  no  doubt  but  it  might 
build  them.  He  concluded  by  de¬ 
claring,  that  he  knew  of  no  fuch 
being  as  that  called  Prime  Mini- 
fter  ;  it  was  a  name,  and  fig ni fled 
an  office,  unknown  to  the  cbnfti- 
tution.  As  firft  Lord  of  the  Trea- 
fury,  he  vvould  be  anfwerable  for 
thofe  things  that  came  within  his 
department,  but  further  he  would 
not  go  ;  and  he  trufted  he  never 
(hould  be  fo  prefumptuous,  as  to 
think  nimfeif  capable  of  direXing 
the  departments  of  others. 

The  previous  queftion  was  at 
length  carried  upon  a  divifion  by 
a  majorirv  of  117  to  gj.  Sir 
William  Meredith  then  moved  his 
fecond  refoiution,  in  anfwer  to 
which,  the  noble  Lord  at  the  head 
of  affairs  moved  an  adjournment  ; 
which,  after  many  refleXions  on 
that  mode  of  proceeding,  was  car¬ 
ried  as  the  former  queftion  had 
been. 

The  arrival  of  General  Rur- 
goyne  from  America,  \#ith  fome 
peculiar  circumftances  accompany¬ 
ing  or  confequent  of  that  event, 
ferved,  all  together,  to  caufe  a 
revival  of  the  bufinefs  relative  to 
the  northern  expedition,  and  Teem¬ 
ed  to  indicate  fuch  an  acceffion  of 
new  matter  of  inveftigation,  as 
might  poffibly  keep  parliament  to¬ 
gether  longer  than  had  been  ex- 
peXed.  'That  once  favourite  Ge¬ 
nera],  foon  difcovered,  upon  his 
return,  that  he  was  no  longer  an 
objeX  of  court  favour,  or  of  mini- 
fterial  countenance.  He  was,  in 
the  firft  inftance,  refufed  ad  million 
to  the  royal  prefence,  and  from 
thence  experienced  all  thofe  marks 
of  being  in  difgrace,,  which  are  fo 
well  underftood,  and  fo  quickly- 
perceived,  by  the  retainers  and 
followers  of  courts, 

[*N]  2 


Under 


jg6*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 


Under  thefe  circum Ranees  of 
difgrace  and  interdiction,  a  court 
of  enquiry  was  appointed;  but- 
the  general  officers  reported,  that 
in  his  then  fituation,  as  a  prifo- 
ner  on  parole  to  the  Congrefs,  un¬ 
der  the  convention— -they  could 
not  take  cognizance  of  his  con- 
dud.  This  fpirited  officer  then 
demanded  a  court-martial — which 
on  the  fame  grounds  was  refufed. 
He  then  declared  himfelf  under  a 
neceffity  of  throwing  himfelf  upon 
parliament,  for  a  public  enquiry 
into  his  conduit.  The  bufinefs 
was  not,  however,  taken  up,  as 
he  expeded,  by  any  fide  of  the 
Houfe  at  his  RrR  appearance. 
Poffibly  the  latenefs  of  the  feafon, 
and  the  fear  of  the  determination 
of  a  minifterial  majority,  might 
deter  the  oppojfition  from  any  fieps 
to  that  purpofe.  Mr.  Vyner, 
however,  removed  any  difficulty 
that  occurred  on  either  fide,  by 

Mav  26th  movinS  for  a  commit- 
^  *  tee  of  the  whole  Houfe, 

to  confider  of  the  Rate  and  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  army  which  furrender- 
ed  themfelves  pri Toners,  on  con¬ 
vention,  at  Saratoga,  in  America; 
and  alfo  by  what  means  Lieute¬ 
nant  General  Burgoyne,  who  com¬ 
manded  that  army,  and  was  in¬ 
cluded  in  that  convention,  was  re¬ 
leafed,  and  is  now  in  England. 

The  motion  was  feconded  by 
Mr.  Wilkes,  and  an  amendment 
moved  by  Mr.  Fox,  for  the  in¬ 
sertion  of  the  following  words, 
immediately  after  the  word  “  cen- 
fider”  “  of  the  tianfaClions  of 
the  northern  army  under  Lieute¬ 
nant  General  Burgoyne,  and’5 — . 

The  motion  and  amendment 
afforded  that  opportunity  to  the 
General  which  he  was  feeking 
for,  of  explaining  the  nature  and 


Rate  of  his  fituation,  and  the  par¬ 
ticular  circumRances  of  that  perfe- 
cution,  as  he  termed  it,  under 
which  he  deferibed  himfelf,  as 
moR  injuriouRy  Buffering. 

He  accordingly  vindicated  his 
own  conduct,  and  the  honour  of 
the  brave  army  which  he  com¬ 
manded,  with  great  ability,  in  a 
long  and  eloquent  fpeech.  As  the 
general  difeuflion  cf  the  fubjedt 
was  paffed  over  to  the  enfuing 
feffion,  and  will  of  courfe  become 
an  object  of  our  future  recital,  we 
fhall  for  the  prefent  only  take  no¬ 
tice  of  luch  peculiar  matter  rela¬ 
tive  to  the  immediate  bufinefs,  as 
will  ferve  to  explain  the  ground  of 
debate,  or  as  could  not  be  related 
with  propriety  hereafter. 

The  General  feconded  the  mo¬ 
tion  and  the  amendment,  as  tend¬ 
ing  to  that  general  enquiry  into 
his  condudt,  which  could  alone 
vindicate  his  character  and  ho¬ 
nour,  from  the  afperBons  of  mini- 
Rerial  writers,  and  all  the  other 
means  w'hich  had  been  ufed,  as 
well  during  his  abfence,  as  iince 
his  arrival,  to  injure  both.  He 
entered  into  a  justification  of  his 
condudl  with  refpedt  to  the  cruel¬ 
ties  charged  to  the  favages,  and  a 
vindication  of  his  regular  forces, 
from  the  inhumanities  attributed 
to  them.  He  infiRed  that  he  had 
not  exceeded  his  orders,  and  that 
they  were  pofitive  and  peremptory. 
That  the  Houfe  had  been  defign- 
edly  milled  to  his  prejudice  in  the 
former  enquiry  upon  this  fubjeft, 
by  laying  before  them  his  original 
plan  for  the  Canada  expedition, 
and  leaving  them  in  the  opinion 
that  all  its  parts  had  been  punc¬ 
tually  complied  with  ;  although 
the  Minifier  who  laid  it  before 
them,  knew  the  contrary  to  be  the 

fa£fc. 


HISTORY  O 

fa£t,  and  that  Tome  cf  its  mod 
material  claufes  had  been  eraied. 
He  obierved  that  the  papers  which 
had  been  laid  before  them,  were 
in  fome  refpefls  deficient,  and  in 
others  fuperfluous.  Among  the 
latter  he  particularly  complained 
of  the  expofure  of  a  private  and 
confidential  letter,  which  could 
anfwer  no  public  purpofe,  and  at 
the  fame  time  evidently  tended 
to  his  perfonal  prejudice.  And 
among  the  former,  the  withhold¬ 
ing  of  feveral  others,  which  were 
not  in  the  fame  predicament,  fome 
of  which  would  have  removed  the 
ill  impreffion  and.  effect  caufed  by 
that  letter,  and  others  would  have 
afforded  explanations  of  feveral 
material  parts  of  his  conduct,  and 
rendered  a  long  train  of  corre- 
fpondence  which  was  laid  before 
them  unneceffary,  But  he  com¬ 
plained  (till  more  of  the  difclofure 
of  a  paper  of  the  molt  fecret  na¬ 
ture,  containing  his  thoughts  upon 
the  manner  of  condu&ino-  the  war 

O 

from  the  fide  of  Canada,  Upon 
this  part  of  the  fubject  he  exclaim¬ 
ed  with  great  energy,  “  what  offi¬ 
cer  will  venture  hereafter  to  give 
his  opinion  upon  meafures  or 
men  when  called  upon  by  a  Mi- 
nifter,  if  his  confidence,  his  rea- 
fonings,  and  his  preferences,  are 
to  be  thus  invidioufly  expofed,  to 
create  jealoufies  and  differences 
among  his  fellow  officers,  and  at 
laft  to  put  an  impofition  upon  the 
world,  and  make  him  refponfible 
for  the  plan  as  well  as  the  execu¬ 
tion  of  a  hazardous  campaign.” 

After  dating  and  refuting  a  num¬ 
ber  of  calumnies,  which,  from  in- 
terelled  or  malevolent  purpofes, 
had  been  induftrioufly  propagated 
againft  him,  he  faid,  that  under 
luch  circumitances  of  the  greateft 


F  EUROPE.  [*19; 

injury  to  the  reputation  of  one  of 
their  members,  together  with  that 
of  his  character  having  already 
been  brought  into  queftion  before 
them,  and  his  direft  affiertion,  that 
the  information  which  the  Houfe 
had  then  gone  upon  was  incom¬ 
plete  and  fallacious,  he  knew  not 
what  defcription  of  men  could 
juftly  refufe,  to  him  perfonally,  a 
new  and  full  enquiry. 

He  put  it  flrongly  to  the  feel¬ 
ings  of  his  auditors,  and  to  make 
it  individually  their  own  cafe,  the 
fituation  of  an  injured  and  perle- 
cuted  man,  debarred,  by  an  in¬ 
terdiction,  from  the  poffibiiity  of 
vindicating  himfelf  to  his  Sove¬ 
reign,  and  put  by,  if  not  inevita¬ 
bly  precluded  from  the  judgment 
of  a  military  tribunal,  if  thus,  dif- 
graced  at  court,  and  cut  off  from 
refource  in  the,  line  of  his  profef. 
fion,  he  ffiould  alfo  at  laft,  in  his 
final  appeal  to  the  juftice  and  equi¬ 
ty  of  his  country,  find  himfelf 
difappointed  in  the  only  poffible 
means  of  jollification  that  remain¬ 
ed,  by  the  refufai  of  a  parlia¬ 
mentary  inveftigation  of  a  meafure 
of  ftate,  with  which  the  rectitude 
or  criminality  of  his  conduct  was 
infeparably  blended.  After  ap¬ 
plying  this  matter  particularly  and 
forcibly  to  his  brother  officers  in 
parliament,  as  a  common  caufe  of 
the  profeffion,  from  the  difcou- 
ragement  and  injury  which  the 
fervice  muft  fuffer  under  the  efta- 
blilhment  of  fuch  a  precedent,  and 
various  other  confiderations  ap¬ 
plied  to  different  parts  of  the 
Houfe,  he  wound  up  the  whole 
of  that  part  of  the  fubjeft,  by  de¬ 
claring,  that  he  waved  an  appeal 
to  private  fentiments,  and  defired 
the  moron  to  be  confidered  as  a 
call  upon  the  public  duty  of  the 
3  Houfe  } 


198*]  ANNUAL  RE 

Houfe  ;  and  he  required  and  de¬ 
manded,  in  his  place,  as  a  repre- 
fentative  of  the  nation,  a  full  and 
impartial  enquiry  into  the  caufes 
of  the  mifcarriage  of  the  northern 
army  in  an  expedition  from  Ca¬ 
nada. 

The  American  Minifter  declared 
his  concern  for  the  expofure  of  the 
private  letter,  which  he  attributed 
to  accident,  or  official  miftake. 
As  to  the  General’s  not  having  ac- 
cels  to  his  Sovereign,  he  faid  there 
were  various  precedents  for  the  re- 
fufal,  until  his  condudl  had  un¬ 
dergone  a  military  enquiry,  which 
could  not  yet  be  done.  And  con¬ 
cluded,  that  as  military  men  were 
the  na.ural  and  proper  judges  of 
the  fubjedt,  he  could  not  fee  the 
propriety  of  any  interference  by 
parliament  in  the  bufmefs.  Other 
gentlemen  in  office,  befides  con¬ 
firming  that  opinion,  held  parlia¬ 
ment  as  totally  incompetent  to  any 
decifion  on  the  queftlon.  And  one 
of  the  law  officers  faid,  they  had 
one  enquiry  already,  which  af¬ 
forded  fufficienc  information  to 
form  an  opinion,  and  nothing 
more  could  be  done  for  the  pre¬ 
fen  t. 

The  queftion  being  at  length 
put  on  Mr.  Fox’s  amendment,  it 
was  rejected,  on  a  divilion,  by  a 
majority  of  144.  to  95.  And,  the 
main  queftion,  after  fome  tanufual 
warmth  of  altercation,  was  fet  by 
at  a  late  hour  by  the  previous 
queftion,  which  was  carried  with¬ 
out  a  divilion. 

Although  the  Minifters  did  not 
feem  much  difpofed  on  this  day 
to  enter  into  any  particular  difcuf- 
fion  with  the  General,  vet,  if  any 
fuch  mealures  were  intended  to 
be  kept,  they  were  fully  done 
away  by  the  part  which  he  took 


GISTER,  1778. 

in  an  enfuing  debate  ;  when  16 
alfo  feemed  that  they  were  not  un¬ 
prepared  for  the  event. 

This  was  in  confequence  _  , 
of  a  motion  made  by  Mr. 
Hartley,  for  an  addrefs  to  prevent 
the  prorogation  of  parliament,  and 
that  they  Ihould  continue  fitting 
for  the  purpofe  of  affifting  and 
forwarding  the  mealures  already 
taken  for  the  reiteration  of  peace 
in  America;  and  that  they  might 
be  in  readinefs,  in  the  prefen t  cri¬ 
tical  fttuation  and.piofpedl  of  pub¬ 
lic  affairs,  to  provide  for  every  im¬ 
portant  event  at  the  earlieft  no¬ 
tice.  In  a  warm  fpeech  which 
General  Burgoyne  made  in  fupport 
of  the  motion,  he  advanced  mat¬ 
ters  and  opinions  which  could  not 
fail  of  being  exceedingly  grating 
to  the  Minifters,  and  which  were 
relented  accordingly.  Particular¬ 
ly,  his  deferibing  them,  as  totally 
infufficient  and  unable  to  fupport 
the  weight  of  public  affairs  in  the 
prefent  critical  and  dangerous 
emergency. 

To  the  general  knowledge  of 
this  incapability,  he  attributed  the 
diffidence,  defpondency,  and  con- 
fternation,  which  were  evident 
among  a  great  part  of  the  people  ; 
and  a  ftill  more  fatal  fymptom, 
he  faid,  that  torpid  indifference 
to  our  impending  fate,  which  pre¬ 
vailed  among  a  yet  greater  num¬ 
ber.  After  ftating  the  general  pa¬ 
nic  that  might  refult  from  this 
general  ftate  of  temper  and  opi¬ 
nion,  he  faid,  the  falvation  of 
the  country  depends  upon  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  the  people  in  fome  part 
of  government,”  He  then  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  cenfure  without  referve* 
the  whole  public  conduct  purfued 
fince  the  delivery  of  the  French 
refeript ;  particularly  in  whatever 

related 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*199 


related  to  offence,  defence,  and 
the  total  negledt  of  all  means  to 
infpirit  the  nation.  Jn  a  courle  of 
ftriking  military  obfervations,  il- 
luflraied  by  late  and  popular  hilto- 
rical  examples,  he  ufed  the  fol¬ 
lowing,  “  it  will  be  difficult  for 
thofe  who  are  molt  converfant  in 
hiftory,  and  accurate  in  obferva- 
t  on,  to  point  out  examples,  where, 
after  an  alarm,  the  fpirits  of  men 
have  revived  by  inaction.  He 
knew  of  no  great  exertions,  where 
the  governing  counfels  have  fhevvn 
apprehenlion  and  terror,  and  con- 
fequent  confufion  at  the  outfet.” 

The  drift  of  the  fpeech  was  to 
fhew  the  neceffity  of  complying 
with  the  motion,  in  order,  befides 
other  great  objedls,  that  the  pre¬ 
fence  of  parliament,  might  reftore 
the  confidence,  and  renew  the  fpi- 
rit  of  the  nation  ;  and  he  faid, 
that  if  the  King’s  Minifters  fhould 
take  the  lead  in  oppofition  to  the 
motion,  and  ufe  their  influence  for 
its  rejedtion,  he  fhould  hold  them 
to  be  the  oppofers  of  national  fpirit, 
oppofers  of  public  virtue,  and  op¬ 
pofers  of  the  moil  efficacious  means 
to  fave  their  country. 

Although,  in  the  courfe  of  his 
fpeech,  he  had  difclaimea  all  nofti- 
lity,  it  was  notwitnftanding  un- 
derltood  and  refented  as  a  decla¬ 
ration  of  war ;  and  accordingly 
brought  out  a  bitter  reply,  mixed 
with  much  perfonality,  from  a 
gentleman  high  in  office  ;  and  not 
Tfs  noted  for  freedom  of  fpeech, 
than  for  his  other  eminent  quali¬ 
ties.  After  hating  his  reafons 
againft  the  motion,  upon  the  fame 
grounds  which  we  have  feen  taken 
at  the  Chriftmas  recefs,  he  par¬ 
ticularly  applied  himfelf  to  the 
laft  fpeaker,  who,  he  faid,  being 
a  prifoner,  was  in  fadt  dead  to  all 


civil,  as  well  as  military  purpofes, 
and,  as  fuel),  had  no  right  to 
fpeak,  much  lefs  to  vote  in  that 
Iioufe.  He  then  threw  fome  de¬ 
gree  of  ridicule,  in  his  hate  of 
it,  upon  the  General’s  application 
or  wifh  for  a  trial.  The  honour¬ 
able  gentleman,  he  laid,  knew, 
when  he  defired  a  trial,  that  he 
could  not  be  tried  ;  he  was  upon 
parole  ;  he  was,  as  a  prifoner  un¬ 
der  that  parole,  not  at  liberty  to 
do  any  adt  in  his  perfonal  capacity. 

- — Suppofe,  for  inflance,  he  fhould 
be  tried  and  found  guilty,  who 
could  punifh  him  ?  No  one  cer¬ 
tainly.  A  prifoner  is  always  bound 
to  his  hrft  engagement,  and  ame¬ 
nable  to  the  ftipulations  of  thofe 
who  have  preferibed  the  terms. 
To  talk  therefore  of  trial,  without 
the  power  to  punifh,  was  a  farce  ; 
the  power  to  try,  implied  the 
power  to  punifh  ;  or  fuch  a  power 
meant  nothing. 

One  of  the  law  officers  of  the 
crown  took  up  the  fame  ground  of 
argument,  and  made  it  an  objedl 
of  ferious  and  real  difeuffion.  In 
a  fpeech,  fraught  with  general 
knowledge  and  ancient  learning, 
and  in  which  the  doubts  and  argu¬ 
ments  were  too  methodically  ar¬ 
ranged,  to  admit  any  doubt  of 
their  preparation  for  the  purpofe, 
he  endeavoured  to  eftablifh  from 
the  example  of  Regulus,  in  the  Ro¬ 
man  hiftory,  and  other  precedents, 
that  the  General  (the  convention 
of  Saratoga  being  now  broken) 
was  merely  in  the  ffiate  of  a  com® 
mon  prifoner  of  war  ;  and  that, 
confequently,  he  was  not  fui  ju¬ 
ris,  but  the  immediate  property 
of  another  power.  From  whence 
he  infilled,  with  the  fulleft  ap¬ 
pearance  of  convidtion  to  himfelf, 
that  the  General,  under  his  pre- 
[  *  N  ]  4  lent 


aoo*]  ANNU’AL  RE 

fent  obligations,  was  totally  inca¬ 
pable  of  exercifing  any  civil  office, 
incompetent  to  any  civil  function, 
and  incapable  of  bearing  arms  in 
this  country. 

The  General  expreffied  the  ut- 
mod  indignation  at  this  attempt  to 
overthrow  all  his  rights,  as  a  man, 
a  citizen,  and  a  folaier,  He  urged 
that  the  convention  was  not  broken. 
That  the  Congrefs,  from  fome  ill- 
founded  jealoufy  in  refpefl  to  fome 
circumdances  of  his  own  conduct, 
and  dill  more,  from  their  doubt  of 
the  faith  of  adminidration,  had  only 
fufpended  the  execution  of  it  on 
their  fide,  until  it  had  received  a 
formal  ratification  from  govern¬ 
ment.  That  he  was  bound  to  no 
condition  by  the  convention,  ex¬ 
cepting  the  fingle  one,  of  not 
ferving  in  America;  nor  by  his 
parole,  but  that  of  returning,  on 
due  notice  being  given,  on  the  de¬ 
mand  of  the  Congrefs.  He  dated 
an  indance  from  the  lad  war,  of 
a  noble  Lqrd  then  prefen t,  who 
was  taken  prifoner  at  St.  Cas* 
and  whofe  parole  fituation  came 
diredlly  home  to  the  point  in  quef- 
tion.  But  it  feemed  as  if  fortune 
bad  forefeen  and  provided  for 
this  new  impediment  which  was  to 
foe  created,  in  order  to  a  further 
limitation  of  the  right  of  fitting  in 
parliament.  For  it  appeared,  that 
the  idea  of  retraining  him  by  his 
parole,  from  giving  any  vote 
againft  America  in  parliament,  had 
foeen  adopted  by  fome  of  the  lea¬ 
ders  there  ;  but  that  it  had  not 
only  been  rejected  with  difdain, 
fout  that  it  had  been  further  faid, 
they  wiffied  him  to  attend  his  duty 
in  parliament,  from  a  certainty,  that 
Jiis  intimate  knowledge  of  the  date 
of  affairs  on  both  fides,  would  in¬ 
duce  him,  by  every  means  in  his 


GISTER,  1778. 

power,  to  accelerate,  what  they 
declared,  they  fo  much  widied  for, 
a  peace,  upon  proper  terms.  In  the 
debate,  it  was  preffed  upon  the 
whole,  as  arifing  from  the  maxims 
and  practice  of  warfare  edabliffied 
among  civilized  nations,  that  the 
General  was  not  only  at  full  li¬ 
berty  to  ferve  againft  any  other 
enemy,  but  that,  if  he  had  defeated 
or  dedroyed  an  American  fleet  or 
army,  in  any  other  of  the  three 
quarters  of  the  world,  it  could  not 
by  any  condrudtion  be  interpreted 
as  a  breach  of  his  parole. 

The  Speaker  put  an  end  to  all 
cavil  upon  the  fubjedl,  by  deciding 
the  quedion  in  favour  of  General 
Burgoyne,  and  the  learned  law- 
officer  appeared  to  acquiefce  in  his 
opinion.  "But  the  principal  leaders 
of  the  oppofition  did  not  let  the 
matter  pais  off  fo  eafily.  They 
warmly  rg  fen  ted  the  illiberal  treat¬ 
ment,  as  they  termed  it,  offered  to 
the  General,  in  his  prefent  cir- 
cumdances  of  accumulated  mif- 
fortune.  And,  upon  this  occafion, 
the  refearches  of  the  learned  law 
officer,  in  the  fabulous  legends  of 
barbarous  antiquity,  and  his  fixing 
upon  the  very  quedionable  dory  of 
Regulus  in  the  nrd  Punic  war  (an 
aera  when  it  lay  in  the  option  of  the 
vigors,  whether  to  maffaae,  fell, 
or  to  keep  as  flaves,  their  pri- 
foners)  as  a  precedent  for  the  pre¬ 
fent  times ;  and  thereby,  not  only 
to  overthrow  the  modern  laws  of 
warfare,  but  to  render  it  the  ted 
of  a  Britifh  fenator’s  holding  his 
feat  in  parliament,  underwent  no 
fmall  (hare  of  animadverfion  and 
ridicule. 

Mr.  Hartley’s  motion  was  at 
length  rejected  on  a  diyifion,  by  a 
majority  of  105  to  33.  This  did 
not  prevent  Sir  James  Lowther,  on 

tfce 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*201 


the  day  before  the  recefs,  from 
moving  for  an  aadrefs,  that  parlia¬ 
ment  might  be  continued  fitting  by 
adjournments,  until  a  happy  ter¬ 
mination  of  the  prefent  public  exL 
gencies.  His  motion,  however, 
met  with  a  fimilar  fate  to  the 
former. 

During  this  conllant  flate  of 
warfare  in  one  Houfe,  public  af¬ 
fairs  were  not  lefs  warmly  agitated 
in  the  other.  On  the  23d  of 
March  a  motion  was  made  by  the 
Duke  of  Richmond  for  an  addrefs, 
“  That  all  the  (hips  of  war  and 
land  forces  be  immediately  with¬ 
drawn  from  the  ports  and  terri¬ 
tories  of  the  thirteen  revolted  pro¬ 
vinces,  and  difpofed  of  in  fuch 
manner  as  (hould  feem  beft  calcu¬ 
lated  for  the  defence  of  the  remain¬ 
ing  parts  of  the  empire,  in  the 
difficult  fituation  in  which  we  are 
unfortunately  placed  ;  humbly  be- 
feeching  his  Majefty,  to  take  into 
his  particular  confideration  the 
condition  of  England  and  Ireland 
to  repel  a  foreign  invafion  ;  and 
imploring  him  to  take  the  mod 
fpeedy  and  effectual  meafures  for 
providing  for  the  fecurity  of  thefe 
kingdoms.” 

This  motion  brought  on  a  very 
warm  and  interefting  debate;  in 
>vhich,  the  chief  leaders  of oppofi- 
tion  entered  into  a  large  field  of 
difcuffion,  and  cenfure.  The  mi- 
nillers  and  their  friends  were  not 
equally  adtive  in  the  debate.  It 
was  principally  oppofed  by  the 
Firft  Lord  of  the  Admiralry,  who, 
without  much  controverting  the 
propriety  or  neceffity  of  the  pro- 
pofed  meafure,  founded  his  oppo- 
fltion  to  the  motion  on  the  ground 
of  fecrecy,  expedience,  and  po¬ 
licy,  with  refpedt  to  the  mode  of 
carrying  it  into  execution  ;  which 


ffiould  not  be  fubjedl  to  the  expo- 
fure  incident  to  a  parliamentary 
difcuffion.  He  accordingly  moved 
the  previous  quellion  ;  which  was 
at  length  carried  upon  a  divifion, 
by  a  majority  of  56  to  28. 

An  acknowledgement  made  by 
the  noble  Lord,  to  vvhofe  depart¬ 
ment  the  information  particularly 
belonged,  of  an  unhappy  confe- 
quence  of  the  American  contefl, 
which  had  been  long  forefeen,  and 
frequently  urged  by  the  oppofition 
in  both  Houfes,  and  which  had 
hitherto  been  treated  by  the  mi- 
niilers,  as  rather  a  fubjecl  of  ridi¬ 
cule,  than  of  ferious  confideration, 
was  a  circumftance  in  this  debate 
which  could  not  pafs  unnoticed. 
The  noble  Lord  at  the  head  of  the 
Admiralty,  attributed  the  fcarcity 
of  feamen  (to  which  the  prefent 
infufficiency  of  the  navy  could  only 
be  charged,  as  he  faid  there  were 
iliips  enough  ready  for  fea),  merely 
to  the  want  of  thofe  American 
Tailors,  who  had  contributed  to 
man  our  fleets  in  former  wars. 
Thefe  the  noble  Lord  eftimated  at 
18,000;  and  obferved,  that  if  we 
conlidered  that  thofe  men  were  now 
employed  againfl  us,  it  made  a  real 
difference  of  36,000  feamen. — A 
fatal  confequence,  indeed,  of  our 
unhappy  civil  war  ;  and  yet  fo  ob¬ 
vious,  that  the  latenefs  of  the  dis¬ 
covery  fcarcely  excites  lefs  furprize 
than  regret. 

Several  motions  made  by  the 
Earl  of  Effingham,  on  the  la  it  of 
March,  relative  to  naval  affairs, 
were  the  means  of  introducing  a 
very  long  and  inrerefling  debare, 
in  which  the  noble  mover,  with 
the  Dukes  of  Bolton  and  Rich¬ 
mond,  took  the  principal  fhare  on 
one  fide,  and  the  noble  Lord  at 
the  head  of  the  department  in 

qucflion* 


202*  j  A  N  N  UAL  REGISTE  R,  1778. 


question,  found  fufficient  occafion 
tor  the  full  exertion  of  all  his  fa¬ 
culties,  on  the  other.  The  mo¬ 
tions  went,— To,  An  account  of 
the  Hate  of  the  (hips  in  his  Ma- 
jefty’s  navy,  in  the  latter  end  of 
the  year  1770— -Of  the  ordinary 
eftimates  of  the  navy  from  1770, 
to  1778,  inclufive,*— Of  the  num¬ 
ber  of  (hips  broke  up  and  fold, 
with  the  old  (lores  fold,  and  an 
account  of  what  both  fold  for,  all 
within  that  term, — -An  account  of 
the  buildings,  rebuildings,  and  re¬ 
pairs  of  (hips  and  veffels,  over  and 
above  thofe  charged  in  the  wear 
and  tear,  of  the  year  1777.— -And 
concluded  with  feme  accounts  re¬ 
lative  to  (lop pages. 

The  objects  of  the  enquiry  were, 
in  the  fird  place^  to  ascertain  the 
real  (late  of  the  navy  ;  a  knowledge 
of  which,  at  this  critical  feafon, 
the  Lords  on  that  fide  reprefented, 
as  being  not  only  of  the  highed 
importance,  but  as  being  abfolutely 
neceffary  with  refpedl  to  the  public 
jfafety ;  more  efpecially,  as  they 
infilled,  and  endeavoured  to  de- 
menftrate  from  public  fads  and 
confequences,  that  parliament  had 
hitherto  been  intentionally  milled, 

in  all  the  official  information  which 

* 

had  been  laid  before  them  on  that 
fubjeCt.  The  fecond  was  to  deteCt 
and  remedy  thofe  malverfations  of 
office,  negled  of  its  great  and  prin¬ 
cipal  duty,  and  profufion  of  the 
public  money,  which  had  been  fo 
long  and  fo  frequently  charged  to 
the  account  of  that  department. 
It  feemed  alfo  to  be  a  part  of  the 
drift  of  the  enquiry,  to  overthrow 
that  pofition  which  they  had  heard 
fo  often  repeated,  of  the  ruinous 
condition  of  the  navy  when  it  was 
placed  in  the  hands  of  its  prefent 
condudors,  and  of  its  wonderful 


growth  and  profperity  under  their 
nurture. 

The  noble  Earl  fupported  his 
resolutions  with  no  moderate  (hare 
of  abilities,  in  a  fpeech  replete 
with  information,  and  including 
fuch  a  feries  of  naval  facts,  as 
fufficiently  (hewed,  the  indudry 
with  which  he  had  obtained  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  his  fubjed. 
He  concluded,  by  (trenuoufly  re¬ 
commending  to  the  Firll  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  on  his  own  ac¬ 
count,  and  as  the  bed  means  of 
(hewing,  that  he  was  not  liable  to 
any  part  of  that  heavy  cenfure 
which  he  had  thrown  out  againd 
the  board  in  general,  to  confent  to 
the  motions  ;  or  if  they  implied 
any  thing,  which,  in  the  noble 
Lord’s  own  opinion,  could  tend  to 
afford  any  improper  information  to 
our  foreign  enemies,  that  he  would 
propofe  fuch  modifications  or  al¬ 
teration  of  them,  as  (hould  prevent 
that  effedl ;  but  not  to  let  an  opi¬ 
nion  go  abroad  into  the  world,  that 
all  the  charges  which  had  been  laid 
now  or  at  other  times  upon  that 
ground  had  been  fo  well  founded, 
that  he  could  not  venture  to  (land 
the  ted  of  an  enquiry. 

The  noble  Lord  at  the  head  of 
that  department  wiffied  with  great 
fejwour,  that  the  committee  of  en¬ 
quiry  had  never  been  inftituted  ; 
and  afferted  his  full  conviction, 
that  the  matters  which  had  already 
come  out  in  the  courfe  of  its  fit¬ 
ting,  particularly  with  refpeCt  to 
the  navy,  had  been  extremely  pre¬ 
judicial  to  the  intereds  of  this 
country.  He  accordingly  recurred 
to  that  beaten  but  drong  ground, 
(which  had  already  repelled  fo 
many  affaults)  of  political  fecrecy, 
and  the  danger  of  difclofure.  It 
may  well  be  believed,  that  no  pains 

were 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*203 


were  omitted,  nor  provocation 
fpared  by  his  noble  affailants,  to 
induce  him  to  quit  this  ground  of 
advantage ;  but  the  noble  Lord, 
with  all  the  caution  and  tempeT  of 
a  veteran  and  experienced  general, 
could  neither  be  tempted  nor  pro¬ 
voked  to  abandon  it. 

After  much  feverity  of  animad- 
v'eriion  the  quefiion  being  at  length 
put  on  the  firlt  refolution,  it  was 
rejeded  on  a  divifion,  by  a  ma¬ 
jority  of  50  to  20.  The  fecond 
and  fifth  were  agreed  to;  but  the 
third  and  fourth  were  negatived 

-  O 

separately  without  a  divifion. 

This  was  the  laft  ad  of  the  grand 
committee  of  the  nation  in  the 
Houfe  of  Lords.  The  Duke  of 
Richmond,  who  had  moved  that 
committee,  thought  it  neceffary  on 
the  7th  of  April,  to  dole  the  en¬ 
quiry,  Though,  he  faid,  he  had 
failed  by  the  prevalence  of  that 
power  he  wilhed  to  corred,  in  fe- 
veral  of  thole  objeds  for  which  he 
propofed  the  committee,  he  attri¬ 
buted  feveral  public  and  important 
benefits  to  it.  He  faid,  that  an 
afcertainment  of  the  fiate  of  the 
army,  of  the  Hate  of  the  navy,  of 
the  general  expenditure  in  confe- 
quence  of  the  American  war,  and 
a  particular  invelligation  of  a  part 
of  that  expenditure,  were  the  re- 
fult  of  their  enquiries  :  and  he 
firmly  believed,  that  it  was  owing 
merely  to  the  committee,  that  the 
minifters  had  been  fo  far  brought 
to  their  fenfes,  as  to  fet  about 
fomething  like  an  attempt,  to¬ 
wards  an  accommodation  with  the 
Americans,  He  faid,  the  enquiry 
was  highly  neceffary,  from  the  cir- 
cumftantial  recital  of  the  mofl  in- 
terefting  information  which  it  had 
produced  ;  and  that  as  it  had  been 
of  fingular  advantage  to  the  na¬ 


tion,  he  was  exeedingly  happy  to 
find  that  it  had  met  with  the  uni- 
verfal  approbation  of  all  ranks  of 
people. 

It  alfo  afforded  him  great  plea- 
fure,  that  the  condudt  of  it*  had 
been  approved  of  by  their  Lord- 
fhips,  who  had  in  no  one  infiance 
expreffed  their  diflrke  of  the  manner 
of  agitating  the  various  quefiions 
which  had  been  introduced,  either 
by  other  Lords,  or  by  himfelf; 
the  only  objection  made  to  either, 
amounting  not  to  a  denial  of  the 
resolutions  of  fad  offered  to  their 
consideration,  (which  had  been  on 
all  fides  acknowledged  to  be  tru- 
ifms)  but  merely  to  an  argument 
of  the  inexpediency  of  palling  fuch 
resolutions  at  that  particular  period 
of  time.  He  then  fiated  his  rea¬ 
sons  for  doling  the  enquiry  ;  and 
after  having  taken,  with  his  ufuaf 
ability,  a  general  review  of  the 
whole  bufinefs,  he  fhewed  the  mo¬ 
tives  for  winding  it  up  by  the  ad- 
drefs  to  the  throne  which  he  was 
going  to  propofe. 

He  accordingly  moved  for  an 
addrefs  of  great  length,  contain¬ 
ing  an  abftrad:  of  the  various  Spe¬ 
cies  of  information  which  had  been 
obtained  by  the  enquiry,  the  fum 
of  the  different  refolutions  which 
had  been  founded  on  that  infor¬ 
mation,  and  propofed  to  the  com¬ 
mittee,  and  fome  general  refuhs 
arifing  from  the  whole.  Among 
thefe  were  the  following  ; — -The 
defedive  fiate  of  the  navy  ;  being 
neither  in  any  degree  anfwerable 
to  the  affurances  repeatedly  given 
by  the  Firfi  Lord  of  that  depart¬ 
ment,  to  the  vail  fums  granted  for 
its  ufe,  nor  competent  to  the  fer- 
vices  which  it  may  very  fhortly  be 
called  to  fulfil. — The  increafe  of 
debt  incurred  by  the  war  ;  the  in- 

tereff 


204*3  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


tere.il  of  which,  being  equal  to  a 
lan  q- tax  of  three  fnillings  in  the 
pound,  and  added  to  our  former 
burthens,  will,  they  fear,  under 
the  circumfiances  of  a  diminiihed 
trade,  render  it  difficult  for  this 
country  to  fupport  the  national 
faith.— -That,  by  an  enquiry  into 
fome  parts  of  this  enormous  expen¬ 
diture  it  appears,  that  the  mode  of 
con  trading  and  engaging  for  the 
tranfports  and  fupplies  of  the  army 
has  been  unufual  and  prodigal,  and 
fuch  as  affords  ground  for  fufpicion 
of  corrupt  management.  —  The 
truly  alarming  Hate  of  public  cre,- 
dit,  proceeding,  along  with  the 
enormity  of  the  national  debt,  from 
the  want  of  confidence  in  mini- 
f:ers,  who  have  juftly  forfeited  the 
good  opinion  of  the  nation.  And 
this  want  of  confidence  evident, 
from  the  low  ftate  of  the  public 
funds  ;  and  Hill  more,  from  the 
difcredit  of  the  new  loan,  which 
now  fells  confiderably  under  par, 
although  the  terms  given  this  year 
for  fix  millions,  when  we  have  yet 
bad  no  foreign  war  whatever,  are 
higher  than  tkofe  which  were  given 
for  twelve  millions  in  1761,  which 
was  the  7th  year  of  a  war  with  the 
koufe  of  Bourbon.  —  And,  that 
from  the  melancholy  Hate  of  fads 
which  they  have  recited,  they  fee 
it  impoffible  to  carry  on  the  prefent 
fyftem  of  reducing  America  by 
force  of  arms. 

After  much  implied  and  ex- 
prefied  cenfure  and  condemnation 
of  public  meafures,  an  avowed 
opinion,  that  nothing  lefs  than  a 
mifreprefentation  of  American  af¬ 
fairs,  could  have  induced  the 
Crown  and  Parliament  to  the  pro- 
fecution  of  fo  fatal  a  war,  and  an 
advice  for  the  recal  of  the  fleets  and 
armies  from  the  revolted  colonies, 


and  the  effedaating  of  a  reconci¬ 
liation  with  them,  the  intended  ad- 
drefs  concludes  as  follows,  fi  That 
we  think  it  our  duty,  on  offering 
“  to  his  MajeHy  this  unhappy,  but 
“  true  reprefen tation  of  the  Hate 
“  of  his  dominions,  to  exprefs  our 
“  indignation  at  the  condud  of 
his  Miniflers,  who  have  caufed 
et  it ;  who,  by  abufing  his  confi- 
t(  denfce,  have  tarnifhed  the  luHre 
“  of  his  crown ;  who,  by  their 
<c  unfortunate  counfels  have  dif- 
“  mem  be  red  his  empire,  wafted 
ft  the  public  treafures,  funk  the 
<e  public  credit,  impaired  the  com- 
(C  merce  of  his  kingdoms,  dif- 
fe  graced  his  arms,  and  weakened 
his  naval  power,  the  pride  and 
“  bulwark  of  this  nation  ;  whiift 
“  by  delaying  to  reconcile  the  difi- 
“  ference  which  they  had  excited 
“  amongft  his  people,  they  have 
te  fuffered  fuch  an  alliance  to  take 
“  place,  between  the  former  fub- 
iS  jeds,  and  the  ancient  rivals  of 
(<  Great-Britain,  and  have  neither 
te  taken  meafures  to  prevent,  nor 
((  formed  alliances  to  counterad 
“  fo  fatal  an  union. 

“  That  in  this  calamitous,  al- 
“  though  they  truft  not  defperate 
“  fituation  of  public  affairs,  they 
(t  repofe  their  ultimate  hope  ija 
“  his  Majefty’s  paternal  goodnefs0 
“  That  they  have  no  doubt, 
“  that  he  will  look  back  to  the 
if  principles,  both  political  and 
?£  conftitutional,  which  gave  rife 
<{  to  the  Revolution,  from  whence 
‘f  we  have  derived  the  happinefs 
“  of  being  governed  by  princes  of 
“  his  iiluftrious  houfe.  That  he 
“  will  refled  on  the  examples  of 
11  his  predecesTors  from  that  au,- 
“  fpicious  period,  during  which 
“  the  profperity,  the  opulence,  the 
*e  power,  the  territory,  and  the 

“  renown 


HISTORY  O 

4i  renown  of  his  throne  and  nation 
have  flourilhed  and  increai'ed 
“  beyond  all  example.  That  he 
41  will  particularly  call  to  mind 
“  the  circumstances  of  his  acceffion 
<f  to  the  crown,  when  he  took  pof- 
“  feflion  of  an  inheritance  fo  full 
“  of  glory,  and  of  the  truil  of 
4<  preferring  it  in  all  its  luftre. 
44  That  deeply  affedted  with  thefe 
“  confiderations,  he  will  be  gra- 
“  cioufly  pleafed  to  put  an  end  to 
“  a  fyffem,  too  well  underffood 
44  in  its  nature,  and  too  forely  felt 
“  its  effedts,  which  by  the  arts 
“  of  wicked  men  has  prevailed  in 
fc  his  court  and  adminiftration, 
“  and  which,  if  buffered  to  con- 
44  tinue,  will  complete  the  mife- 
“  ries  which  have  begun  ;  and 
41  leave  nothing  in  this  country 
*'  which  can  do  honour  to  his  go- 
“  vernment,  or  make  the  name  of 
“  an  Englifhman  a  matter  of  that 
44  pride  and  diftindtion,  in  which 
44  his  Majeily  and  his  fubjedls  had 
44  fo  much  reafon  to  glory  in  for- 
iner  happy  times.” 

It  was  in  the  great  debate  upon 
this  addrefs,  that  the  Earl  of  Cha¬ 
tham  was  feized  with  that  fainting 
fit  in  the  midft  of  the  Lords,  which, 
notwithftanding  fome  appearances 
of  recovery,  was  the  unhappy  pre¬ 
lude  to  his  death.  The  noble 
Duke  who  had  moved  the  addrefs, 
upon  that  melancholy  incident, 
propofed  to  adjourn  the  bufinefs  to 
the  following  day,  which  was  im¬ 
mediately  complied  with.  The 
debate  was  accordingly  renewed  on 
the  next  day,  but  was,  by  a  divifion 
in  the  oppolition,  confined  to  them- 
ielves  ;  for,  as  the  Earl  of  Cha¬ 
tham  had  on  the  preceding, ftrongly 
protefted  againft  any  meafure  that 
tended  to  the  difmemberment  of 
the  empire,  and  to  the  acknow- 


F  EUROP  E.  [*205 

ledgement  of  the  independence  of 
America,  fo  the  fame  ground  was 
taken  up  and  fupported  on  this  by 
the  Earl  of  Shelburne.  They  were 
forry  to  differ  from  thofe  whom 
they  otherwise  fo  giCairly  refpedied. 
But  the  independency  of  America 
they  confidered  as  an  end  to  the 
dignity  of  this  crown,  and  to  all 
the  future  poflible  importance  of 
this  kingdom.  Who  will  dare, 
faid  Lord  Chatham,  to  di {inherit 
the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Bifhop 
of  Ofnaburg  ?  They  were  willing 
to  encounter  all  dangers,  and  to 
rifque  all  confequences,  fooner 
than  fubmit  to  that  fatal  propor¬ 
tion  ;  and  hoping,  that  this  coun¬ 
try  was  If  ill  pofleffed  of  refources 
in  men  and  money,  not  only  equal 
to  a  perfeverance  in  the  ffruggle, 
but  to  the  attainment  of  a  final 
triumph  over  all  our  enemies,  and 
to  that  of  the  grand  objedt,  the  re¬ 
covery  of  America,  to  whofe  liber¬ 
ties  they  never  were  enemies,  but 
ever  wiibed  to  place  them  upon  a 
fure  and  permanent  bafis. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Duke  of 
Richmond,  and  molt  of  the  other 
Lords  of  the  oppolition,  who  com- 
pofe  the  body  of  the  Whiggs,  or 
what  is  called  the  Rockingham 
party,  declared  their  grief  and  hor¬ 
ror,  at  the  difmemherment  of  the 
empire,  and  the  confequent  ruin 
brought  upon  this  country,  to  be 
as  great,  as  that  of  any  perfons, 
within  or  without  that  Houfe, 
They  were  as  ready  as  any  others, 
to  trace  the  caufes,  and  to  join  in 
punching  the  authors  cf  the  mea- 
fures,  which  led  to  this  fatal  cala¬ 
mity.  As  they  were  as  deeply  con¬ 
cerned  in  the  event,  fo  they  would 
go  as  great  lengths,  at  the  hazard 
of  life  and  fortune,  on  any  fair 
ground  of  hope,  and  rational  prof- 

pedc 


2o6*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


pe<5l  of  fuccefs,  for  the  reftoration 
of  the  empire  to  its  former  Hate 
of  power,  glory,  and  felicity.  But 
thefe  declarations  on  any  fide,  were 
now,  they  faid,  words  without 
meaning  or  effect.  The  milchief 
was  done,  America  was  already 
loft.  Her  independence  was  efta- 
blifhed  as  firmly  as  that  of  other 
Fates.  We  had  fufficient  caufe  for 
regret ;  but  our  lamentation  on 
that  fubjedt  was  of  no  more  avail, 
than  it  would  for  the  lofs  of  Nor¬ 
mandy  or  France.  If  we  had  been 
jnfpired  with  a  fpirit  of  conq'ueft, 
before  our  means  and  our  ftrength 
were  exhaufted  in,  what  they  call¬ 
ed,  this  frantic  and  wicked  war,  it 
might  have  been  directed  to  much 
more  feafible  objedts,  from  their 
beino-  much  nearer  home,  as  well 
as  from  the  general  union  of  the 
empire,  than  the  conqueft  of  Ame¬ 
rica.  They  concluded,  that  the 
attempting  of  impoffibilities,  and 
the  braving  of  danger  without  the 
means  of  oppofing  it,  were  equally 
repugnant  to  wifdom,  and  to  the 
real  character  of  courage.  And 
that  the  only  part  now  left  for 
wifdom  and  prudence  to  adt,  was  to 
look  to  the  prefervation  and  im¬ 
provement  <Jf  the  remaining  parts 
of  the  empire  ;  which  could  only 
be  done,  by  an  immediate  peace 
with  America,  and  a  return  of 
friendfhip  with  our  late  fellow- 
fubjedls.  That  the  grand  objedt 
of  the  policy  of  this  kingdom,  in 
its  prefent  circumftances,  was  to 
prevent  America  from  growing  into 
habits  of  connection  with  France  ; 
and  if  a  refufal  of  the  acknow¬ 
ledgement  of  an  independence, 
which  we  know  to  exift,  and  are 
unable  to  deftroy,  Hood  in  the  way 
of  a  reconciliation,  they  could  not 
come  into  that  refufal.  ■ —  In  the 


previous  debate,  the  Duke  of  Rich* 
mond  frequently  and  ilrongly  prefix¬ 
ed  the  Earl  of  Chatham  (though 
with  the  greateft  deference),  to 
fpecify  the  means  that  he  had,  for 
making  the  Americans  renounce 
the  independence  of  which  they 
were  in  poffeifion.  That  great  man 
candidly  confefled,  that  he,  lor  his 
part,  was  unable  to  point  out  the 
means ;  but  he  believed  that  they 
exilled.  The  Duke  of  Richmond 
faid,  that  if  he  could  not,  no  man 
could  ;  and  that  it  was  not  in  his 
power  to  change  his  opinion  on  the 
noble  Lord’s  authority,  unfupported 
by  any  reafons,  but  a  recital  of  the 
calamities  which  mult  attend  a 
Fate  of  things,  which  they  both 
knew  to  be  already  decided. 

The  queilion  being  at  length 
put,  the  motion  for  the  addrefs 
was  rejected  on  a  divihon,  by  a  ma« 
jority  of  50  to  33.  A  noble  Earl, 
could  not  refrain  from  expreFing 
fome  confiderable  fhare  of  relent- 
ment  upon  this  divifion.  He  faid, 
that ««  Thefe  dead  majorities  would 
“  be  the  ruin  of  the  nation.  Let 
“  the  queftion  be  what  it  will, 

<£  thoueh  the  falvation  of  this 

r  - 

“  country  depend  upon  it,  ir  it 
<c  be  moved  by  certain  perfons,  it 
««  is  fure  of  a  negative.”  He 
then  faid  to  the  other  Lords  on  the 
fame  fide,  that  they  had  been  told 
by  Minillers,  it  was  the  only  way 
in  which  his  Majelty  would  receive 
their  counfel :  but  there  were  other 
modes,  he  faid,  by  which  they  had 
a  right  to  give  their  counfel,  how¬ 
ever  it  might  be  received.  And, 
he  propofed,  that  the  Minority 
fhould  wait  upon  his  Majefty,  in  a 
body,  with  the  addrefs  ;  it  con¬ 
tained  information,  he  laid,  wor¬ 
thy  of  the  royal  ear  ;  it  was  not  for 
him  to  forejudge  the  edeCL  Al- 
g  though 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


though  the  propofal  Teemed  in  part 
to  be  agreed  to,  and  only  deterred 
for  further  confideration  ^  yet  the 
meafure  was  not  carried  into  exe¬ 
cution. 

The  following  fhort  proteft  was, 
however,  entered,  and  figned  by 
twenty  Lords.  “  Becaufe  we  think. 
“  the  rejection  of  the  propofed  ad- 
“  drefs  at  this  time,  may  appear 
“  to  indicate  in  this  Houfe,  a  de« 
**  fire  of  continuing  that  plan  of 
tf  ignorance,  concealment,  deceit, 
“  and  delufion,  by  which  the  So- 
“  vereign  and  his  people  have  al- 
“  ready  been  brought  into  fo 

many  and  fo  great  calamities. 
“  We  hold  it  abfolutely  neceftary 
“  that  both  Sovereign  and  people 

fhould  be  undeceived,  and  that 
“  they  fhould  diftin&ly  and  au- 
“  then tlcally  be  made  acquainted 
<e  with  the  date  of  their  affairs, 
“  which  is  faithfully  reprefented 

in  this  propofed  addrefs,  at  a 
“  time  when  our  exigence  as  a 
“  nation  may  depend  upon  our 
“  conceiving  a  juft  idea  of  our 
4‘  real  iituation,  and  upon  our 
*a  wifdom  in  making  a  proper  ufe 
“  of  it.5, 

The  difpofition  of  honouring  the 
remains  or  memory  of  the  late 
Earl  of  Chatham,  did  not  feem 
fo  ftrong  or  fo  general  in  the  Houfe 
of  Lords  as  in  that  of  the  Com¬ 
mons.  A  motion  being  made 
by  the  Earl  of  Shelburne,  on  the 
13th  of  May,  that  the  Houfe 
fhould  attend  the  funeral  of  the 
late  Earl,  it  was  direftly  oppofed  ; 
and  the  numbers  being  found  equal 
upon  a  divifion,  amounting  to  fix- 
teen  on  each  fide,  the  proxies  were 
called  for,  when  the  motion  was 
loft:  by  a  majority  of  one ;  the 
numbers  being  20,  to  19  who  Tup- 
ported  the  queftion. 


[*207 

The  Toulon  papers  produced 
no  lefs  debate  in  the  Houfe  of 
Lords  than  in  that  of  the  Com¬ 
mons  ;  and  brought  out,  at  leaft, 
an  equal  fhare  of  the  fevereft  cen- 
fure,  and  moll  diredt  condemna¬ 
tion  of  the  conduct  and  mea- 
fures  of  Minifters,  in  every  thing 
that  related  to  that  new  war,  in 
which  they  were  charged  with  in¬ 
volving  the  nation,  as  well  as 
with  what  refpedled  the  immediate 
fubjedt  of  confideration.  Thefe 
papers  were  laid  before  the  Houfe, 
and  taken  into  confideration  on 
the  25th  of  May,  in  confequence 
of  a  preceding  motion  made  by 
the  Duke  of  Richmond  for  that 
purpofe.  The  noble  Duke  took  up, 
and  went  through  the  bufinefs  with 
his  ufual  ability,  in  a  fpeech  of  con- 
fiderable  length  ;  which  he  clofed 
with  a  motion  for  refolutions,  fi- 
milar  to  thofe  which  we  have  al¬ 
ready  feen  dated  in  the  Houfe  of 
Commons  upon  the  fame  fubjedL 

The  noble  Earl  immediately 
concerned,  was  under  a  neceftity 
of  refting  his  juftiftcation  or  de¬ 
fence,  partly  on  the  perfidy  of 
France,  partly  on  denial,  partly 
on  explanation,  and  partly  on  ir- 
refpon  Ability.  He  complained, 
that  France  had,  for  the  iaft  two  or 
three  years,  adled  a  moft  infidious 
part ;  and  done  us  more  mifchief 
thereby,  than  if  file  had  adlually 
declared  againft  us  originally  ;  and 
as  to  her  prefent  great  naval  power,, 
which  afforded  fuch  a  topic  of  cen- 

i 

fare  on  the  other  fide,  it  proceeded 
from  her  having,  during  the  laft 
three  years,  departed  totally  from 
her  ufual  and  conftant  line  of  po¬ 
licy,  and  directed  her  attention 
chiefly  to  the  eftablifhment  of  her 
marine.  But  even  ftill,  he  faid, 
if  Teamen  could  be  had,  there  was 

very 


[*2b8  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i 77H. 


very  little  to  be  dreaded  from  her 
naval  power.  As  to  the  boaftings 
(as  they  were  termed  on  the  other 
fide)  with  refpedl  to  the  fiourifh- 
Ing  (late  of  the  navy,  he  com¬ 
plained  bitterly  of  the  unparlia¬ 
mentary  practice,  of  bringing  up 
words  that  dropped  on  former  oc¬ 
casions,  and  paffages  from  former 
debates,  as  grounds  for  cenfure  or 
argument  in  the  prefen t ;  and  as 
to  thofe  that  related  to  himfelf,  he 
either  diredlly  contradifted  the 
charges,  or  faid,  that  his  words 
were  miflated  and  mifreprefented. 
The  fame  mode  of  defence  went  to 
that  reprefentation,  which  he  was 
charged  with  repeatedly  making, 
of  the  deplorable  and  ruinous  con¬ 
dition  in  which  he  found  the  navy 
at  the  time  of  coming  into  office  ; 
with  the  addition,  that  he  had 
only  complained  of  the  fcarcity  of 
timber.  With  refpeff  to  refponfi- 
bility,  he  faid,  he  was  no  more 
anfwerable  ’  than  any  other  indivi¬ 
dual  in  adminiflration.  That  he 
had  never  faid,  that  one  in  his 
place  ought  to  anfwer  with  his 
head,  if  at  the  breaking  out  of  a 
war  between  this  kingdom  and  the 
houfe  of  Bourbon,  we  had  not  a 
navy  fuperior  to  that  of  France  and 
Spain.  He  had  fpoken  of  the  re¬ 
sponsibility  of  adminiflration  at 
large.  If  meafures  were  wifely 
planned,  he  was  entitled  to  (hare 
the  credit ;  if  otherwife,  the  blame  ; 
and  if  the  meafures  committed  to 
his  care  were  faithfully  executed, 
as  far  as  lay  in  his  power,  he  muft 
Hand  fully  jollified.  The  want  of 
a  fleet  at  Gibraltar,  the  noble 
Lord  j  uftified  on  the  ground  of 
precedent  ;  as  it  was  well  known 
that  we  had  no  fleet  there,  at  the 
time  that  the  French  invaded  Mi¬ 
norca,  in  the  beginning  of  the  lail 


war  :  although  hoflilities  had  beeM 
committed  at  fea  long  before. 

Among  the  many  interefling 
particulars  Hated  by  the  Earl  of 
Briilol  in  the  fpeech  made  by  him 
on  that  oce&fion,  he  fhewed  from 
a  navy-lift  in  his  hand,  under  the 
authority  of  the  then  board  of  ad¬ 
miralty,  of  which  himfelf  was  at 
that  time  a  member,  that  the  navy 
of  England,  in  the  month  of  May, 
1771,  being  a  few  months  after 
Lord  Hawke  had  quitted  that  de¬ 
partment,  amounted  to  no  lefs 
than  139  fhipe  of  the  line,  befides 
243  frigates,  and  other  veflels  ; 
compofing  in  the  whole  a  fleet  of 
■382  veflels  of  war.  “  A  prodi- 
“  gious  navy  indeed!”  (the  noble 
Lord  exclaimed)  and— “  all  dwin- 
“  died  to  nothing.”  Above  three 
millions  and  a  half,  he  faid,  had 
been  fince  granted  for  building 
and  repairs.  And  yet  the  noble 
Lord  now  confefles,  that  he  has  but 
49  (hips  in  all  fit  for  fervice.  He 
exclaimed  with  great  energy,  “  Is 
this  poffible  ?”  “  Is  it  to  be 

borne  ?”  “  What  is  become  of  the 
{hips  then  ?”  What  is  become  of 
the  money  ?”  “  But  we  have  nei¬ 
ther  the  one  nor  the  other,  nor 
any  fatisfaflion  to  the  public  for 
either.”  He  hoped  his  warmth 
would  be  excufed  ;  he  could  not 
help  it  on  that  fubjedl,  when  he 
faw  his  country  fo  ufed  :  and  that 
in  a  department,  in  which  43  years 
fervice  had  given  him  fo  great  an 
intereft,  and  had  alfo  entitled  him 
to  fome  conflderable  lhare  of  know¬ 
ledge. 

The  defence  of  the  noble  Earl 
was  left  folely  to  a  noble  Lord, 
[who  we  believe  is  not  in  office,} 
and  whofe  fltuation  and  habits 
feemed  rather  to  lead  to  a  different 
line,  than  to  the  knowledge  of 

naval 


I 


HISTORY  OF  E  U  R  O  P  E.  [*209 


naval  affairs.  He,  however,  faid, 
that  his  defence  was  founded  upon 
the  teftimony  of  his  own  eyes  ; 
from  the  information  which  they 
had  afforded  in  a  marine  tour  to 
•vifit  the  feveral  dock-yards,  he  had 
lately  made  in  company  with  the 
noble  Earl;  and  alfo,  upon  that 
which  he  had  obtained  in  a  con- 
verfacion  with  a  fhip-builder,  du¬ 
ring  that  excurfion,  relative  to 
fome  part  of  the  conduct  obferved 
in  the  naval  department.  Under 
the  conviction  arifing  from  this 
fund  of  accumulated  knowledge, 
the  noble  Lord  moved  the  previous 
queftion. 

The  Duke  of  Richmond  clofed 
the  debate  with  a  fpeech  ;  in  which, 
after  commiferating  the  fituation 
of  the  noble  Earl,  who  had  been 
thus  abandoned  in  his  diftrefs  by 
all  his  colleagues  in  office,  he  faid, 
(after  feveral  other  obfervations) 
“  That  if  Minifters  continued 
“  filent,  and  fhould  be  fupported 
tc  by  a  majority  of  that  Houfe, 
**  the  nation  was  loft,  and  their 
**  Lordfhips  would  be  anfwerable 
to  the  public  and  to  pofterity  for 
<e  the  confequence.  The  forms 
“  of  the  conftitution,  and  their 
Lordfhips  affembling  in  that 
<c  Houfe,  was  no  better  than  a 
<c  folemn  mockery  of  the  nation. 

The  other  Houfe  were  known 
te  to  be  at  the  devotion  of  the 
*(  Minifter  ;  if,  therefore,  their 
“  Lordfhips  had  nothing  to  do, 
“  but  to  pafs  the  bills  prefcnted 
tc  by  the  other  Houfe,  and  that 
“  no  redrefs  was  to  be  had  but 
f(  from  thofe  who  were  the  authors 
of  the  public  misfortunes,  he 
“  faw  no  fervice  Parliament  could 
<c  be  of.-  In  fuch  a  critical  ftate 
s<  of  affairs,  when  every  thing 
within  and  without  portended 
Vol.  XXI. 


“  public  calamity,  ho  defired 
“  their  Lordfhips  to  look  forward 
“  to  their  own  fafety,  and  prevent 
“  thofe  milchiefs  which  have  16 
i(  often  followed  the  mal-admi- 
“  niftration  of  the  government  of 
“  this  country. ” 

The  Houfe  then  divided,  when 
the  previous  queftion  was  carried, 
and  the  motions  were  confequently 
loft,  by  a  majority  of  49  to  34. 
The  bill  for  fettling  an  annuity  on 
the  pofterity  of  the  Earl  of  Chat¬ 
ham,  inheritors  of  that  title,  after 
its  fmooth  paffage  through  the 
Houle  of  Commons,  met  with  an 
oppofition  where  it  was  Hill  lefs  to 
be  expected.  The  opponents,  in¬ 
deed,  were  not  numerous ;  but  as 
they  were  determined  in  their  ob- 
jeCl,  the  oppofition  was  ftrong. 

Upon  the  fecond  reading  of  that 
bill,  on  the  iaft  day  but  one  of  the 
feffion,  it  was  oppofed  by  the  Duke 
of  Chandos,  who  objected  particu¬ 
larly  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  pro- 
vifion,  and  to  the  mifchievous  pre¬ 
cedent  which  it  would  fet,  thereby 
opening  a  door  for  limilar  appli¬ 
cations  of  the  fame  nature  from 
men  in  high  ftations.  The  noble 
Duke  was  fupported  by  the  Chan¬ 
cellor  and  a  few  other  Lords.  A 
confiderable  debate  enfued,  which 
was,  however,  more  taken  up  by 
collateral  matter  which  fprung  up 
in  its  courfe,  then  by  the  imme¬ 
diate  queftion.  And,  although 
the  bill  was  carried  upon  a  divi- 
fion,  by  a  majority  of  42  to  11, 
the  following  proteft  was  entered, 
ligned  by  the  noble  Duke  vve  men¬ 
tioned,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  the 
Archbifhop  of  York,  and  Lord 
Paget. 

Viz.  tc  Becaufe  we  cannot 
“  agree  to  fuch  an  unwarrantable 
“  lavishing  away  of  the  public 

[*0]  -  ft  money, 


2io*1  '  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


<c  money,  at  a  time  when  the  nation 
“  groans  under  a  heavy  load  of 
(i  debts,  and  is  engaged  in  a  dan- 
t(  gerous  and  expenfive  war, 

*(  Becaufe  we  fear  that  this  ad 
t(  may,  in  after  times,  be  made 
ufe  of  as  a  precedent  for  factious 
purpofes,  and  to  the  enriching 
of  private  families  at  the  public 
“  expence. ” 

O11  the  fame  day,  the  Ear]  of 
Derby  moved  for  an  addreis,  tend¬ 
ing  to  an  enquiry  into  the  difficul¬ 
ties  which  obitruded  the  faithful 
performance  of  the  convention 
iigned  at  Saratoga;  which  he 
founded,  as  well  on  a  regard  to  the 
public  faith,  as  to  the  gallant  men, 
who  were  now  buffering  as  prifon- 
ers  in  America,  through  a  failure 
in  fulfilling  the  terms  of  that  ca¬ 
pitulation.  The  noble  Miniiler 
who  was  prefent,  declared  his  total 
ignorance  of  the  fubjed,  and  ob¬ 
jected  to  the  motion  on  account  of 
the  latenefs  of  the  feafon,  and  the 
nearnefs  of  the  prorogation,  which 
was  to  take  place  on  the  following 
day  ;  a  circumftance  which  ren¬ 
dered  the  enquiry  utterly  imprac¬ 
ticable.  As  the  noble  earl  would 
not,  however,  withdraw  his  mo¬ 
tion,  it  was,  after  fome  debate, 
difpofed  of  by  the  previous  quef- 
tion,  without  a  divifion. 

This  avowal  of  immediate  pro¬ 
rogation  called  up  the  .Duke  of 
Bolton,  who  after  Hating  the  dan¬ 
ger  and  difficulty  of  the  times,  and 
the  alarming  Hate  of  thefe  king¬ 
doms,  under  the  immediate  threat 
and  apprehenlions  of  an  invafion, 
without  any  proper  means1  of  de¬ 
fence  in  their  hands,  or  wifdom  in 
our  public  councils,  to  adopt  fucli 
measures,  as  would  direct  their 
operations  to  effed,,  if  there  were, 
clofed  a  fpeech  of  considerable 


length,  by  moving  an  add  refs-,  for 
deferring  the  prorogation  of  par¬ 
liament  until  the  prefent  very  dan¬ 
gerous  crifis  might  be  happily  ter¬ 
minated. 

The  debate  was  long  and  in- 
terefiing,,  and  the  motion  was  fup- 
ported  by  mod  of  the  principal 
Lords  of  the  opposition  ;  but  as  it 
was  neceffarily  on  the  fame  ground 
with  that  which  we  have  Hated 
upon  the  fame  fubjed  in  the  Houfe 
of  Commons,  our  entering  into 
any  particular  detail  of  it  is  there¬ 
by  rendered  unneceffary,  The 
navy  was  again  brought  into  quef- 
tion,  and  the  FirH  Lord  of  that 
department  again  put  upon  fome 
j unification  or  defence  of  naval 
affairs  or  meafures  ;  in  the  courfe 
of  which  he  alfo  again  found  occa- 
fion  to  complain  of  mifreprefenta- 
tion,  even  with  refped  to  words  or 
matters  that  were  charged  to  him 
in  the  laH  debate  ;  and  was  put  to 
an  abfolute  denial  or  contradidion 
of  matters,  which  the  prcfeffional 
Lords  on  the  other  fide  poiitively 
infifted  to  be  incontrovertible  and 
authenticated  fads.  The  motion 
was  rejeded  upon  a  divifion,  by  a 
majority  of  42  to  20. 

Particular  thanks  were  returned 
in  the  fpeech  from  the  y  , 
throne,  for  the  zeaHhevvn  *’urie  3 
in  fupporting  the  honour  of  the 
crown,  and  for  their  attention  to 
the  real  intereHs  of  the  fubjed^,  in 
the  wife,  juH,  and  humane  laws, 
which  had  been  the  refult  of  their 
deliberations.  His  Majeffy’s  de¬ 
fire  to  preferve  the  tranquillity  of 
Europe  had  been  uniform  and 
fincere  ;  he  refleded  with  great 
fatisfadion,  that  he  had  made  the 
faith  of  treaties  and  the  law  of 
nations  the  rule  of  his  condud  ;  let 
that  power  by  whom  this  tranquil- 
9  lity 


\ 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


lity  fhould  be  d  i  flc  u  r bed ,  ‘  a  n fw e r  to 
their  fubjedls  and  to  the  world  for 
all  the  fatal  confequences  of  war. 
The  vigour  and  firrnnefs  of  .parlia¬ 
ment  had  enabled  his  Majefty  to 
provide  for  fuch  events  and  emer¬ 
gencies  as  might  happen  ;  and  he 
trulled,  that  the  experienced  va¬ 
lour  and  difeipline  of  the  fleets 
and  armies,  with  the  loyal  and 
united  ardour  of  the  nation,  arm¬ 
ed  and  animated  in  defence  of 
every  thing  that  is  dear  to  them. 
Would  be  able,  under  the  protec- 
tedtion  of  Divine  Providence,  to  de¬ 
feat  all  the  enterpri2es  which  the 
enemies  of  the  crown  might  pre¬ 
fume  to  undertake,  and  convince 
them  how  dangerous  it  was  to 
provoke  the  fpiric  and  flrength  of 
Great  Britain.  The  Commons 
were  thanked  for  the  chearfulnefs 
with  which  they  had  granted  the 
large  and  ample  fupplies  for  the 


[*2Il 

ferviee  of  the  year,  as  well  as  fo 
their  care  in  railing  them  in  a 
manner  the  molt  effectual  and  the 
lead  burthenfome;  and  the  warm¬ 
ed  acknowledgments  were  due  for 
the  provision  made  for  the  more 
honourable  fupport  of  the  Royal 
Family. 

Thus  was  brought  to  a  conclu¬ 
sion,  this  long,  tedious,  and  ex¬ 
ceedingly  laborious  feflion  of  par¬ 
liament.  A  feflion,  in  which  a 
greater  number  of  the  moil  in¬ 
tending  and  important  public 
queftions  were  agitated,  although 
not  generally  decided  upon,  than 
any  other  perhaps  within  the  fpace 
of  a  century  pad.  And  which 
alfo  afforded  more  frequent  room, 
for  expeftation  and  hope  to  the 
people,  with  refpedt  to  the  conduct 
of  public  affairs,  than  any  that  vva 
remember. 


C  H  A  P.  X. 

Slate  of  the  ho  file  armies  in  Philadelphia  and  its  neighbourhood  during  the 
winter.  Hard  condition  of  the  brave  army  under  the  convention  of  Sara¬ 
toga.  Sufpenfion  of  the  treaty  by  the  Cong  refs,  until  a  ratification  is  ob¬ 
tained  from  the  court  of  Great  Britain.  Predatory  expeditions  from  Phi¬ 
ladelphia  and  Rhode  If  and.  Draught  of  the  Conciliatory  Bills  pnhhfbed 
in  America.  EjfcB  produced  by  it  on  both  fdes.  Conduit,  and  reflations 
of  the  Congrefs .  Silas  Deane  arrives  with  the  French  treaties.  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  arrives  to  take  the  command  of  the  army  at  Philadelphia ,  in 
the  room  of  General  Sir  William  Howe,  who  returns  to  England.  Arri¬ 
val  of  the  Commiff  oners  for  reforing  peace,  &c.  Letter  to  the  Congrefs . 
Secretary  to  the  Commiff  oners  refufed  a  pajfport.  Anfwer  returned  by  the 
Congrefs  to  the  GommiJJioners .  Further  particulars  relative  to  the  pro- 
pofed  negociation.  Evacuation  of  Philadelphia.  Difficulties  encountered 
by  the  Britijh  army  in  their  march  acrofs  the  Jerfes.  General  W afoington. 
crojfes  the  Delaware.  Battle  near  Monmouth.  General  Lee,  tried  by  a 
court  martial,  and  fufpended.  Britijh  army  pafs  over  to  Sandy  Hook. 
If  and,  and  are  conveyed  by  the  feet  to  New  York.  Toulon  Jquadron 
arrive  on  the  coafl  of  America .  Appear  before  Sandy  Hook,  vohere  they 
cajl  anchor.  Alarm,  and  preparations  at  Sandy  Hook  and  New  York . 
Departure  of  the  French  feet.  Arrival  of  reinforcements  to  Lord  Howe. 

[*  0]  2  French 


2ia*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 

French  fleet  appear  before  Rhode  If  and.  Defenfve  preparations  hy  Gene¬ 
ral  Sir  Robert  Pigot.  Invafion  of  that  If  and  meditated  by  the  Americans , 
to  fecond  the  operations  of  the  French.  Lord  Howe  fails  to  the  relief  of 
Rhode  If  and.  E fain g  quits  the  harbour ,  and  puts  ' to  fea,  to  meet  the 

Britifh  fquadron .  Fleets  feparated ,  at  the  point  of  engaging ,  by  a  violent 
form.  Captain  Raynor,  in  the  Ifs,  bravely  engages  a  French  man  of  war 
of 7  4  guns*  D'Eflaing  returns  to  Rhode  If  and,  and  proceeds  from  thence 
to  Rofon.  Is  purfued  by  Lord  Howe.  Gen.  Sullivan  lands  in  Rhode 
If  and.  Invefs  the  Britifh  pofs.  American  army  greatly  difconcerted  by 
DJ  Efaing*  s  departure.  Sullivan  retreats,  and  at  length  totally  quits  the 
if  and.  Lord  Howe,  finding  D’  Efaing' s  fquadron  fo  firongly  fecured  in 
Nantafet  Road ,  as  to  render  an  attack  impracticable ,  returns  from 
Bofon. 


FROM  this  war  of  words  and 
opinions  In  the  old  world,  we 
are  led  to  a  war  of  deeds  and  arms 
In  the  new.  The  one,  notwith- 
Randing  the  fuppofed  fummary 
decifivenefs  of  its  nature,  being 
little  more  conclufive  than  the 
other.  The  hoftile  armies  at  Phi¬ 
ladelphia  and  Valley  Forge,  paded 
the  feverity  of  the  winter,  within 
a  few  miles  of  each  other,  in  great 
quiet.  The  affailants,  however, 
contrary  to  the  general  courfe  and 
circumftance  of  war,  had  the  ad¬ 
vantage  of  a  capital  city,  and  that 
a  fine  one,  for  their  quarters ; 
whilfl  the  native  army  was  under  a 
neceffity  of  enduring  ail  the  extre¬ 
mity  of  the  feafon,  under  a  hutted 
camp  in  the  open  field.  Not- 
withdanding  this  great  advantage 
In  point  of  eafe  and  convenience, 
the  lines  and  redoubts  with  which 
it  was  found  neceffary  to  cover  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  did  not  per¬ 
mit  the  Britifh  or  auxiliary  forces 
to  ruft  in  their  military  habits,  or 
to  grow  languid  in  the  exercife  of 
their  military  duties.  Upon  the 
whole,  the  army  was  well  fupplied 
and  healthy. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  gallant 
and  unfortunate  army,  that  had 
been  under  a  neceffity  of  fub- 


mitting  to  the  terms  of  the  con¬ 
vention  at  Saratoga,  met  with  great 
and  unexpe&ed  delays  and  diffi¬ 
culties  in  refpect  to  their  return  to 
Europe,  and  underwent  many 
grievous  vexations,  in  that  dation 
which  had  been  allotted  for  their 
reception  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Bolton.  The  former  of  thefe, 
however,  opened  the  great  ground 
of  grievance,  as  the  fucceeding 
could  not  othervvife  have  been  of 
any  confiderable  duration.  Not- 
withdanding  the  enmity  which 
unhappily  prevails  between  the 
now  disjoined  parts  of  the  Britifh 
nation,  it  affords  us  no  fatisfadtion 
in  treating  this  fubjeef,  that  truth 
and  juitice  compel  us,  firongly  to 
condemn  the  condudt  of  the  Con- 
grefs  ;  who  feem,  upon  this  occa- 
fion,  to  have  departed  widely  from 
that  fyftem  of  fairnefs,  equity, 
ahd  good  faith,  fo  effential  to  new 
States,  and  which  had  hitherto 
appeared,  in  a  confiderable  degree, 
to  have  been  the  guide  of  their 
adlions. 

It  feems  to  have  been  rather 
unlucky,  at  lead  in  point  of  time, 
that  a  requisition  for  fome  devia¬ 
tion  from  the  terms  of  the  conven¬ 
tion,  had  been  made  by  the  Britifh 
commanders.  This  was  for  the 


em» 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*21 3 


embarkation  of  the  convention 
troops,  either  at  the  Sound,  near 
New  York,  or  at  Rhode  Ifland, 
inftead  of  Bofton,  which  was  the 
place  appointed  for  their  departure 
to  Europe.  And  in  confequence 
of  the  expeftation  entertained, 
that  this  propofal  would  have  been 
complied  with,  the  tranfports  for 
the  conveyance  of  the  troops  were 
aflembled  at  Rhode  Ifland.  The 
Congrefs,  however,  not  only  re- 
fufed  to  comply  with  the  requifi- 
tion,  but  made  it  a  ground  of  a  pre¬ 
tended  fufpicion,  that  the  meafure 
was  propoled,  merely  to  afford  an 
opportunity  to  the  convention- 
troops  to  join  their  fellows,  with 
an  intention  then  of  making  fome 
pretence  for  evading  or  breaking 
the  terms  of  the_  capitulation,  and 
continuing  to  aft  in  America,  to 
the  great  detriment  and  danger  of 
the  common  caufe.  To  flrengthen 
this  colour  of  fufpicion,  they  pre¬ 
tended,  that  the  26  tranfports 
which  were  provided  at  Rhode- 
Ifland,  were  infufRcient  for  the 
conveyance  of  above  5,600  men, 
in  a  winter  voyage  to  Europe  ; 
and,  that  in  the  prefent  date  of 
things,  with  refpeft  to  provifions, 
both  in  the  Britifh  fleet  and  army, 
it  was  fcarcely  poflible  that  they 
could  have  been  viftualled  for  fo 
long  a  voyage*  and  fo  great  a  num¬ 
ber,  in  fo  fhort  a  time. 

In  the  mean  time,  great  com¬ 
plaints  having  been  made,  by  the 
Britifh  officers  near  Bolton,  of  the 
badnefs  of  the  quarters  with  which 
they  had  been  provided,  and  which 
they  reprefented,  as  being  neither 
conformable  to  their  expectation, 
rank,  or  to  the  terms  of  the  capi¬ 
tulation,  the  fenfe  and  conflruftion 
of  fome  ftrong  expoftulaticn  which 
vyas  made  by  General  Burgoyne, 


in  a  letter  of  complaint  upon  the 
fubjeft,  was  wrelted  by  the  Con- 
grefs  to  a  direft  declaration,  that 
the  convention  had  been  broken  on 
their  part,  by  a  violation  of  its 
conditions.  This  they  reprefented 
as  a  matter  of  the  moft  ferious  and 
alarming  nature :  which  indicated 
a  full  intention  in  the  Britilh  Ge¬ 
neral  and  army,  to  conhder  the 
convention  as  diffolved,  by  this 
fuppofed  violation  of  it  which  was 
charged  on  their  fide,  as  fcon  as 
they  got  without  the  limits  of  their 
power ;  and  a  declaration  of  the 
fort  now  made,  under  the  prefent 
circumilances  of  that  army,  would 
appear,  they  faid,  no  fmall  public 
j  unification  of  their  future  conduft, 
in  afting  as  if  they  were  in  no 
degree  bound,  when  at  large,  by 
a  capitulation,  which  they  had  for¬ 
mally  difavowed  under  reftraint. 

Some  paltry  refolutions  which 
were  paffed,  as  to  the  foldiers 
not  having  faithfully  delivered  up 
all  their  accoutrements,  were  of  fo 
fhameful  a  nature,  as  to  be  highly 
difgraceful  to  the  Congrefs  ;  and 
feemed  ftrongly  to  indicate,  that 
they  were  ready  to  grafp  at  any 
pretence,  however  weak  or  futile, 
by  which  they  could  evade  the 
terms  of  the  convention,  without 
incurring  the  charge  of  a  direft 
breach  of  public  faith. 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  General 
explained  the  intention,  as  well  as 
the  conflruftion  of  that  paflage  in 
his  letter,  which  went  no  farther 
than  to  a  well-founded  complaint, 
and  a  demand  of  redrefs  purfuanc 
to  the  terms  of  the  convention. 
It  was  to  as  little  purpofe  that  his 
officers,  in  order  to  remove  this 
new  difficulty,  refpeftively  hgned 
their  parole,  which  they  had  hi¬ 
therto  refufed  doing,  until  they 
[*°]  3  could 


2i4*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778'. 


could  obtain  redrefs  in  the  article 
of  quarters,  and  which  was  not  at 
any  time  granted.  The  General 
even  offered  to  pledge  himfelf, 
that  notwit  fill  an  ding  the  injurious 
, jfufpicion  entertained  of  his  own 
honour  and  that  of  his  officers, 
they  would  Bill  join  with  him  in 
£gning  any  writing  or  inftrument 
that  might  be  thought  neceffary, 
for  {Lengthening,  confirming,  or 
renewing,  the  validity  of  the  con- 
vention. 

But  the  Con r>refs  were  inexcra- 

o 

Die.  It  was  eaiily  feen,  that  the 
meafure  which  they  had  adopted 
was  not  fo  lightly  taken  as  to  be 
eafily  given  up  ;  and  that  explana¬ 
tions  and  fecurities  could  produce 
no  effedt  on  their  determination. 

Ian  <!  ,„8  They  had  pafi'ed  a 
^  3  ■  '  refolution,from  which 

they  never  receded,  that  the  em¬ 
barkation  of  Gen,  Burgoyne  and  his 
army  fhould  be  fufpended,  until  a 
difiindl  and  explicit  ratification  of 
the  convention  at  Saratoga  fhould 
be  properly  notified  by  the  court  of 
Great  Britain  to  Congrefs.  Al¬ 
though  the  treaties  between  France 
and  America  were  not  at  that  time 
concluded,  it  does  not  feem  im- 
poffible,  that  the  councils  of  that 
court  had  fome  confiderable  opera- 
lion  upon  the  conduct  of  the  Con¬ 
grefs  in  this  extraordinary  tranf- 
adlion.  Perhaps  being  fo  clofelv 
prefled  as  they  were,  by  a  part 
only  of  the  King’s  forces,  then  in 
adlual  pofleffion  of  the  mo  it  confi¬ 
derable  of  their  cities,  for  magni¬ 
tude,  wealth,  and  commanding 
fituation,  they  thought,  that  fuf- 
fering  thofe  convention-troops  to 
be  fent  to  Europe,  from  whence 
they  might  be  eaiily  replaced, 
would  entirely  turn  again  it  them 
the  fcale  of  war  ;  and  therefore. 


they  chofe  to  faerifice  their  re¬ 
putation,  by  an  aft  never  excufa- 
ble,  rather  than  their  Being  at  this, 
critical  hour. 

Some  fuccefsfu!  predatory  expe¬ 
ditions  into  the  Jerfies,  and  on  the 
Delaware,  with  the  furprize  of  a 
party  of  the  enemy  (who  buffered 
no  inconfiderable  lof3  in  men)  on 
the  Penfylvania  fide,  by  Lieute¬ 
nant-Colonel  Abercrombie,  were 
the  only  military  operations  which 
di fling uifhed  the  remaining  admi- 
niflration  of  General  Sir  William 
Howe  in  the  command  of  the  ar¬ 
my.  The  lofs  of  the  Americans 
in  thefe  expeditions,  and  in  fome 
others,  which  were  undertaken 
from  Rhode  ifland  towards  the 
end  of  May,  was  exceedingly  great, 
both  with  refpedl  to  public  and 
private  property.  Ships,  boats, 
houfes,  places  of  worship,  flores  of 
all  forts,  and  of  whatever  nature, 
whether  public  or  private  ;  in  a 
word,  every  thing  ufeful  to  man 
that  was  liable  to  the  action  of  fire, 
was  in  fome  places  confumed  by  it. 
The  officers,  however,  attributed, 
fome  of  the  enormities,  with  re- 
fpedl  to  the  burning  of  private 
houfes,  to  the  licence  and  rage  of 
the  ioldiers,  and  declared  them  to. 
be  entirely  contrary  to  their  inten¬ 
tions,  and  orders. 

The  Americans,  as  ufual,  made, 
the  feverefl  charges  of  cruelty, 
many  of  which  we  hope  to  be  un¬ 
founded,  again!!  the  troops  em¬ 
ployed  in  thefe  expeditions.  Par¬ 
ticularly  the  denial  of  quarter, 
and  the  flaughteriny  men  in  cold 
blood,  feveral  of  whom,  they  faid, 
neither  had  arms  in  their  hands, 
nor  were  in  any  military  capacity. 
They  alfo  complained,  (on  the 
Rhode  Ifland  fide,  where  the. 
charges  were  ftronger  made)  as 

<  '  a  iefs 


HISTORY  O 

a  lefs  cruel,  though  not  more  de¬ 
fensible  aft  ofinjultice,  the  carry¬ 
ing  off  the  peaceable  inhabitants 
of  the  country,  and  detaining  them 
as  prifoners  of  war,  until  they 
Should  at  fome  time  or  other  be 
exchanged,  for  an  equal  number 
of  foldiers  taken  on  their  fide  in 
arms.  And  although  it  was  re¬ 
plied  to  this  complaint,  that  as  by 
their  laws,  every  inhabitant  from 
16  to  60,  was  liable  to  be  called 
upon  to  take  up  arms,  and  was 
therefore  to  be  considered  and 
treated  at  all  times  as  a  foidier, 
whether  he  was  found  in  actual 
fervice  or  not,  we  can  by  no  means 
think  the  reafoning  included  in 
this  anfwer  fatisfa&ory  or  conclu¬ 
sive.  Upon  the  whole,  even  if  the 
treaty  between  France  and  Ame¬ 
rica  had  not  unhappily  rendered 
all  hope  of  fuccefs  from  the  pre- 
fent  conciliatory  fyilem  hopelefs, 
thefe  predatory  and  irritating  ex¬ 
peditions  would  have  appeared  pe¬ 
culiarly  ill-timed  and  unlucky. 
Though  Strongly  and  warmly  re¬ 
commended  by  many  here  as  the 
mod  effefluai  mode  of  war,  we 
Scarcely  remember  an  inrtance  in 
which  they  have  not  been  more 
mifehievous  than  ufeful  to  the  grand 
objects,  either  of  reducing,  or  of  re¬ 
conciling  the  colonies. 

During  thefe  tranfadtions,  nei¬ 
ther  the  Congrefs,  nor  General 
Wafhington,  omitted  any  means 
or  preparation  for  a  vigorous  cam¬ 
paign  ;  whild  both,  in  their  public 
adts,  boldly  held  out  to  the  people 
the  hope  of  its  being  the  iaff,  and 
of  their  driving  the  Britifh  forces 
entirely  out  of  America.  The 
General,  having  now  proved  the 
fubmiSIion  and  patience  of  his  ar¬ 
my  in  their  long  winter  encamp¬ 
ment,  Struck  off  all  the  fupera- 


1  EUROPE.  [*215 

bundant  baggage  both  of  men  and 
officers,  to  the  clofeft  line  of  necef- 
fity,  and  ventured  upon  every  other 
reform,  which  could  render  them 
agile  in  fervice,  and  effedtive  in 
addon.  He  alfo  tried  the  influence 
of  his  own  name  and  charadler,  by 
a  public  letter  to  the  farmers  of 
the  Middle  Colonies,  to  requeff 
their  providing  and  fattening  cattle 
for  the  Service  of  the  army  in  the 
enfuing  campaign.  The  Con¬ 
grefs,  among  their  other  atten¬ 
tions  to  the  war,  iffued  a  refolu- 
tion,  flrongly  urging  the  young 
gentlemen  of  the  different  colonies 
to  raife  a  body  of  light  cavalry, 
to  ferve  at  their  own  expence 
during  the  campaign  ;  offering 
them  Such  allurements  and  hono¬ 
rary  diftindtions  in  the  fervice,  as 
were  calculated  to  reconcile  that 
order  of  men  to  the  reffraints  and 
duties  of  a  military  life,  in  the 
Simple  rank  and  character  of  pri¬ 
vate  volunteers. 

A  rough  draught  of  the  concili¬ 
atory  bills,  as  they  appeared  on 
the  ffrft  reading  in  the  Houle  of 
Commons,  was  received  at  New 
York  by  Governor  Try  on,  about 
the  middle  of  April,  who  uSed  all 
means  to  circulate  them  among 
the  people  at  large  of  the  revoked  1 
colonies. 

This  unexpected  meafureof  Mi¬ 
ni  ftry  in  England,  excited  equal 
affoniffiment  and  indignation  in 
our  own  army,  who  thought  that 
nothing  could  exceed  the  degra¬ 
dation  which  they  felt  in  fuch  a 
conceffion  The  nature  and  cir- 
cumffances  of  the  war,  and  the 
long  courfe  of  injuries  and  Ioffes 
which  had  been  offered  a*;d  re¬ 
ceived,  had  by  this  time  render  :d 
every  individual  a  partisan  in  die 
conteff.  They  had  been  taught  to 
[*Q]  4  think* 


21 6*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


think,  that  nothing  lefs  than  ab To¬ 
lu  te  conqueft  on  their  fide,  or  the 
molt  unconditional  fubmiffion  on 
the  other,  could  bring  it  to  a 
eonclufion.  They  bluffed  at  the 
recollection,  and  thought  their 
perfonal  honour  wounded  in  the 
recantation  which  was  now  to  be 
rnade,  of  all  that  high  language 
and  treatment,  which  they  had 
been  accudorned  to  hold  or  to  offer 
to  rebels.  The  difappointment  was 
the  greater,  as  thefe  papers  were 
the  fubditute  to  a  reinforcement 
of  zOjOCO  men,  which  they  had 
expected.  If  fuch  were  the  feel¬ 
ings  of  the  Britifh  army,  it  may 
not  be  eafy  to  defcribe  thofe  of  the 
numerous  body  of  American  refu¬ 
gees,  whofe  paffions  being  irritated 
to  the  highefi  degree,  thought 
they  beheld  all  their  public  and 
private  hopes,  as  well  as  the 
gratification  of  their  perform!  re¬ 
sentments,  cut  oft  at  one  blow. 
The  bills  were  not,  however,  to 
produce  the  effebt  that  was  expected 
or  apprehended  ;  and,  unhappily, 
an  end  was  not  yet  to  be  put  to  the 
calamities  of  war. 

The  mode  of  circulating  thefe 
papers,  was  considered,  or  repre- 
fented,  by  the  Americans,  as  an 
infidious  attempt  to  divide  the 
people ;  and  the  Congrefs,  to  fhew 
their  contempt  of  it,  ordered  them 
to  be  immediately  publifoed  in 
their  Gazette.  General  Wafhing- 
ton,  in  anfwer  to  Governor  Trycn, 
who  had  lent  him  feveral  copies  of 
the  draughts,  with  a  recced  that 
they  might  be  circulated  among 
the  officers  and  men  of  his  army, 
enclos'd  in  his  letter  to  him  a 
printed  news-paper,  in  which  they 
pad  been  inferred  by  the  order  of 
the  Congrefs j  accompanied  by  the 


printed  refolutions  of  that  body 
upon  the  fubjebh  And  Governor 
Turnbull,  upon  a  Similar  letter 
and  application,  obferved,  that 
proportions  of  peace  were  ufually 
made  from  the  fupreme  authority 
of  one  contending  power  to  the 
Similar  authority  of  the  other  ;  and 
that  the  prefent  was  the  firff  in- 
dance,  within  his  recolieddion,  in 
which  they  had  ever  been  addref- 
fed  to  the  people  at  large  of  the 
oppoiite  power,  as  an  overture  of 
reconciliation.  He  proceeded  with 
the  following  words:  There  was 

a  day  when  even  this  dep,  from 
our  then  acknowledged  parent 
date,  might  have  been  accepted 
with  joy  and  gratitude  ;  but  that 
day,  fir,  is  pad  irrevocably.  The 
repeated  rejection  of  our  fin  cere, 
and  fufficiently  humble  petitions  ; 
the  commencement  of  hodilities ; 
the  inhumanity  which  has  marked 
the  profecution  of  the  war  on  your 
part  in  its  feveral  dages ;  the  in- 
folence  which  difplays  itfelf  on 
every  petty  advantage  ;  the  cruel¬ 
ties  which  have  been  exerci  fed  on 
thofe  unhappy  men,  whom  the 
fortune  of  war  has  thrown  into 
your  hands;  all  thefe  are  infuper- 
able  bars  to  the  very  idea  of  con¬ 
cluding  a  peace  with  Great  Britain, 
on  any  other  conditions,  than  the 
mod  abfolute  perfect  independ¬ 
ence.”  He  concluded  his  letter 
with  the  following  obfervation 
upon  the  redoration  of  union  by 
a  lading  and  honourable,  peace, 
which  he  declared  to  be;  the  ar¬ 
dent  wiih  of  every  honed  Ameri¬ 
can,  viz.  “  The  Britiflh  nation 
may  then,  perhaps,  find  us  as  af¬ 
fectionate  and  valuable  friends,  as 
we  now  are  determined  and  fatal 
enemies,  and  will  derive  from  that 

friendlhip 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*217 


friendfhip  more  foiid  and  real  ad¬ 
vantage  than  the  molt  fanguine 
tan  expeft  from  conqued.” 

The  refult  of  the  deliberations, 
and  of  feveral  refolutions  upon  the 
^  fubjeft  by  the  Con¬ 
grefs, was  a  declaration 
that  any  man,  or  body  of  men, 
who  fhould  prefume  to  make  any 
feparate  or  partial  convention  or 
agreement  with  Ccmmiffioners  un¬ 
der  the  crown  of  Great  Britain, 
fhould  be  confidered  and  treated 
as  enemies  to  the  United  States. 
That  the  United  States  could  not 
with  propriety  hold  any  confer¬ 
ence  or  treaty  with  any  Com- 
miffioners  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain,  unlefs  they  fhould,  as  a 
preliminary  thereto,  -  either  with¬ 
draw  their  fleets  and  armies,  or 
elfe,  in  pofitive  and  exprefs  terms, 
acknowledge  the  independence  of 
the  faid  ftates.  And,  inafmuch  as 
it  appeared  to  be  the  befign  of 
their  enemies  to  lull  them  into  a 
fatal  fecurity,  they  called  upon 
the  feveral  dates  to  ufe  the  mod 
drenuous  exertions  to  have  their 
refpective  quotas  of  troops  in  the 
field  as  fcon  as  poffible  ;  and  that 
all  their  militia  might  be  held  in 
readinefs  to  adt  as  occafion  fhould 
require.  All  the  refolutions  upon 
this  fubjedt  were  unanimoufly  a- 
greed  to. 

Mav  2d  ,In  a  few  dars  after’ 
r  '  Silas  Deane  arrived  ex- 

prefs  from  Paris,  at  York  Town, 
where  the  Congrefs  had  fat  fince 
the  lofs  of  Philadelphia,  with  thofe 
fatal  inflruments,  which  feemed 
to  damp  a  feal  upon  the  repara¬ 
tion  of  America  from  England. 
He  had  been  conveyed  from 
Erance  in  a  Royal  frigate  of  28 
guns,  appointed  for  the  purpofe, 
and  brought  with  him,  for  ratifi¬ 


cation  by  the  Congrefs,  copies  of 
the  two  treaties,  of  alliance,  and  of 
commerce,  which  had  been  con¬ 
cluded  between  France  and  the 
United  States.  The  lad  of  thefe 
was  the  fird  that  had  been  execut¬ 
ed,  being  figned  on  the  30th  of 
January;  the  treaty  of  alliance  was 
dated  the  6th  of  February-  Deane 
alfo  brought  an  account  of  many 
other  matters  which  were  highly 
pleafmg,  as  well  as  what  related  to 
the  hidory  of  the  negociation,  and 
of  its  concluflon. 

The  joy  and  exultation  of  the 
Americans  upon  this  occafion, 
could  only  be  rivalled  by  their 
public  demondrations  of  them. 
The  Congrefs  immediately  pub¬ 
lished  a  Gazette,  which,  befides  a 
fummary  of  the  general  informa¬ 
tion  they  had  received,  exhibited 
fome  of  the  mod  flattering  articles 
of  the  treaties,  with  their  own  com¬ 
ments  upon  them,  to  the  people; 
in  which  the  extraordinary  equity, 
generofity,  and  unparalleled  ho~ 
nour,  (as  they  deferibed  it) 
of  the  French  King,  were  ex¬ 
tolled  in  the  highed  degree.  In. 
this  piece,  they  feemed  to  count 
upon  Spain  as  being  already  a 
virtual  party  to  the  alliance,  and 
to  conflder  the  naval  force  of  both 
nations  as  united  in  their  caufe. 
They  alfo  built  much  upon  the 
friendfhip  of  other  great  powers, 
and  boafted  of  the  favourable  dif- 
pofltion  of  Europe  in  general  to 
America. 

About  the  fame  time,  Gen.  g^ 
Sir  Henry  Clinton  arrived  to 
take  the  command  of  the  army  at 
Philadelphia,  in  the  room  of  Sir 
William  Howe ;  who  returned  to 
England,  to  the  great  regret  of 
both  officers  and  foldiery  in  gene¬ 
ral,  In  the  beginning  of  June, 


£18*]  ANNUAL  R 

the  three  Com  mi  ill  oners  from  Eng¬ 
land,  being  the  Earl  of  Carlifle, 
Mr  Eden,  and  Governor  John- 
ffene,  (with  whom  were  joined  in 
the  commiffion,  the  Commander  in 
Chief,  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  arrived 
in  the  Delaware. 

,  The  Commiffionersim- 
June  9th.  me(|;ate]y  difpatched  a 

letter,  with  the  late  a£b  of  parlia¬ 
ment,  a  copy  of  their  commiffion, 
and  other  papers,  to  the  Prefident 
pf  the  Congrefs  5  but  their  Secre¬ 
tary,  Dr.  Fergu.on,  who  was  in¬ 
tended  t-o  convey  the  papers,  and 
to  act  as  an  agent  for  conducting 
the  negociation  upon  the  fpot  with 
the  Congrefs,  being  refufed  a  paff- 
port  for  that  purpofe,  they  were 
obliged  to  forward  them  by  com¬ 
mon  means. 

The  Com  million  ers  propofed, 
liven  at  this  ouifet,  feveral  con- 
eeffions  and  arrangements,  which, 
at  an  earlier  period,  would  have 
reitored  peace  and  felicity  to  the 
whole  empire.  T.hey  offered  to 
confent  to  an  immediate  ceffation 
of  hoftilities  by  fea  and  land.— 
To  reitore  a  free  intercourfe,  and 
to  renew  the  common  benefits  of 
naturalization  through  the  feveral 
parts  of  the  empire  —T  o  extend 
every  freedom  to  trade,  that  the 
refpedive  interefL  on  both  fides 
could  require.— To  agree,  that  no 
military  force  fhould  be  kept  up 
in  the  different  Hates  of  North  Ame¬ 
rica,  without  the  confent  of  the 
General  Congrefs,  or  of  the  parti¬ 
cular  Affembljes. — To  concur  in 
mea fares  calculated  to  difcharge 
the  debts  of  Ameiica,  and  to  raife 
the  credit  and  value  of  the  paper 
circulation  — To  perpetuate  the 
common  union,  by  a  reciprocal  de¬ 
putation  of  an  agent  or  agents, 
from  the  different  hates,  y/ho  lliculd 


EGISTER,  1778. 

have  the  privilege  of  a  feat  and 
voice  in.  the  Parliament  of  Great- 
Britain  ;  or,  if  lent  from  Britain, 
in  that  cafe  to  have  a  feat  and 
voice  in  the  affemblies  of  the  dif¬ 
ferent  hates  to  which  they  might 
be  deputed  refpedively,  in  order 
to  attend  to  the  feveral  interelts  of 
thofe  by  whom  they  were  deputed. 
—And,  in  fhort,  to  effablifh  the 
power  of  the  refpedive  legiilatures 
in  each  particular  hate,  to  fettle  its 
revenue,  its  civil  and  military  efta- 
bliihment,  and  toexercifea  perfect 
freedom  of  legiUation  and  internal 
government ;  fo  that  the  Britifh 
Hates  throughout  North  America, 
ading  with  Great  Britain  in  peace 
and  war,  under  one  common  So¬ 
vereign,  might  have  the  irrevo¬ 
cable  enjoyment  of  every  privilege, 
that  was  fhort  of  a  total  reparation 
of  intereft,  or  confident  with  that 
union  of  force,  on  which  the  fafeiy 
of  the  common  religion  and  liberty 
depends. 

Although  thefe  papers  produced 
very  confiderable  debates,  which 
were  renewed  on  different  days, 
from  the  nth  to  the  17  th  of  June, 
in  the  Congrefs,  yet  the  anfwer 
which  they  then  returned,  through 
the  medium  of  their  Prefident, 
Henry  Laurens,  was  fufficien  tly 
brief,  however  conclusive.  rI  hey 
obferved  to  the  Commiffioners,  thajt 
the  ads  of  the  Britifh  parliaments 
the  commiffion  from  their  Sove¬ 
reign,  and  their  letter,  fuppofed 
the  people  of  thofe  Bates  to  be 
fubjeds  of  the  Crown  of  Great 
Britain,  and  were  founded  on  the 
idea  of  dependence,  which  was 
totally  inadmiffible.  They  in¬ 
formed  them,  that  they  were  in¬ 
clined  to  peace,  notwithftanding 
the  unjuil  claim  from  which  the 
w§r  originate^,  and  the  favage 

manner 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*219 


manner  in  which  it  had  been  con¬ 
ducted.  They  would  therefore  be 
ready  to  enter  upon  the  confide  a- 
tion  of  a  treaty  of  peace  and  com¬ 
merce,  not  inconfiftent  with  trea¬ 
ties  already  fublifting,  when  the 
King  of  Great  Britain  fhould  de- 
monitrate  a  fmcere  difpofition  for 
that  purpofe.  But,  the  only  folid 
proof  of  that  difpofition  would  be, 
an  explicit  acknowledgment  of  the 
independence  of  thofe  Pates,  or 
the  withdrawing  of  his  fleets  and 
armies. 

Such  were  the  conditions,  which 
an  unhappy  concurrence  of  events 
induced  on  the  one  fide,  and  which 
the  operation  of  the  fame  caufes 
rende  ed  inadmiflible  on  the  other. 
The  Congrefs.  at  the  fame  time, 
iffued  an  unanimous  approbation  of 
Gen.  Wafhington’s  conduct  in  re- 
fufmg  a  paffport  to  Dr.  Fergufon. 

Although,  the  Congrefs,  as  a 
body,  die  not  enter  into  any  litiga¬ 
tion  with  the  Conimiflioners  upon 
the  general  fubject  or  their  million, 
yet  i’ome  cf  their  members,  parti¬ 
cularly  Mr.  Drayton,  one  of  the 
¥  ® 

delegates  for  South  Carolina,  and 
others,  perhaps,  not  officially  con¬ 
nected  with  them,  entered  the  lilts 
of  controverfy  in  the  public  pa¬ 
pers,  with  no  fmall  degree  of  acri¬ 
mony.  For,  as  the  Com mifli oners 
teemed  to  carry  along  with  them 
an  idea,  which  at  the  time  of  their 
aph  untment,  wasendeavoureci  with 
great  care  to  be  eftabli ihed  in  Eng¬ 
land,  viz.  “  that  the  bulk  of  the 
Americans  were  well-affedled  to 
the  Britilh  government,  and  that 
the  greater  part  of  the  remainder 
were  only  held  in  a  hate  of  deiuhon 
by  the  Congref  they  accordingly, 
upon  this  failure  of  negociaticn 
with  that  body,  directed  their  fu¬ 
ture  publications,  in  the  manner 


of  appeals  to  the  people  at  large  ; 
feeming,  thereby,  to  realize,  in 
feme  degree,  the  charge  to  repeat¬ 
edly  made  on  the  other  fide,  that 
their  only  object  was,  under  the 
infidious  appearance  of  concilia¬ 
tion,  to  excise  either  a  feparation 
amongfl  the  coioffes,  or  the  peo¬ 
ple  to  tumults  againft  tbeir  respec¬ 
tive  governments.  And,  as  the 
Congrefs  not  only  permitted,  but 
affeefed  to  forward,  the  publication, 
of  all  matters  upon  the  {object,  fo 
^he  writers  we  have  mentioned 
undertook  to  obviate  the  effeff, 
which  thofe  iflued  by  the  Commif- 
fioners  might  have  upon  the  people 
at  large. 

The  flrongeft  argument  which 
they  held  out  upon  this  occasion  to 
the  people  was,  that  they  had  al¬ 
ready  concluded  a  folemn  treaty 
with  France,  on  the  footing  of, 
and  for  the  eflabHlhmen:  cf  their 
independency.  That  if  fhey  now 
treated  with  the  Commiflioners 
upon  the  ground  of  dependence, 
they  fhould  at  once  break  their 
faith  with  France,  forfeit  their  cre¬ 
dit  with  ail  foreign  nations,  be 
confidered  as  a  faithlefs  and  infa¬ 
mous  people,  and  for  evermore  be 
cur.  off  even  from  the  hope  of  fo¬ 
reign  luccour  or  refource.  At  the 
fame  time  they  would  be  thrown, 
totally  on  the  mercy  of  thole,  who 
had  already  purfued  every  meafure 
of  fraud,  force,  cruelty,  and  de® 
ceit  for  their  deflruclion  ,  as  nei¬ 
ther  he  King,  the  Miniflers,  nor 
the  Parliament  of  England,  would 
be  under  a  neceffity  of  ratifying  any 
one  condition  which  they  agreed 
upon  with  the  Com  million  ers.  Or 
if  they  even  found  it  receffary 
to  ratify  them  for  prefen t  pur- 
pofes,  it  would  be  only  to  call  a 
new  parliament  to  undo  the  whole. 

Nothing, 


220*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Nothing,  they  faid,  could  be  truked 
to  an  enemy  whom  they  had  already 
found  fofaithlefs,  and  foobftinately 
perfevering  in  malice  and  cruelty. 
The  fraudulent  intention  of  the 
propofed  negociation,  they  faid, 
was  ftrongly  evinced,  by  the  Com- 
miffi  oners  holding  out  conditions 
which  went  far  beyond  their 
avowed  powers  $  being  neither 
warranted  by  the  commiffion,  nor 
by  the  adts  of  pailiament  which 
they  prefented. 

If  any  flrong  hope  of  fuccefs  in 
the  negociation  had  remained,  the 
evacuation  of  Philadelphia,  and 
the  confequent  retreat  of  the  army 
to  the  northward,  juft  at  the  ar¬ 
rival  of  the  Commiffioners,  would 
have  completely  frullrated  them. 
Commiffioners  accompanying  a  re¬ 
treating  army,  which  was  in  the 
act  of  abandoning  the  principal  ad¬ 
vantage  of  a  two  years  war,  could 
mot  promife  themfelves  a  great  fu~ 
periority  in  any  treaty  ;  and  the 
more  advantageous  the  offers  which 
they  fhou  Id  make  in  fuch  circu en¬ 
hances,  the  more  their  conceffions 
would  be  confidered  as  proofs  of 
weaknefs,  not  of  good-will.  This 
meafure  was  carried  into  execution 
on  the  1 8th  of  June,  and  the  whole 
Britifh  army  palled  the  Delaware 
on  the  fame  day,  without  interrup¬ 
tion  or  danger,  under  the  excellent 
difpofitions  made  by  the  Admiral, 
Lord  Howe,  for  the  purpofe. 

Walhington,  having  penetrated 
into  the  intention  of  abandoning 
Philadelphia,  had  already  fent  Ge¬ 
neral  Maxwell  with  his  brigade  to 
reinforce  the  jerfey  militia,  in  or¬ 
der  to  throw  every  polfible  obftruc- 
tion  in  the  way  of  the  Britifh  army, 
fo  that  by  impeding  their  pregrefs, 
he  might  himfelf  be  enabled  to 
bring  up  his  force  in  fuch  time,  as 


to  profit  of  thofe  opportunities, 
which,  it  was  well  to  be  fuppofed, 
fo  long  a  march  through  fo  danger¬ 
ous  a  country  would  have  afforded, 
of  attacking  them  with  great  ad¬ 
vantage.  This  detached  corps  and 
the  militia,  did  not,  however,  effedl 
any  thing  more  of  importance  than 
the  breaking  down  of  the  bridges; 
the  great  fuperiority  of  the  Britifh 
force  having  obliged  them  to  aban¬ 
don  the  ftrong  pafs  at  Mount  Holly, 
witi  out  venturing  an  oppofition. 

TheBritifn  army,  notwithftand- 
ing,  encountered  much  toil,  diffi¬ 
culty,  and  numberlefs  impediments 
in  their  march.  They  were  en¬ 
cumbered  with  an  enormous  bag¬ 
gage,  including  provifions  ;  the 
number  of  loaded  horfesand  wheel- 
carriages  being  fo  great,  as  to  co¬ 
ver  an  extent  of  twelve  miles,  in 
the  narrow  line  of  march,  which 
the  nature  of  the  country  and  roads 
afforded.  This  incumbrance,  fo 
far  at  le aft:  as  related  to  the  pro¬ 
vision,  proceeded,  however,  from 
the  forefight  and  wifdom  of  the 
General,  Sir  Henry  Clinton  ;  who 
being  well  aware,  that  the  hoftility 
of  the  country  would  cut  off  every 
fource  of  fubfiftence  from  the 
troops,  which  was  not  within  their 
own  immediate comprehenfion,  and 
being  alfo  uncertain  as  to  the  de¬ 
lays  and  obilructions  which  might 
occur  on  his  march,  was  too  pru¬ 
dent  to  put  the  fate  of  a  whole 
army  in  any  degree  of  hazard,  for 
the  trouble  or  difficulty  that  at¬ 
tended  the  conveyance  of  a  certain 
and  fufficient  fupply.  The  heat 
of  the  weather,  which  was  then  ex- 
ceffive,  with  the  clofenefs  of  the 
narrow  roads  through  the  woods, 
and  the  conflant  labour  of  renew¬ 
ing  or  repairing  bridges,  in  a  coun¬ 
try  every  where  interfe&ed  with. 

creeks 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE. 


creeks  and  marlhy  brooks,  were, 
all  together,  feverely  felt  by  the 
army. 

From  all  thefe  caufes,  its  pro¬ 
gress  was  exceedingly  How  ;  and 
nothing  lefs  than  thefe  could  have 
accounted  for  its  fpending  fomany 
days  in  traverfing  fo  narrow  a 
country.  When  the  army  had  ad¬ 
vanced  to  Allen’s  Town,  it  became 
a  matter  of  confideration  with  the 
General,  whether  to  keep  the  di¬ 
rect  courfe  towards  Staten  Ifland, 
acrofs  the  Rariton,  or  whether,  by 
taking  the  road  to  his  right,  and 
drawing  towards  the  fea-coaft,  he 
fhould  pufh  on  to  Sandy  Hook. 
He  knew  that  the  Generals  Wafh- 
ington  and  Lee,  with  the  whole 
continental  force  on  that  fide,  had 
already  paffed  the  Delaware  ;  and 
he  had  heard,  that  General  Gates, 
with  the  northern  army,  was  ad¬ 
vancing  to  join  them  on  the  Ra¬ 
riton.  The  difficulty  of  palling 
the  Rariton,  and  the  circumltances 
with  which  it  might  have  been  at¬ 
tended,  under  his  incumbrances, 
in  the  face  of  an  enemy,  with 
other  concurring  caufes,  determin¬ 
ed  him  to  the  right-hand  courfe,  as 
much  che  more  eligible. 

On  the  other  hand.  General 
Walhington,  who  had  croffied  the 
Delaware,  far  above  Philadelphia, 
at  CoryePs  Ferry,  attributed,  with 
his  ulual  forefight  and  caution,  the 
flow  movements  of  the  Britilh 
army,  to  a  defign  of  decoying  him 
into  the  low  country,  when,  by  a 
rapid  movement  on  the  right,  they 
might  gain  poffeflion  of  the  ftrong 
grounds  above  him,  and  fo  en- 
clofing  his  army  to  the  river,  force 
him  to  a  general  engagement  un¬ 
der  every  difadvantage.  Under 
this  perfuafion,  in  which  it  is  poffi- 
ble  his  fagacity  deceived  him,  as 


[''*21 

the  peculiar  circumftances  of  the 
Britilh  army  rendered  it  totally 
incapable  of  any  fuch  rapid  move¬ 
ments  as  he  apprehended,  the  flow- 
nefs  on  the  one  fide  retarded  the 
motions  on  the  other.  It  is,  how¬ 
ever,  likewife  probable,  that  Walh¬ 
ington  referved  himfelf  entire  for 
the  paffage  of  the  Rariton  ;  which 
he  concluded  would  have  been 
their  courfe,  and  which  he  knew 
would  have  afforded  him  great  ad¬ 
vantage  in  an  attack. 

But  when  he  difcovered  that  the 
Britilh  army  had  departed  from  its 
expefled  line  ofdire&ion,  and  was 
bending  its  way  on  the  other  fide 
towards  the  fea-coail,  he  imme¬ 
diately  changed  his  fyllem,  and 
fent  feveral  detachments  of  chofen. 
troops,  under  the  general  conduct 
of  the  Marquis  de  Fayette,  to  ha- 
rafs  the  army  in  its  march,  him¬ 
felf  following,  at  a  fuitable  dif- 
tance,  with  the  whole  force.  As 
affairs  grew  more  critical  upon  the 
near  approach  of  the  van  of  one 
army  to  the  rear  of  the  other,  Ge¬ 
neral  Lee  was  difpatched  with  two 
brigades,  to  reinforce,  and  to  take 
the  command  of  the  advanced 
corps  ;  which,  by  Walhington’s 
account,  amounted  then  to  about 
5000  men,  although  from  the  fe¬ 
veral  detachments  which  he  fpeci- 
fies,  it  would  feem  to  have  been 
ftronger. 

Sir  Henry  Clinton,  on  the  march 
to  a  place  called  Freehold,  judging 
from  the  number  of  the  enemy’s 
light  troops  which  hovered  on  his 
rear,  that  their  main  body  was  at 
no  great  dillance,  judicioufiy  de¬ 
termined  to  free  that  part  of  the 
army  from  the  incumbrance  and 
impediment  of  the  baggage,  which 
he  accordingly  placea  under  the 
conduct  of  General  Knyphaufen, 

who 


t 


mi.*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 


who  led  the  firfl  column  of  the 

army.  t  he  other,  which  covered 
the  line  of  march,  being  now  dii- 
engaged  and  tree  for  action,  term¬ 
ed  a  body  of  troops  which  could 
not  eafily  be  equalled,  and  was 
under  t h e  i ir«  mediate  com m a n d  of 
the  General.  It  was  con, poled  of 
the  3d,  4th.  ar.d  5th  brigades  of 
Britifh,  two  battalions  of  Britifh, 
and  the  Heffian  grenadiers,  a  bat¬ 
talion  of  light  infantry,  the  guards, 
and  the  16th  regiment  of  light 
dragoons. 

,  _  ,  On  the  morning  af- 

Tune  28th.  i* 

J  ter  this  arrangement 

General  Knyphaufen,  with  the  frit 
divifion  and  the  carriages,  began  at 
the  break  of  day  to  move,,  di red¬ 
ing  ykeirumaren  towards  Middle- 
town,  which  lay  ten  or  twelve 
miles  on  their  way,  in  a  high  and 
ffrong  country.  The  fecond  divi¬ 
fion,  under  the  Commander  in 
Chief,  continued  for  feme  hours 
on  their  ground  in  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  of  Freehold,  both  to  cover 
the  line  of  march,  and  to  afford 
time  for  the  chain  of  carriages  to 
get  clear  on  their  way. 

Having  begun  to  march  about 
eight  o’clock,  fome  parties  of  the 
enemy  which  appeared  in  the  woods 
on  their  left  Hank,  were  engaged 
and  difperfed  by  the  light  troops  : 
but  as  the  rear-guard  defeended 
from  the  heights  above  Freehold, 
into  a  valley  about  three  miles  in 
length,  and  one  in  breadth,  feve- 
ral  columns  of  the  enemy  appeared 
likewife  defeending  into  the  plain, 
who  about  ten  o’clock  began  to 
cannonade  the  rear.  The  General 
at  the  fame  infant  received  intelli¬ 
gence,  that  , the  enemy  were  difeo- 
vered  marching  in  force  on  both 
his  flanks.  He  was  immediately 
ffruck,  that  an  attack  011  the  bag¬ 


gage  was  their  principal  objedt  5 
and  as  the  carriages  were  then  en¬ 
tangled  in  defiles  which  continued 
for  iome  miles,  it  feemed  a  matter 
of  no  fmall  difficulty  to  obviate  the 
danger. 

In  this  critical  fituation,  the 
General,  with  great  quicknefs  and 
prefence  of  mind,  judged  that  a 
vigorous  attack,  and  fevere  pref- 
iure,  upon  that  body  of  the  enemy 
which  harafied  his  rear,  would  re¬ 
call  the  detachments  on  his  flanks 
to  its  affiftande,  and  feemed  to  be 
the  only  probable  means  of  faving 
the  convoy.  For  although  he  had 
good  information  that  General 
Wafliington  was  at  hand  with  his 
whole  army,  which  he  heard  was 
efiimated  at  20,000  men  ;  yet,  as 
he  knew  that  his  main  body  was 
feparated  from  that  corps  which 
attacked  Lord  Cornwallis,  in  the 
rear,  by  two  confiderable  defiles, 
he  was  not  apprehenfive  that  he 
could  pafs  a  greater  body  of  troops 
through  them,  during  the  execu¬ 
tion  of  the  meafure  which  he  in¬ 
tended,  than  what  the  force  along 
with  him  was  well  able  to  oppofe  ; 
vvhilfl,  on  the  other  hand,  even  with 
that  divifion  of  the  army,  W  a  th¬ 
in  g  ton’s  situation  would  not  be  a 
little  critical,  if  he  fhould  chance 
to  come  upon  him,  when  he  was 
ftruggling  in  his  paflage  through 
the  defiles. 

Guarding,  however,  againii 
every  poffible  refult  of  the  mea¬ 
fure,  and  to  be  in  preparation  for 
the  event  of  a  general  engage¬ 
ment,  he  recalled  a  brigade  of  the 
Britifh  Infantry,  and  the  17th 
regiment  of  light  dragoons,  from 
Knyphaufen’s  divifion,  and  left 
direction  for  them  to  take  a  pod- 
don  which  would  effe&ually  cover 
his  right  flank,  being  the  fide  on 

which 


HISTORY  O 

which  he  was  mod  jealous  of  the 
defign  of  the  enemy.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  Queen’s  light  dragoons 
had,  with  their  ufual  fpirit,  attacked 
and  routed  the  enemy’s  cavalry, 
under  the  Marquis  de  Fayette,  and 
drove  them  back  in  confuhon  on 
their  own  infantry.  Tne  General 
then  made  difpofitions  to  attack 
the  enemy  in  the  plain  ;  but  before 
he  could  advance,  they  fell  unex- 
peftedly  back,  and  took  a  ftrong 
pofition  on  the  heights  above  Mon¬ 
mouth  Court-Houle. 

The  heat  of  the  weather  was 
in  that  feafon  always  intenfe  ;  but 
upon  that  particular  day  was  lo  ex- 
cefiive,  as  to  be  feldom  equalled, 
even  in  the  fultry  fummers  of  that 
continent  ;  fo  that  the  troops  were 
already  greatly  fatigued.  The 
fituation  of  the  army,  however, 
rendered  the  mod  vigorous  exer¬ 
tion  neceflary.  The  Britifh  grena¬ 
diers,  with  their  left  to  the  village 
of  Freehold,  and  the  guards  on 
their  right,  began  the  attack  with 
fuch  fpirit,  that  the  enemy  foon 
gave  way.  But  their  lecond  line 
preferved  a  better  countenance; 
and  refilled  a  fierce  and  eager  at¬ 
tack  with  great  obllinacy.  They 
were,  however,  at  length,  com¬ 
pletely  routed;  but  in  this  exi¬ 
gency,  with  a  very  un ufual  degree 
of  recollection,  as  well  as  refolu- 
tion,  took  a  third  pofition  with  fo 
much  judgment,  that  their  front 
was  covered  by  a  marfny  hollow, 
which  fcarcely  admitted  the  practi¬ 
cability  of  an  attack  by  that  way. 

Sir  Henry  Clinton  brought  up 
part  of  the  fecond  line,  and  made 
fome  other  difpofitions  to  attack 
the  enemy  in  this  pod,  and  the 
light  infantry  and  rangers  had 
already  turned  their  left  for  that 
purpofe  ;  but  the  army  in  general 


F  EUROPE.  [*z2? 

was  now  fo  overpowered  by  heat  and 
fatigue,  that,  upon  conhderation, 
he  thought  it  better  not  to  pref's 
the  affair  any  farther.  He  was 
alfo  by  this  time  confident,  that 
the  purpofe  which  had  induced 
him  to  the  attack  was  gained,  in 
the  prefervation  of  the  convoy. 
A  bold  attempt  of  the  enemy,  to 
cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  light  in¬ 
fantry,  rendered  fome  new  move¬ 
ments,  notvvithdanding  the  excefi- 
five  toil  of  the  day,  dill  neceflary. 
The  army  at  length  returned  to 
that  pofition,  from  whence  they 
had  fird  driven  the  enemy,  after 
their  quitting  the  plain. 

The  General’s  opinion  with  re- 
fpedt  to  the  defign  on  the  bag¬ 
gage,  was  jullified  in  the  event; 
and  the  propriety  of  his  fubfequent 
conduct  in  attacking  the  enemy  on 
that  principle  confirmed.  Two 
brigades  of  the  enemy’s  light  troops 
had  palTed  the  army,  one  on  each 
flank,  in  that  view,  and  had  actu¬ 
ally  made  the  attempt  ;  but  by  the 
good  difpofitions  made  by  the  com¬ 
manders,  the  firm nefs  of  the  40th 
regiment,  and  the  ready  fervice  of 
the  light  herfe,  they  were  repul  fed 
at  the  fird  onfet,  and  the  engage- 
ment  in  the  plain  then  commence- 
ing,  were  immediately  recalled. 

Sir  Henry  Clinton  having  now 
fully  attained  his  object,  for  the 
Generals  Knyphaufen  and  Grant, 
with  the  fird  divifion  and  baggage, 
were  arrived  at  Nut  Swamp,  near 
Middletown,  could  have  no  induce¬ 
ment  for  continuing  in  his  prefent 
fituation.  The  troops  had  already 
gained  fufficient  honour,  in  forcing 
fuccefliveiy,  from  two  itrong  peti¬ 
tions,  a  corps  of  the  enemy,  which, 
he  was  informed,  amounted  to  near 
1 7,, coo  men  ;  and  the  merit  of  the 
fervice  was  much  enhanced,  by  the 

uu- 


2H*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 . 


unequalled  circum dances  of  heat 
and  fatigue  under  which  it  was  per¬ 
formed.  The  enemy  were  much 
fuperior  in  force  to  the  divifion  im¬ 
mediately  under  his  command  ;  and 
if  the  equality  had  been  even  near¬ 
er,  it  would  ftill  feem  imprudent 
to  have  hazarded  an  engagement, 
at  fuch  a  diflance  from  the  reft  of 
his  army,  in  a  country,  not  only 
entirely  hoflile,  but  which  from  its 
nature  muft  have  been  ruinous  to 
Grangers  under  any  circum fiance  of 
defeat.  And  as  the  heat  of  the 
weather  rendered  marching  by  day 
intolerable,  fo  the  mcon-light  ad¬ 
ded  much  to  the  eligibility  of  the 
night  for  that  purpofe.  Upon 
feme  or  all  of  thefe  accounts,  the 
troops  having  repofed  till  ten 
o’clock,  the  army  was  again  putin 
motion,  and  they  marched  for¬ 
ward  to  join  their  fellows. 

Such  was  the  detail  of  the  action 
at  Freehold,  or  Monmouth,  as  it  is 
otherwife  called,  as  given  on  our 
fide.  The  lofs,  in  (lain,  was  not 
confiderabie  in  point  of  number, 
but  rendered  grievous  by  that  of 
the  brave  Col.  Monckton.  That 
gallant  officer,  who  had  frequently 
encountered  death  in  all  its  forms, 
had  the  fortune  of  being  more  than 
once  grievoufly  wounded,  both  in 
the  laft  war  and  the  prefent;  and 
after  the  hair-breadth  efcape  of  a 
recovery,  when  left  among  the  dead 
on  the  field,  was  only  referved  to 
be  killed  on  this  day,  at  the  head 
of  the  fecond  battalion  of  grena¬ 
diers.  This  day  and  aftion  were 
alfo  rendered  remarkable  by  the 
iingular  clrcumflance,  unparalleled 
in  the  hiftory  of  the  New  World, 
of  59  foldiers  perilling !  without 
receiving  a  wound,  merely  through 
the  exceffive  heat  and  fatigue.  Se¬ 
veral  of  the  Americans  alfo,  inured 


as  they  were  to  the  climate,  died 
through  the  fame  caufe. 

The  Americans  claim  great  ho¬ 
nour  to  that  part  of  their  troops 
which  had  an  opportunity  of  being 
engaged  in  this  aftion.  They  like- 
wife  claim,  though  without  any 
apparent  ground,  the  advantage  as 
the  affair  now  Hands ;  but  pretend 
that  they  fhould  have  gained  a 
compleat  and  decifive  victory,  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  mifeondudt 
and  difobedience  of  orders  of  Ge¬ 
neral  Lee.  That  officer  had,  feme 
time  before,  by  an  exchange,  ob¬ 
tained  a  releafe  from  his  long  con¬ 
finement  at  New  York;  and  we 
have  already  feen,  was  appointed 
to  take  the  command  of  thefe  dif¬ 
ferent  bodies  of  troops,  which  had 
been  detached  to  harafs  the  Britifh 
army,  and  to  impede  its  march. 

It  appears  from  General  Wash¬ 
ington’s  account  of  the  matter,  that 
he  being  well  informed,  that  if  the 
Britifh  army  once  gained  the  high 
and  ftrong  country  near  Middle- 
town,  no  attempt  could  afterwards 
be  made  upon  them,  with  the 
fmalleil:  profped:  of  fuccefs,  he  ac¬ 
cordingly  determined  to  fall  upon 
their  rear  immediately  upon  their 
departure  from  the  ftrong  grounds  i 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Freehold,  j 
on  which  they  had  encamped  dur¬ 
ing  the  night  of  the  27th.  He  com¬ 
municated  this  intention  to  Gene-  i 
rai  Lee,  with  orders  to  make  his  i 
difpolitions  for  the  attack,  and  to  : 
keep  the  troops  lying  upon  their 
arms  in  conftant  preparation;  which 
he  alfo  praftifed  himfelf  in  the 
main  body. 

Wafhington  having  received  an 
exprefs  at  five  in  the  morning,  that 
the  Britifh  army  had  begun  their 
march,  immediately  difpatched  an.  j 
order  to  Lee  to  attack  them  ;  ac¬ 
quainting  ; 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*22; 


quainting  him  at  the  fame  time,  that 
he  was  marching  directly  to  his  fup- 
port,and  that  for  the  greater  expedi¬ 
tion,  he  fhould  caufe  his  men  to  dif- 
incumber  themlelves  of  that  part 
of  their  baggage,  which  (it  appears 
from  hence)  they  carried  upon  their 
backs.  To  his  great  furprize  and 
mortification,  however,  when  he 
had  marched  above  five  miles,  he 
met  the  whole  advanced  corps  re¬ 
treating,  which  they  informed  him 
was  by  General  Lee’s  orders,  with¬ 
out  their  making  the  fmallell  op- 
pofition,  excepting  the  fingle  fire 
of  one  detachment,  to  repulfe  the 
Britifh  light  horfe. 

The  General  found  the  rear  of 
the  retreating  corps  hard  preffed 
by  the  enemy  ;  but,  by  forming 
them  anew,  under  the  brave  and 
fpirited  exertions  of  their  officers, 
(as  he  fays)  he  foon  checked  the 
advance  of  the  Britifh  forces  ;  and, 
having  by  this  means  gained  time 
to  plant  fome  batteries  of  cannon, 
and  to  bring  up  frefh  forces,  the 
engagement  hung  in  an  equal  poize. 
In  this  fituation,  (he  continues)  the 
enemy  finding  themfelves  warm¬ 
ly  oppofed  in  front,  made  an  at¬ 
tempt  to  turn  his  left  flank  ;  but 
were  bravely  repulfed  and  driven 
back  by  fome  detached  parties  of 
infantry.  A  fimilar  attempt  on 
the  right,  was  repelled  by  Gene¬ 
ral  Green  ;  who  afterwards,  in  con- 
jundlion  with  General  Wayne,  took 
fuch  pofitions,  and  kept  up  fo  fe- 
vere  and  well  directed  a  fire,  as 
compelled  the  Britifh  forces  to  re¬ 
tire  behind  that  defile,  where  the 
£rft  fland  had  been  made  in  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  ailion. 

In  that  fituation,  in  which  their 
flanks  were  fecured  by  thick  woods 
and  moraffes,  and  their  front  only 
affailable  through  a  narrow  defile, 
Vcl,  XXL 


he  notwithflanding  made  difpofi- 
tions  (he  fays)  for  attacking  them  ; 
but  the  darknefs  came  on  fo  fall, 
as  not  to  afford  time  for  their  fur¬ 
mounting  the  impediments  in  their 
way.  The  main  body,  however, 
lay  all  night  upon  their  arms  on 
the  place  of  aition,  as  the  detached 
parties  did  in  the  feveral  pofitions 
which  they  had  been  ordered  to 
take,  under  a  full  determination 
of  attacking  the  Britifh  army  when 
the  day  appeared  ;  but  they  re¬ 
treated  in  fuch  profound  filence  in 
the  night,  that  the  moft  advanced 
polls,  and  thofe  very  near  them, 
knew  nothing  of  their  departure 
until  morning. 

Wafhington  reprefents  the  num¬ 
ber  of  Britifh  buried  by  the  Ame¬ 
ricans,  to  be  about  four  time* 
greater,  than  the  lofs  acknow¬ 
ledged  by  our  Gazette  ;  and  hift 
own,  as  much  under  that  flate* 
He  fays,  they  carried  off  their 
wounded,  excepting  four  officers, 
and  about  forty  foldiers.  He  gives 
high  and  unufual  praife,  and  ex- 
preffes  himfelf  under  the  greateft 
obligation  to  the  zeal,  bravery, 
and  conduit  of  his  officers ;  and 
fays,  the  behavour  of  the  troops  in 
general,  after  they  had  recovered 
from  the  furprize,  occafioned  by 
the  retreat  of  the  advanced  corps, 
was  fuch  as  could  not  be  furpaffed. 
The  public  acknowledgements  of 
the  Congrefs,  were  very  flattering 
to  the  army,  but  particularly  fo 
to  the  General  and  to  his  officers  5 
in  which  they  affeited  to  confider 
this  aition  as  a  battle,  and  the  re- 
fult  as  a  great  and  important  vic¬ 
tory  obtained  over  the  grand  Bri¬ 
tifh  army,  under  the  immediate 
command  of  their  General. 

Wafhington  took  care  to  inform 
the  Congrefs,  that  the  nature  of 
[*T]  ^he 


c 


226*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


the  country  rendered  any  further 
purfuit  of  the  Britifh  army  fruit- 
lefs,  and  all  attempts  to  difturb 
their  embarkation  at  Sandy  Hook, 
equally  impra&i cable  and  danger¬ 
ous.  He  accordingly  detached 
only  fome  light  troops  to  obferve 
and  attend  their  motions,  and  drew 
off  the  main  body  of  the  army  to 
the  borders  of  the  North  River. 
The  Americans  loft  fome  officers  of 
name  in  this  adliom  ;  particularly  a 
Colonel  Bonner  of  Pen fyl vania, 
and  a  Major  Dickenfon  of  Virgi¬ 
nia,  both  of  whom  were  much  re¬ 
gretted. 

It  appears  that  general  Wafh- 
ington  ufed  fome  very  harfh  and 
fevere  expreffions,  in  the  face  of  the 
army,  to  General  Lee,  upon  meet¬ 
ing  him,  on  the  retreat  of  his 
corps,  from  the  place  of  adtion  ; 
amounting  to  a  diredt  charge  of  a 
difobedience  of  orders,,  want  of 
condudf,  or  want  of  courage.  This 
produced  two  paffionace  letters 
from  Lee,  (who  was  likewife  put 
under  arreft)  with  an  anfwer  from 
Waftiington,  ail  written  on  the 
day  or  night  of  the  adtion.  A 
court  martial  was  inftantly  de¬ 
manded  „  and  as  inftantly  ordered  ; 
and  fo  fpeedily  carried  into  execu¬ 
tion,  as  to  be  opened  at  Brunfwick 
on  the  4th  of  July,  The  charges 
laid  again  ft  Lee  were,  Jfrrft,  dilo- 
bedience  of  orders,  in  not  attack¬ 
ing  the  enemy  on  the  28th  of  June, 
agreeable  to  repeated  inftrudtions. 
For  mifbehaviour  before  the  ene¬ 
my  on  the  fame  day,  by  making 
an  unneceffary,  diforderly,  and 
fhameful  retreat.  And  laftly,  for 
difrefpedl  to  the  Commander  in 
Chief,  by  the  two  letters  we  have 
mentioned.  The  refult  of  the 
Court,  after  a  trial  which  lafted 
to  the  1 2  th  of  Aug  oft,  was  the 


finding  General  Lee  guilty  of  the 
firft  charge.  The  finding  him  m 
part  guilty  of  the  fecond,  Of 
mifbehaviour  before  the  enemy,  by 
making  an  unneceffary,  and,  in 
fome  few  inftances,  a  diforderly 
retreat.”  They  alfo  found  him 
guilty  of  difrefpedl  to  the  Com¬ 
mander  in  chief ;  and  fentenced 
him,  to  be  fufpended  from  any 
command  in  the  armies  of  the 
United  States,  for  the  term  of 
twelve  months.  It  is  impoffible 
for  us  to  enter  into  the  merits  of 
this  fentence ;  in  which  party  might 
have  had  a  great  fhare.  When  a 
difpute  had  been  carried  to  fo 
great  an  height,  between  an  officer 
on  whom  the  Americans  reoofed 
their  chief  confequence,  and  one 
fubordimate  and  lefs  popular,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  divine  where  the 
blame  will  be  laid. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Britifti 
army  arrived  at  the  high  lands  of 
Navefink,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Sandy  Hook,  on  the  laft  of 
June  ;  at  which  latter  place,  the 
fleet  from  the  Delaware,  under 
Lord  Howe,  after  being  detained 
in  that  river  by  calms,  had  moft 
fortunately  arrived  on  the  preced¬ 
ing  day.  It  had  happened  in  the 
preceding  winter,  that  the  penin- 
lula  of  Sandy  Hook,  had  been  cut 
off  from  the  continent,  and  con¬ 
verted  to  an  absolute  ifland,  by  a 
violent  breach  of  the  fea  ;  a  circum- 
ftance  then  of  little  moment,  but 
which  might  now  have  been  at¬ 
tended  with  the  moft  fatal  confe- 
quences.  By  the  happy  arrival  of 
the  fleet,  at  the  in  flan  t  when  its 
affiftance  was  fo  critically  necef- 
fary,  the  ability  of  the  n.oble  com¬ 
mander,  and  the  extraordinary  ef¬ 
forts  of  the  feamen,  this  impedi¬ 
ment  was  fpeedily  removed ;  a 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*227 


bridge  of  boats  being  completed 
with  fuch  expedition,  that  the 
whole  army  was  paffed  over  this 
new  channel  on  the  5th  of  July  ; 
and  were  afterwards  conveyed  with 
eafe  to  New  York  ;  neither  army 
nor  navy  yet  knowing  the  cir- 
cumftances  of  danger  and  ruin  in 
which  they  had  been  fo  nearly  in¬ 
volved. 

For  an  unexpected  enemy  had 
now  arrived  on  the  coaft  of  North 
America,  who  was  to  give  a  new, 
and  ftrange  turn  to  the  circum- 
ftances  of  the  war.  On  the  fecond 
day  after  the  conveyance  of  the 
army  from  Sandy  Hook,  Lord 
Ho.we  received  intelligence  by  his 
cruizers,  that  D’Eftaing’s  fleet  had 
been  leen  on  the  coaft  of  Virginia, 
on  the  very  day  that  the  army  had 
paffed  the  bridge  at  Sandy  Hook, 
If  D’Eftaing  had  met  the  tranf- 
ports,  either  in  the  Delaware,  or 
on  the  callage  from  thence,  loaded 
and  encumbered  as  they  were,  and 
convoyed  only  by  two  fhips  of  the 
line,  with  a  number  of  frigates, 
the  confequence  with  refpeCt  to  the 
fleet  is  obvious.  But  it  may  not 
fo  immediately  appear,  that  the 
fate  of  the  army  was  fo  intimately 
combined  with  that  of  the  fleet, 
that  the  deftruCtion  of  the  one, 
would  have  been  the  inevitable  lots 
of  the  other.  For  as  the  army 
could  not  then,  by  any  poflible 
means,  have  profecuted  its  way  to 
New  York,  and  would  have  been 
enclofed  on  one  fide  by  the  Ame¬ 
rican  army,  and  on  the  other  by 
the  French  fleet,  cut  off  from  all 
fupply  of  provifion,  and  deftitute 
of  every  refource,  a  repetition  of 
the  Saratoga  cataftropr  e,  muft  have 
been  the  certain  confequence. 

Although  this  fatal  event  was 
prevented  by  the  bad  weather,  and 


unexpected  impediments  which 
D’Eftaign  met  with  on  his  voyage; 
yet,  if  he  had  directed  his  courfe 
direCtly  to  New  York,  inftead  of 
the  Chefapeak  or  Delaware,  things 
could  fcarcely  have  been  better; 
as  he  would  then  have  come  upon 
the  fleet  and  army,  when  they 
were  entangled,  either  with  the 
laying  or  palling  of  the  bridge  at 
Sandy  Hook.  In  either  circum- 
fiance  deftruCtion  would  have  been 
inevitable  ;  and  would  have  been 
of  an  amount  and  magnitude,  with 
refpeCt  both  to  the  marine  and 
land  fervice,  and  the  confequences 
hanging  upon  it,  which,  perhaps, 
has  not  been  equalled  of  lat-e  ages. 
But  D’Eftaing’s  great  objeft  was 
the  furprife  of  the  fleet  in  the  De¬ 
laware,  and  the  confequent  enclo- 
fure  of  the  army  at  Philadelphia  5 
fortunately  the  winds  and  weather 
fruftrated  his  defign.  Upon  the 
whole,  it  may  not  be  eafy  to  point 
out  a  more  fignal  or  providential 
deliverance. 

The  danger,  though  lefTened, 
was  not,  however,  immediately 
removed  ;  and  it  ftill  required  the 
moft  confummate  ability  and  forti¬ 
tude,  to  render  the  kindnefs  of  for¬ 
tune  effective.  On  the  4th  day 
after  the  account  was  received  of 
his  arrival  on  the  coaft,  and  fub- 
fequent  advice  of  his  having  an¬ 
chored  at  the  Delaware  being  aifo 
received,  D’Eftaing  ap-  T  , 
peared  fuddenly,  and  ra-  J  y 
ther  unexpectedly,  in  fight  of  the 
Britifh  fleet  at  Sandy  Hook.  His 
force  was  great,  and  in  good  con-^ 
dition,  confiftmg  of  twelve  fhip® 
of  the  line,  and  three  frigates  of 
fuperior  fize.  Among  tne  former, 
were  feveral  fhips  of  great  force 
and  weight  of  metal ;  one  carrying 
no,  another  8o,  and  fix  carrying 
[P]  2  74 


228*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


74  guns  each  ;  and  the  fquadron 
was  faid  to  have  no  lefs  than  eleven 
thoufand  men  on  board.  On  the 
other  fide,  the  Britilh  fleet  under 
Lord  Howe  confifted  of  fix  fixty- 
four  gun  (hips,  three  of  fifty,  and 
two  of  forty  guns,  with  fome  fri¬ 
gates  and  floops.  Moft  of  the  for¬ 
mer  had  been  long  on  fervice, 
were  accordingly  in  bad  condition, 
and  were  alfo  wretchedly  manned. 
If  any  thing,  however,  could  re¬ 
medy  fuch  eflential  defe&s,  it 
might  have  been  hoped  for,  from 
the  fuperior  abilities  of  their  Com¬ 
mander,  and  the  excellency  of  his 
Officers. 

They  had,  however,  the  ad¬ 
vantage  of  being  in  poiTeffion  of 
that  port  or  harbour  which  is  form¬ 
ed  by  Sandy  Hook;  the  entrance 
of  which  is  covered  by  a  bar,  and 
from  whence  the  inlet  pafTes  to 
New  York.  The  expeded,  and 
avowed  objed  of  D’Eftaing,  was 
to  force  that  paflage,  and  to  attack 
the  Englifh  fquadron  in  the  har¬ 
bour.  Notwithftanding  the  utmoft 
exertions  of  preparation  made  by 
Lord  Howe,  that  the  time  could 
poffibly  admit  ;  yet,  from  con¬ 
trary  winds,  and  other  unavoid^ 
able  incidents,  the  fhips  were  not 
completely  arrived  in  their  refpec- 
tive  fituations  of  defence,  nor  had 
there  been  time  to  choofe  thofe 
fituations  with  the  judgment  which 
was  afterwards  exercifed,  when 
D’Eftaign  appeared  without  the 
Hook.  Under  thefe  circumftances, 
which,  with  refped  to  the  effed, 
might  be  confidered,  in  fome  de¬ 
gree  as  affording  the  advantages 
of  a  furprize,  if  he  had  pufhed  on 
diredly  to  pafs  the  bar  and  force 
the  pafiage,  it  would  feem,  that 
neither  the  advantage  of  fituation, 
aor  any  eminence  of  ability  or  vir¬ 


tue  on  the  other  fide,  could  be 
capable  of  counterading  the  vaft 
fuperority  of  his  force.  The  con- 
flid  would  have  been  undoubtedly 
dreadful ;  and  perhaps,  in  that  re¬ 
fped,  might  have  exceeded  any 
thing  known  in  naval  hiftory  ;  but 
the  greateft  portion  of  human  fpi- 
rit,  mu(l  require  fome  adequate  de¬ 
gree  of  ftrength,  to  render  its  ex¬ 
ertions  effedive. 

A  diverfity  of  opinion  feems  to 
prevail,  on  the  pradicability  of  the 
great  fhips  of  the  French  fleet, 
pafling  in  force  through  the  ftrait, 
and  over  the  bar.  Some  are  of 
opinion  that  it  might  have  been 
attempted  with  prudence.  If  fo, 
it  may  be  confidered  as  a  happi- 
nefs  on  all  fides,  that  D’Eftaing 
was  not  poflefled  of  that  fpirit  of 
enterprize  which  would  have  been 
equal  to  fo  arduous  an  attempt ; 
that  the  terror  of  the  Englifh  flag 
was  yet  in  no  degree  weakened  ; 
and  that  the  name  of  the  noble 
Commander  who  oppofed  him, 
added  fome  weight  to  that  efted. 
D’Eftaing  accordingly  caft  anchor 
on  the  Jerfey  fide,  about  four  miles 
without  the  Hook,  and  in  the  vi¬ 
cinity  of  the  fmali  town  of  Shrewf- 
bury. 

The  fpirit  that  was  difplayed  on 
this  occalicR,  not  only  in  the  fleet 
and  army,  but  through  every  or¬ 
der  and  denomination  of  feamen, 
was  never  exceeded,  and  will  not 
often  be  equalled.  A  thoufand 
volunteers  were  immediately  dif- 
patched  from  the  tranfports  to  the 
fleet.  The  remainder  of  the  crews, 
could  not  reftrain  their  indignation 
at  being  left  behind,  and  fought 
every  poffible  means,  by  hiding  in 
the  boats  or  otherwife,  to  efcape 
on  board  the  men  of  war  ;  fo  that 
the  agents  could  fcarcely  keep  by 

fore§ 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*229 

force  a  fufficient  number  of  hands  The  French  fleet  continued  at 


for  the  watch  of  their  refpeCtive 
fliips.  The  mafters  and  mates  of 
the  merchantmen  and  traders  at 
New  York,  foliated  employment 
with  the  greateft  earneflnefs  ;  and 
took  their  flations  at  the  guns  with 
the  common  Tailors.  Others  ha¬ 
zarded  every  thing,  by  putting  to 
fea  in  light  veffels,  to  watch  the 
motions  of  the  enemy,  and  perform 
other  neceffary  fervices.  One  in 
particular,  with  a  noble  difin- 
tereflednefs  and  gallantry,  which 
may  be  compared  with  any  thing 
known  in  hiftory,  offered  to  con¬ 
vert  his  veffel  (in  which  his  whole 
hope  and  fortune  lay)  into  a  fire- 
fhip,  to  be  conducted  by  himfelf; 
and  fpurned  with  difdain  every 
propofal  of  indemnification  or  re¬ 
ward. 

It  will  afford  no  furprife,  that 
this  fpirit  fhould  fhine  out  in  the 
army  with  equal  luftre  ;  and  that 
the  light  infantry  and  grenadiers, 
who  had  fcarcely  recovered  the 
fatigue  of  a  moll  toilfome  and 
dangerous  march,  and  with  many 
of  the  officers  wounds  dill  green 
and  fore,  fhould,  notwithftanding, 
contend  with  fuch  eagernefs,  to 
ferve  on  board  the  men  of  war  as 
marines,  that  the  point  of  honour 
was  obliged  to  be  decided  by  lots. 
In  a  word,  the  public  fpirit,  zeal, 
bravery,  and  magnanimity,  dif- 
played  upon  this  occafion,  would 
fiave  damped  a  character  upon  a 
nation  that  before  had  none  ;  and 
is  an  honour  even  to  this  country. 
It  mud,  however,  be  acknow¬ 
ledged,  that  the  popularity  of  the 
noble  Commander,  and  the  con¬ 
fidence  founded  on  his  great  qua¬ 
lities,  contributed  not  a  little  to 
thefe  exertions. 


anchor  in  the  pofition  we  have 
mentioned,  and  taking  in  water 
and  provifions,  for  eleven  days. 
It  may  be  well  fuppofed,  that  as 
D’Edaing  did  not  profit  of  the  firfl 
opportunity  that  offered,  that  any 
attempt  made  by  him,  after  the 
exertions  on  the  other  fide  had 
taken  their  full  effeCt,  and  the  ju¬ 
dicious  defenfive  d.ifpofitions  made 
by  the  Britifh  Admiral  were  com¬ 
pleted,  would  have  been  not  only 
ineffectual,  bqt  probably,  (not¬ 
withftanding  the  fuperiority  of  his 
force)  ruinous.  Neither  the  con¬ 
fidence  arifing  from  D’Eftaing’s 
hefitation,  or  from  their  own  cou¬ 
rage,  was,  however,  any  allay  to 
the  mixed  paffions  of  grief  and  in¬ 
dignation  which  now  agitated  the 
Britifh  feamen.  They  endured 
the  mortification,  for  the  firfl:  time, 
of  feeing  a  Britifh  fleet  blocked 
up  and  infulted  in  their  own  har¬ 
bour,  and  the  French  flag  flying 
triumphant  without ;  and  this  was 
flill  more  deeply  embittered  and 
aggravated,  by  beholding  every 
day,  veffels  under  Englifh  colours 
(who  had  flill  been  ignorant  of  the 
lofs  of  their  ufual  protection),  cap¬ 
tured  under  their  eyes  by  the  ene¬ 
my.  They  looked  out  ever  hour 
with  the  utmoft  anxiety,  and  in  the 
moll  eager  expectation,  for  the  ar¬ 
rival  of  Byron’s  fquadron, 

D’Eftaing’s  fleet  at  length  ap¬ 
peared  under  way  ;  and  T  , 
as  the  wind  was  favour-  '  Y  2Z* 
able,  and  the  fpring  tides  at 'the 
higheft  (the  water  rifing  that  af¬ 
ternoon  thirty  feet  on  the  bar)  it 
was  expeCted  that  he  intended  to 
carry  his  long  delayed  menace  in¬ 
to  execution  ;  and  that  that  day 
would  have  afforded  one  of  the 
[*P]  3  hotted 


230*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


hotteft  and  mod  defperate  engage¬ 
ments  that  had  ever  been  fought, 
during  the  long  enmity  and  rival- 
fhip  that  had  fub lifted  between 
the  two  nations.  Every  thing  was 
at  ftake  on  the  Britifh  fide.  If 
the  naval  force  was  deftroyed,  (and 
nothing  lefs  than  deftru&iom  or 
victory  could  have  ended  the  con- 
ffidi)  the  vaft  fleets  of  tranfports 
and  vi&uallers,  with  the  army, 
piuft  all  have  fallen  along  with  It. 
P’Eftaing,  however,  thought  the 
attempt  too  dangerous  ;  and  fhap- 
sng  his  courfe  another  wa y,  was  in 
a  few  hours  out  of  fight. 

Nothing  was  ever  more  criti¬ 
cal  than  this  commander’s  ftay  at 
Sandy  Hook  ;  and  few  things 
could  be  more  fortunate  in  the 
prefent  circumftances,  than  his  de¬ 
parture  at  the  exadl  period  that 
lie  did.  For  if  the  whole,  or  any 
part,  of  Admiral  Byron’s  fleet  had 
arrived  during  his  ftay,  con fi der¬ 
ing-  the  ruined  ftate  in  which  it 
reached  the  coafts  of  America, 
there  could  fcarcely  have  been  a 
hope,  of  it>  not  falling,  almoft, 
a  defeneeleft  prey  into  bis  hands. 
That  unfortunate  fquadron  is  faid 
to  have  b  en,  in  many  refpedls, 
badly  equipped  and  provided.  In 
this  ftate  they  had  the  fortune  of 
meeting  unufually  bad  weather  for 
the  feafon  ;  and  being  feparated 
in  different  ftorms,  and  lingering 
through  a  tedious  p adage,  arrived, 
fcattered,  broken,  fickly,  difmafted, 
or  otherwife  damaged,  in  various 
degrees  of  diftrefs,  upon  different 
and  remote  parts  of  the  coaft  of 
America.  Between  the  departure 
of  D’Eftaing  on  the  22d  and  the 
30th  of  July-,  the  Renown,  of  50 
guns,  from  the  Weft  Indies,  the 
Raifonable  and  Centurion  of  64 
and  50*  from  Halifax*  and  the 


Cornwall,  (one  of  Admiral  Byron’s 
fquadron)  of  74  guns,  all  arrived 
fingly  at  Sandy  Hook.  The  joy 
ariftng  from  this  reinforcement, 
could  fcarcely  be  fuperior  to  that 
excited  by  a  fenfe  of  the  imminent 
danger  which  they  had  fo  fortu* 
nately  efcaped.  It  feemed  no  lefs 
an  inftance  of  good  fortune,  that 
the  Cornwall  was  in  better  condi¬ 
tion  than  moft  of  the  other  fhips 
of  that  fquadron. 

This  failure  of  the  excellently 
laid  fcheme,  which  had  been  con¬ 
certed  by  the  French  miniftry  with 
the  American  deputies  at  Paris, 
for  the  furprize  and  capture  of  the 
Britifh  fleet  and  army,  whether 
on  the  Delaware  or  its  borders, 
necefiariiy  called  for  new  counfels 
and  meafures.  Rhode  liland  was 
the  objefl  now  fixed  upon,  as  that 
which  would  admit  the  mutual 
operation  of  the  new  allies  by 
land  and  fea,  This  was  the  mo¬ 
tive  of  D’Eftaing’s  departure  from 
Sandy  Hook  ;  and  for  this  pur- 
pore,  General  Sullivan  affembjed 
a  body  of  troops  in  the  neigh¬ 
bourhood  of  Providence,  for  an. 
invafion  of  the  ifland,  on  its  north 
end,  from  the  continent ;  whilft 
D’Eftaing,  was  to  enter  the  har¬ 
bour  of  Newport,  near  its  fouthem 
extremity,  and  after  deftroying  the 
(hipping,  by  a  powerful  affault 
on  the  works  facing  the  fea,  to 
place  the  Britifh  forces  between 
two  fires. 

The  French  fleet  either  blocked 
up  or  entered  the  feveral  inlets, 
between  which  Rhode  Ifland,  and 
its  adjoining  leffer  iflands,  are  en- 
clofed,  and  which  form  a  com¬ 
munication  more  or  lefs  navigable 
in  the  different  branches,  between 
the  open  fea  and  the  back  conti¬ 
nent*  on  the  29th  of  July,  The 

/  main 


HISTORY  O 

<% 

main  body  call  anchor  without 
Brenton’s  Ledge,  about  five  miles 
from  Newport ;  two  of  their  line 
of  battle  fhips  ran  up  the  Nara- 
ganfet  paflage,  and  anchored  off 
the  north  end  of  the  ifland  of 
Conanicut,  where  they  were  fhut 
up  feveral  days  from  rejoining  the 
fleet  by  contrary  winds  ;  while 
fome  of  their  frigates,  entering  the 
Seconnet  paflage,  occafioned  the 
blowing  up  of  the  King  Fifher 
floop  and  two  armed  gallies,  which 
could  not  otherwife  avoid  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

Major  General  Sir  Robert  Pi- 
got,  who  commanded  the  Britifh 
forces,  took  every  meafure  in  the 
power  of  a  brave  and  experi¬ 
enced  officer,  that  could  tend  to 
a  vigorous  and  moil  obftinate  de¬ 
fence.  The  troops,  artillery,  and 
cattle,  were  immediately  convey¬ 
ed  from  the  ifland  of  Conanicut ; 
the  troops  at  the  out  polls  in 
Rhode  Ifland,  were  in  conftant 
readinefs,  at  the  fi rib  fignal,  to 
join  the  main  body  ;  the  works  to 
the  fea  were  ffrengthened  by  every 
poflible  means,  and  the  feamen 
belonging  to  the  veffels  that  were 
deftroyed,  as  well  as  thofe  that 
could  be  fpared  from  others,  were 
called  to  their  favourite  occupa¬ 
tion  of  ferving  the  artillery.  The 
tranfports  (which  mult  orherwife 
have  fallen  into  the  enemies  hands) 
were  funk  in  different  parts  of  thofe 
channels  and  paflages,  which  might 
have  afforded  them  an  opportunity 
of  attacking  the  works  with  advan¬ 
tage.  The  royal  frigates  were  re¬ 
moved  as  far  from  danger  as  pof- 
flble  ;  but  as  their  lofs  or  deftruc- 
tion  mull  be  inevitable  in  the 
profecution  of  the  enemy’s  defign, 
they  were  difmantled  of  their  ar¬ 
tillery  and  llores,  and  the  neceflary 
meafures  taken  for  fecuring  the  lat¬ 
ter  part  of  the  alternative. 


F  EUROPE.  [*231 

Two  oppofite  bays,  in  the  in¬ 
lets  on  the  ealtern  and  weftern. 
fides  of  the  ifland,  comprefs  it  fo 
much,  as  to  form  a  kind  of  Illh. 
mus,  by  which  the  fouthern  end, 
that  fpreads  into  the  ocean,  is 
connected  with  the  main  body. 
The  town  of  Newport  lies  juft 
within  this  peninfula,  at  the  open¬ 
ing  of  the  Iffhmus,  on  the  wef- 
tern  fide  of  the  ifland,  and  face- 
ing  the  ifland  of  Conanicut;  the 
fpace  between  both  forming  a  bay, 
which  includes,  or  forms  the  har¬ 
bour.  The  inlet  to  the  harbour 
from  the  fea,  called  the  Middle 
Channel,  is  narrow,  and  enclofed 
by  Brenton’s  Point,  and  the  op¬ 
pofite  point  of  Conanicut,  which 
form  the  fouthern  extremities  of 
both  iflands.  A  bar  of  high 
grounds,  which  crofles  the  Ilth- 
mus  from  channel  to  channel  above 
Newport,  was  ftrongly  covered 
with  lines,  redoubts,  and  artillery; 
fo  that  the  Peninfula  might  be 
conlidered  as  a  garrifon,  diftind: 
from  the  rdf  of  the  ifland  ;  and 
under  the  protedion  of  a  fuperior 
naval  force,  might  in  a  great  mea¬ 
fure  defy  any  attempts  from  the 
northern  fide,  fuppofing  that  an 
enemy  had  made  good  its  land¬ 
ing  in  fuch  circumftances.  But 
the  enemy  being  mailers  by  fea, 
rendered  the  talk  of  defence,  un¬ 
der  the  apprehenfion  of  an  attack 
on  both  fides  at  the  fame  time, 
exceedingly  arduous.  The  com¬ 
mander  had,  however,  juft  before, 
received  a  reinforcement  of  five 
battalions ;  the  troops  were  in  ex¬ 
cellent  condition  and  fpirit;  and 
the  body  of  feamen,  both  with  re- 
fped  to  labour  and* danger,  were  no 
fmall  add'tion  to  their  means  of 
refiftance. 

The  force  deftined  againll  them 
by  land,  was  not  fo  confiderable 
as  their  information  had  led  them 

to 


252*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


to  apprehend.  The  bufinefs  on 
that  fide  feems  to  have  been  com¬ 
mitted  moltly,  if  not  entirely,  to 
the  northern  colonies,  who  were 
thofe  immediately  concerned  in  the 
event.  General  Sullivan,  is  how¬ 
ever  faid  to  have  aflembled  about 
10,000  men  ;  of  whom,  at  lead: 
half,  were  compofed  of  volunteers 
from  New  England  and  ConneCti- 
cut.  As  the  operations  of  the 
French  fleet,  were  regulated  by 
thofe  of  the  army  on  land,  they 
continued  inactive,  until  Sullivan 
was  in  condition  to  pafs  over 
from  the  continent  to  the  north 
end  of  the  ifland.  On  the  8th 
of  Auguft,  finding  that  meafure  in 
forwardnefs,  and  the  wind  being 
favourable,  they  entered  the  har¬ 
bour  under  an  eafy  fail,  canno¬ 
nading  the  batteries  and  town  as 
they  paffed,  and  receiving  their  fire, 
without  any  material  effeCt  on  ei¬ 
ther  fide,  They  anchored  above 
the  town,  between  Goat  Ifland  and 
Conanicut,  but  nearer  to  the  lat¬ 
ter,  on  which  both  the  French  and 
Americans  had  parties  for  fome 
days  paft. 

As  foon  as  the  determination 
of  the  enemy  to  enter  the  har¬ 
bour  became  apparent,  the  com¬ 
manders  found  themfelves  under 
the  grievous  necefiity  of  burn¬ 
ing  the  Orpheus,  Lark,  Juno,  and 
Cerberus  frigates ;  as  they  were 
foon  after  of  linking  the  Flora  and 
Falcon. 

As  foon  as  Lord  Howe  receiv¬ 
ed  advice  of  the  danger  of  Rhode 
Ifland,  he  determined  to  attempt 
every  thing,  which  refolution,  un¬ 
der  the  direction  of  reafon  and 
judgment,  could  undertake  for  its 
prefer vation„  His  fquadron,  not- 
withftanding  the  late  reinforce¬ 
ments,  was  ftill,  with  refpeCl  to 
effective  force,  and  weight  of  me¬ 


tal,  fo  far  inferior  to  the  enemy,  that 
to  hazard  an  engagement,  with¬ 
out  fome  collateral  advantage  to 
counteract  fo  great  a  fuperiority, 
would  feem  a  degree  of  rafhnefs 
inconfiftent  with  his  character.  In 
point  of  number,  he  was  indeed 
fuperior  to  the  French,  his  {qua- 
dron  now  confining  of  one  74, 
feven  64,  and  five  50  gun  Ihips, 
befides  feveral  frigates  ;  but  the 
great  deficiency  in  other  refpeCts, 
appears  from  the  bare  recital  of 
the  rates.  Every  thing  in  fuch 
a  fixation  was,  however,  to  be 
tried,  and  he  was  determined  that 
nothing  Ihould  be  left  undone. 
The  account  indeed  he  received  of 
the  feparated  Hate  of  the  French 
fleet,  fome  of  them  involved  in 
the  channels,  and  the  bulk  lying 
without,  afforded  fome  room  for  a 
hope,  that  he  might  bring  on  an 
engagement  upon  more  equal  terms 
than  could  have  been  otherwife  ex¬ 
pected. 

But  notwithftanding  the  utmoft 
poflible  expedition,  he  met  with 
fuch  unavoidable  delays,  that  he 
was  not  able  to  reach  Rhode  Ifland, 
until  the  day  after  the 
French  fleet  had  enters 
ed  that  harbour.  From  the  fixa¬ 
tion  in  which  the  enemy  now  lay, 
he  was  enabled  to  communicate  di¬ 
rectly  with  General  Pigot ;  the  re¬ 
fill  t  of  which  was,  that  under  the 
prefent  circumftances,  the  afford¬ 
ing  him  any  eflential  relief  was 
impracticable. 

A  fudden  change  of  wind  to 
the  north-eaft,  afforded  an  equal 
change  of  circumftances,  and  on 
the  following  day,  the  French 
Admiral  ftood  out  to  fea  with  the 
whole  fleet,  thofe  in  the  Nara- 
ganfet  Paffage,  as  well  as  the 
port.  Lord  Howe,  juftly  deeming 
the  weather-gage  too  great  an  ad¬ 
vantage 


Aug,  9th. 


HISTORY  OF  EUROPE.  [*233 


vantage  to  be  added  to  the  fupe- 
rior  force  of  the  enemy,  contend¬ 
ed  for  that  objedt  with  all  the 
fkill  and  judgment  incident  to  an 
able  and  experienced  feaman.  On 
the  other  hand,  D’Eftaing,  not- 
withftanding  his  fuperiority,  was 
as  eager  to  preferve  this  advan¬ 
tage,  as  his  adverfary  to  obtain 
it.  This  conteft  of  feamanftiip 

^  prevented  an  engagement 
11  on  that  day  ;  but  the  wind 
on  the  following  ftiil  continuing 
adverfe  to  the  defign  of  the  Britilh 
Admiral,  he  determined  to  make 
the  belt  of  the  prefent  circum- 
ftances,  and  to  engage  the  enemy  ; 
forming  the  line  in  fuch  a  manner 
as  to  be  joined  by  three  fire  fhips, 
which  were  under  the  tow  of  as 
many  frigates.  A  ftrong  gale  of 
wind,  which  afterwards  increafed 
to  a  violent  temped,  and  conti¬ 
nued  for  near  48  hours,  not  only 
put  by  the  engagement  by  feparat- 
ing  the  fleets,  for  the  prefent,  but 
fcattered  them  in  fuch  a  manner, 
and  caufed  fo  much  damage  on 
both  fides,  as  rendered  an  engage¬ 
ment  for  fome  time  impractica¬ 
ble. 

The  French  fufFered  greatly  in 
this  temped,  two  of  their  capital 
fhips  being  difmaded,  and  others 
much  damaged.  Some  untoward 
fituations,  and  unufual  circum- 
dances,  were  produced  by  this  con¬ 
flict  of  the  elements.  The  Lan¬ 
guedoc  of  90  guns,  D’Eftaing’s 
ofrn  fhip,  had  lod  all  her  mads, 
and  was  met  in  that  condition  oh 
the  evening  of  the  13th,  by  the 
Renown  of 30  guns,  Capt,  Dawfon, 
who  attacked  her  with  fuch  fury, 
as  well  as  judgment  and  advantage, 
that  no  doubt  could  have  been  en¬ 
tertained  of  the  event,  if  the  day¬ 
light  had  continued.  But  the  dark- 
ncfs  of  the  night,  and  frefhnefs  of 


the  gale,  whofe  violence  was  not 
yet  quite  allayed,  compelled  Capt. 
Dawfon  to  ceafe  from  his  attack,  af¬ 
ter  he  had  poured  feveral  broadfides 
clofe  into  her,  and  had,  befides  other 
apparent  damage,  fhot  away  her 
rudder.  He,  however,  lay  to,  as 
clofely  as  poffible,  for  the  night, 
intending  to  renew  the  attack  in 
the  morning,  and  confidering  her 
as  little  lefs  than  a  certain  prize. 
The  appearance  of  fix  French  men 
of  war,  by  whom  he  was  chaced 
at  day  light,  and  who  were  pofli- 
bly  led  that  way  by  the  firing,  put 
an  end  to  Daw  Ton’s  hopes,  and 
relieved  the  French  Admiral  from 
this  very  urgent  diftrefs. 

Upon  the  fame  evening,  and 
about  the  fame  hour,  the  Prefton, 


likewife  of  50  guns.  Commodore 
Hotham,  fell  in  with  the  Ton- 
nant,  a  French  80  gun  fhip,  with 
only  her  main-mail  Handing.  The 
Commodore  attacked  her  with  the 
fame  fpirit  and  effeCt,  with  which 
Captain  Dawfon  had  engaged  the 
Languedoc.  The  circumftances 
were  likewife  fimilar  in  every  re- 
fpeCt,  The  night  obliged  him  to 
draw  off,  with  the  fame  intention 
of  renewing  the  engagement,  and 
under  the  fame  certainty  of  fuc- 
cefs ;  whilfl  the  appearance  of  a 
part  of  the  French  fleet  in  the 
morning,  fruftrated  both. 

The  circumftances  of  advantage 

afforded  by  the  ternpeft,  were  not, 

however,  entirely  confined  to  one 

fide.  It  held  out  one  on  the 

other,  which  was  productive  of  one 

of  the  moil  gallant  and  brilliant 

naval  actions,  of  this,  or  of  any 

war.  The  Ifis  of  co  A  ,  , 
n  ,  r>  3  Aug.  IDth, 
guns,  Capt.  Raynor,  6 

was  eagerly  chaced  and  engaged 

by  a  French  74  gun  flag-fhip9 

fuppofed  to  be  the  Zele,  though 

other  accounts  fay  the  Cefar.  The 

1  French- 


234*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Frenchman  was,  much  the  better 
failer,  and  the  circumftances  of 
the  lhips  with  refpedt  to  the  tem¬ 
ped  were  the  fame,  they  having 
both  entirely  efcaped  the  effe&s 
of  its  fury.  In  this  very  unequal 
conteft,  in  which  the  greateft  refo- 
lution  and  Ikill,  would  feem  in¬ 
capable  of  fupplying  the  defi¬ 
ciency  of  force  on  the  one  fide,  a 
clofe  and  defperate  engagement 
was  maintained  with  the  greateft 
obftinacy  on  both,  for  an  hour 
and  a  half,  and  within  piftol  fhot 
diftance.  At  the  end  of  that 
time,  the  Ifis  had  obtained  fo  ma» 
nifeft  a  fuperiority  in  the  aCtion, 
that  the  French  ftiip  was  glad  to 
put  before  the  wind,  and  call  in 
the  aid  of  all  her  fails,  to  efcape 
from  fo  determined  an  enemy. 
The  Ifis  had  fuffered  fo  much  in 
her  mails  and  rigging  as  to  be 
incapable  of  attempting  a  pur- 
fuit. 

It  is  not  eafv  to  determine  whe¬ 
ther  to  admire  more,  the  gallan¬ 
try  exhibited  in  this  fingular  ac¬ 
tion,  or  the  modefty  of  the  brave 
commander  in  his  account  of  it. 
This  was  indeed  fo  extreme,  that 
his  Admiral  was  obliged  in  feme 
degree  to  fuppiy  the  defed,  by  ac¬ 
quainting  the  Admiralty,  that  the 
honour  of  the  day  was  not  more 
owing  to  the  refolution  of  the  Cap¬ 
tain,  or  the  intrepidity  of  his  offi¬ 
cers  and  crew,  than  to  the  pro- 
feffional  fkill  and  ability  of  the 
former.  The  lofs  of  men  was 
confiderable  on  the  French  fide, 
and  M.  de  Bougainville,  the  cele¬ 
brated  and  philofophic  navigator, 
who  was  their  commander,  is  faid 
to  have  loft  an  arm  in  the  adion. 
The  lofs  in  the  Ifis  was  very  mo¬ 
derate.  The  high  honour  which 
the  young  Duke  of  Ancafter  ac¬ 
quired  as  a  volunteer  in  this  ac¬ 


tion,  only  ferves  to  embitter  the 
lofs  which  his  country  has  fince 
fuftained,  by  the  premature  death 
of  a  nobleman,  who  fo  early  di- 
ftinguiffied  himfelf  in  her  fervice, 
and  from  whom  ffie  had  fo  much 
to  exped.. 

Although  the  Britilh  fquadron 
fuffered  much  lefs  in  the  ftorm 
than  the  French,  yet  their  da¬ 
mage  was  fo  confiderable,  as  un¬ 
avoidably  to  coft  fome  time  at 
Sandy  Hook  or  New  York,  in 
proportion  to  their  wants,  whe¬ 
ther  only  to  refit*  or  to  repair. 
The  French  fleet  returned  to 
Rhode  Ifiand  on  the  20th,  where 
they  anchored  without  the  har¬ 
bour,  and  failed  from  thence  on 
the  22d  for  Bofton,  in  order  to 
repair  their  fhaitered  fiiips.  Lord 
Howe,  having  got  his  (hips  in 
condition  with  an  expedition  that 
furprized  every  body,  purfued  them 
with  the  greateft  eagernefs,  hoping 
to  overtake  them  by  the  way. 

In  the  mean  time.  General 
Sullivan  bad  landed  on  the  north 
end  of  Rhode  Ifiand,  by  the  way 
of  Howland’s  Ferry,  on  the  9th 
of  Auguft,  being  the  day  that 
D’Eftaing  went  out  of  the  har¬ 
bour  to  meet  Lord  Howe.  The 
extreme  badnefs  of  the  weather, 
impeded  for  fome  days  the  bring¬ 
ing  forward  of  his  ftares  and  ar¬ 
tillery,  and  of  coude  retarded  the 
progrefs  of  his  army.  On  the 
17th,  however,  they  broke  ground 
on  Honeyman’s  Hill,  near  the 
Britilh  works,  and  began  to  con- 
ftruCt  batteries,  and  to  form  lines 
of  approach  ;  the  Britilh  forces 
being  no  lefs  active,  in  throwing 
up  new  works,  and  confirming 
new  batteries,  to  counteract  theirs. 
We  have  already  obferved,  that 
General  Pigot  was  under  no  great 
fipprehcnfion  of  an  attack  in  front ; 


HISTORY  O 

the  general  objeCt  of  apprehenfion 
was  the  concurrent  aflault  of 
D’Eftaing  on  the  town  and  works 
to  the  water  ;  but  the  great  point 
of  danger  was  his  landing  a  body 
of  troops  in  the  fouthern  penin- 
fula,  which  would  have  laid  the 
garrifon  open  in  the  rear,  whilft 
they  were  defperately  engaged  on 
the  front  and  flank  in  defence  of 
their  works. 

The  critical  and  moll  timely 
appearance  of  Lord  Howe  with  the 
Britifti  fquadron,  happily  obviated 
this  apprehenfion  and  danger  in 
the  firft  hnftance  ;  and  D’Eftaing’s 
confequent  departure,  or  flight  to 
Bofton,  removed  them  entirely. 
His  failing  out  of  the  harbour  to 
engage  Lord  Howe,  does  not  feem 
by  any  means  to  have  been  a  ju¬ 
dicious  meafure.  The  nature  of 
the  port,  the  narrownefs  of  the 
paffage  from  the  fea,  with  the 
means  of  defence  afforded  by  the 
ifland  of  Conanicut,  which  was 
occupied  by  himfelf  and  his  allies, 
held  out,  all  together,  fo  flrong 
a  fecurity  to  his  fleet,  that  fcarcely 
any  naval  fuperiority,  which,  how¬ 
ever,  did  not  exift,  could  have 
juflified  any  attempt  upon  it.  In 
this  ftate,  it  would  feem,  that  he 
fhould  firft  have  fecured  his  objeCt, 
which  appears  to  have  been  much 
within  his  reach,  before  he  put 
out  to  fea,  either  to  engage,  or 
to  feek  for  Lord  Howe.  But  va¬ 
nity  feems  here  to  have  had  feme 
fhare  in  his  determination.  The 
glory  of  vanquifhing  a  Britifti 
fquadron,  and  of  obtaining  a  tri¬ 
umph  over  a  commander  of  great 
name,  and  of  a  country  which  fo 
feldom  afforded  fuch  laurels,  was 
a  temptation  not  to  be  refilled  by 
D’Eftaing. 

Yet,  after  all  the  ill  confequences 
of  this  vain  and  ruinous  purfuit. 


F  EUROPE.  [*23S 

if  he  had  entered  the  harbour, 
and  co-operated  with  the  Ameri¬ 
cans,  in  conformity  with  their 
moft  earneft  felicitations,  when  he 
anchored  the  fecond  time  before 
Rhode  Ifland  it  would  feem  that 
the  ftate  of  the  garrifon  would 
have  been  extremely  perilous,  and 
that  he  had  a  fair  profpeCt  of 
retrieving,  by  a  ftroke  of  no  fmall 
importance,  the  failure  of  fuccefs 
in  his  grand  object.  Such  a  fuc, 
cefsful  co-operation  would  like- 
wife  have  had  a  wonderful  efteCl 
In  conciliating  the  minds  of  his 
new  allies,  and  in  giving  them 
an  idea,  which  they  were  not  very 
apt  to  entertain,  of  the  vigour 
and  efficacy  of  French  councils 
and  arms.  It  may  indeed  be  ob¬ 
jected,  and  truly,  that  his  two 
difmafted  fhips  could  not  have 
been  repaired,  nor,  perhaps,  the 
reft  of  his  fquadron  refitted,  at 
Rhode  Ifland  ;  but  as  they  might 
have  continued  there  in  perfect 
fecurity  for  any  length  of  time, 
if  he  had  fucceeded  in  his  ob¬ 
jeCt,  this  objection  does  not  ap¬ 
pear  to  be  of  fuflicient  weight  for 
its  being  abandoned. 

The  American  army  in  Rhode 
Ifland,  and  the  people  of  the  Nor¬ 
thern  Colonies  in  general,  com¬ 
plained  loudly  of  this  conduct. 
They  faid,  that  they  had  been  led 
into  an  expedition,  of  prodigious 
expence,  labour,  trouble,  and  dan¬ 
ger,  under  the  afiurance,  of  the 
moft  effective  co-operation  of  the 
French  fleet.  That,  under  this 
fan&ion,  they  had  committed  their 
lives  and  liberties  on  the  invaflon 
of  an  ifland,  where,  without  a 
naval  protection,  they  were  likely 
to  be  enclofed  like  wild  beafts  in 
a  toil  ;  and  that  in  this  fituation, 
they  were  firft  defer  ted,  for  a  vain 
and  fruitlefs  purfuit,  and  then 

totally 


236*]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


totally  abandoned,  at  the  very 
lime  that  they  had  brought  the 
bdfinefs  on  their  fide  to  the  point 
of  completion. 

Under  thefe  difcontents  and 
apprehenfions,  Sullivan  was  de¬ 
fer  ted  by  the  New  England  and 
Connecticut  volunteers,  who  com- 
pofed  the  better  half  of  his  army  ; 
and  by  this  means,  if  we  credit 
the  American  accounts,  his  num¬ 
bers  were  fo  much  reduced,  as 
to  be  inferior,  in  point  of  force, 
to  the  garrifon.  In  thefe  cir- 
cumftances,  and  under  the  im¬ 
mediate  apprehenfion  of  his  re¬ 
treat  being  cut  off,  Sullivan  ex¬ 
tricated  himfelf  with  a  degree  of 
prudence  and  ability,  which  would 
have  done  honour  to  an  older 
General ;  nor  would  the  behaviour 
of  his  troops  have  difgracea  more 
veteran  foldiers. 

Having  begun  to  fend  off  his 
heavy  artillery  and  baggage  on  the 
26th  of  Auguft,  he  retreated  from 
his  lines  on  the  29th  ;  and  though 
he  was  mo  ft  vigoroufly  purfued, 
and  repeatedly  attacked  in  every 
quarter  wherever  an  opening  was 
made,  by  the  Britifh  forces,  yet 
he  took  his  meafures  fo  well,  and 
had  chofen  his  pofts  fo  judici- 
oufly,  that  although  much  honour 
was  claimed  and  deferved  on  both 
fides,  he  gained  the  north  end 
of  the  ifland  without  fuftaining 
any  confiderable  lofs.  Being  there, 
from  the  nature  of  the  ground, 
and  the  fituation  of  his  polls,  in 
a  ftate  of  fecurity,  he  palled  his 
army  over  by  the  way  of  Briftol 
and  Hoyland  ferries,  on  the  night 
of  the  30th,  without  interruption, 
tc  the  continent.  Nor  was  his 
good  fortune  inferior  to  his  con- 


duff,  as  Sir  Henry  Clinton  arrived 
juft  after  with  fuch  a  force  from 
New  York,  as  would  have  left  no 
doubt  of  the  fate  of  his  forces, 
if  they  had  ftill  continued  on  the 
ifland. 

On  the  fame  day  that  Sullivan 
abandoned  Rhode  Ifland,  Lord 
Howe  entered  the  bay  of  Bofton, 
where,  to  his  great  mortification, 
he  found  that  D’Eftaing  was  arrived 
before  him.  This  was,  however, 
increafed,  when  upon  a  clofe  in- 
fpeCtion  he  difcovered,  that  he 
was  fo  effectually  covered  in  Nan- 
tafket  Road,  by  the  batteries 
ereCted,  and  the  meafures  of  de¬ 
fence  taken,  by  the  Americans 
and  French,  on  the  adjacent  points 
and  iflands,  that  an  attack  upon 
him,  with  any  profpeCl  of  fuccefs, 
was  utterly  impracticable. 

Thus,  with  great  honour  to 
himfelf,  and  advantage  to  his 
country,  did  that  great  naval 
commander,  bring  the  campaign 
with  his  powerful  adverfary  to  a 
conclufion.  With  an  inferiority 
of  force,  which  held  out  mere 
prefervation  as  the  fummit  of  hope, 
he,  by  a  continued  and  rapid 
fucceflion  of  the  greateft  poffible 
exertions,  mafterly  manoeuvres, 
and  wife  meafures,  having  firli 
counteracted,  and  at  length  de¬ 
feated,  all  the  views  and  attempts 
of  his  enemy,  obliged  him  to  fity 
for  refuge  to  thefe  new  allies 
whom  he  came  to  proteCt,  and 
infulted  him  under  that  protec¬ 
tion.  Leaving  him  in  a  condition 
at  parting,  which  rendered  him 
incapable  of  any  further  fervice  in 
thofe  feas  for  the  remainder  of  the 
year. 


CHRONICLE. 


JANUARY. 

N  the  courfe  of  laft  year 
there  was  imported  into 
London,  from  Newcaflle  and  Sun¬ 
derland,  692093J  chaldersof  coals, 
which  is  5514I:  chalders  ffiort  of 
the  import  for  the  preceding  year. 
Of  cinders  and  Scotch  coals  7015 
chalders  were  alfo  imported  there. 
During  laft  year  4792  fhips  cleared 
at  the  Cuftom-houfe,  4390  of 
which  coaftwife,  and  402  for  fo¬ 
reign  ports. 

Peterjburgi  Dec.  23.  The  great 
Duchefs  was  fafely  delivered  of  a 
Prince  this  morning,  at  half  an 
hour  part  ten  o’clock  :  Her  Impe-' 
rial  Highnefs  and  the  young  Prince 
are  as  well  as  can  be  expe&ed. 
This  joyful  event  was  announced 
to  the  public,  at  noon,  by  the  fir¬ 
ing  of  two  hundred  and  one  guns 
from  the  fortrefs  and  admiralty. 
The  Emprefs  gave  the  young 
Prince,  immediately  after  his  birth, 
the  name  of  Alexander  ;  but  the 
day  for  the  ceremony  of  his  baptifm 
is  not  yet  fixed. 

Munich ,  Dec.  30.  His  Serene 
Highnefs  Maximilian  Jofeph, 
Ele&or  of  Bavaria,  who  had  been 
ill  of  the  fmall-pox  about  three 
weeks,  died  at  a  quarter  pall  one 
o’clock  this  afternoon,  in  the  51ft 
year  of  his  age. 

On  the  fame  day  that  the  above 
Prince  died,  the  Elector  Palatine 
was  proclaimed  his  fucceflor,  It  is 
Vol.  XXI, 


certain,  however,  that  the  Emperor 
will  difpute  his  title.  Near  20,000 
Aultrian  troops  have  already  march¬ 
ed  to  take  pofTefficn  of  the  Ba¬ 
varian  eftates  ;  and  letters  from 
Munich  advife,  that  Mr.  Kreflel, 
the  Imperial  Counfellor  of  State, 
arrived  there  with  a  notary  and  two 
fcriveners  to  take  poiTeffion  of  all, 
and  regulate  every  thing,  as  it  is 
in  Auftria. 

This  day  as  his  Majefty  was  2Cj^ 
getting  out  of  his  chair  in  the 
paffiage,  near  the  Friary,  leading 
to  the  back  flairs  at  St.  James’s,  a 
woman  fuddenly  rulhed  before  the 
chair,  and  was  going  to  lay  hold 
on  him,  but  he  with  difficulty 
avoided  her.  The  King  afited  her 
“  What  (he  wanted  ?”  To  which 
Ihe  gave  an  impudent  anfvver,  and 
faid  her  name  was  Queen  Beck. 
She  afterwards  faid  that  her  name 
was  Rebecca  OTIara,  that  fhe  was 
born  in  Ireland,  and  had  been  in 
England  five  years,  and  that  Ihe 
lodged  at  a  public-houfe  near  Red 
Lion-fquare.  On  enquiry  this  was 
found  to  be  falfe,  and  in  order  to 
determine  whether  fhe  was  really 
out  of  her  fenfes.  Sir  John  Fielding 
committed  her  to  Tothill-fields 
Bridewell  for  further  examination. 
She  has  fince  proved  to  be  a  luna¬ 
tic,  and  proper  care  is  taken  of 
her. 

The  following  is  a  lift  of 
the  new  intended  corps,  fent  ’ 
[£]  v  from 


1 623  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


from  the  Secretary  of  State’s  of¬ 
fice, 

yzd.  The  royal  Manchefter  vo¬ 
lunteers. 

Col.  William  Gordon’s  (brother 
to  Lord  Aberdeen.) 

ColM'Kenzie’s  (Lord  M'Leod.) 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Command¬ 
ant  John  MeDonners,  now  Major 
in  the  71ft. 

Col.  Francis  M‘Lean’s — aflifted 
by  the  Duke  of  Hamilton. 

Col.  James  Murray’s— Athol 
Highlanders,  (uncle  to  the  Duke 
of  Athol.) 

Lieutenant-  Colonel  John  Camp¬ 
bell  ’s—  A rg yl e 111 i re  Highlanders. 

Another  battalion  of  1000  men 
is  forthwith  to  be  added  to  Lord 
John  Murray’s  regiment  of  High¬ 
landers. 

.  This  day  at  a  meeting  of 
^  ’  the  Middlefex  juftices,  held 

at  Guildhall,  Weftminfler,  it  was 
mianimoufly  agreed,  that  Hicks’s 
Hall  be  pulled  down,  and  rebuilt 
on  the  fame  fpot. 

^  k  At  a  meeting  held  about 

*  the  latter  end  of  December, 
for  the  purpofe  of  relieving  the 
diftrefies  of  the  American  prifoners, 
a  fubfcription  was  entered  into  for 
immediately  fupplying  them  with 
cloathing  and  other  neceflaries, 
when  the  furri  of  3,815  1.  17  s.  6  d. 
being  fubfcribed,  and  that  fum, 
with  the  collection  in  the  country, 
being;  more  than  fufficient  for  their 
prefent  necefii ties,  the  fubfcription 
was  this  day  clofed.  The  number 
of  American  prifoners  now  con¬ 
fined  in  the  feveral  gaols  through¬ 
out  the  kingdom,  according  to  the 
returns  to  government,  is  rated  at 
924  perfons.  The  fum  collected 
for  them,  if  all  paid  in,  will  amount 
to  upwards  of4l.  per  man. 

s  At  a  very  numerous  and 

*  refpi&able  quarterly  court 


of  the  Society  for  Relief  of  Perfons 
imprifoned  for  Small  Debts,  the 
accompts  were  audited,  when  it 
appeared,  that 

r  Debtors  had  been 
218  4  difcharged  fine# 

L  September  30, 
who  had  1 1 3  wives 
and  382  children 

So  that  713  diftrefled  objects,  pro¬ 
bably,  have  been  kept  from  be¬ 
coming  burthenfome  to  their  re- 
fpedtive  parifhes,  for  the  trifling 
fum  of  3 99 1.  19s.  3  d,  which  is  not 
quite  1  1.  17  s.  8d.  for  each  family, 
nor  1.1  s.  [id.  for  each  individual 
thereof;  without  taking  into  the 
accompt  the  benefit  derived  to  the 
feveral  plaintiffs,  vvhofe  families 
are  generally  in  as  great  dillrefs  as 
the  feveral  debtors. 

A  courtofcommon-coun-  *  » 
cil  was  held  at  Guildhall, 
when  a  motion  being  made  and 
queftion  put,  **  That  a  fubfcrip¬ 
tion  be  forthwith  opened,  under  the 
conduct  of  a  committee  of  this 
court,  for  the  paying  bounties 
to  fuch  able-bodied  men,  who  lhali 
prefent  (and  inlift)  themfeives  (be¬ 
fore  the  faid  committee)  to  ferve 
in  his  Majefty’s  fea  or  land  fervice 
for  the  term  of  three  years,  or  un¬ 
til  the  end  of  the  prefent  war 
the  lame  was  refolved  in  the  nega¬ 
tive  by  a  majority  of  3  to  1. 

A  motion  being  made  and  quef- 
tion  put.  «  That  it  is  the  opinion 
of  this  court,  that  to  give  any 
countenance  to,  or  to  be  in  any 
manner  inftrumental  in,  the  far¬ 
ther  continuance  of  the  prefent 
ruinous  and  deftru&ive  war,  whilft 
offers  of  juft  and  honourable  terms 
are  withheld  from  America,  will 
refl eft  difhonour  on  their  huma¬ 
nity,  and  in  no  wife  advantage  the 
commercial  interefts  of  this  great 

city 


CHRONICLE.  [163 


city  ;iy  the  fame  was  refolved  in  the 
affirmative. 

The  fame  day  was  held  a  general 
meeting  of  thejukices,  grand  jury, 
gentleman,  freeholders,  and  others 
of  the  county  of  Middlefex,  at  the 
court-houfe  in  Well  ciofe-fquare, 
when  it  was  refolved,  that  a  fub- 
fcription  he  immediately  opened 
for  the  railing  of  men  within  tjie 
Tower  Hamlets,  to  ferve  his  M'a- 
jefty  America  during  the  conti¬ 
nuance  of  the  prelent  dikurbances 
there. 

The  fame  evening  a  meeting  was 
held  at  the  London  Tavern  of  ie- 
Veral  capital  merchants,  &c.  when 
Mr.  Cornwall  being  voted  into  the 
chair,  a  motion  was  made  to  open 
a  fubfcription  for  raifing  a  fum  of 
money  for  the  purpofe  of  enlilting 
a  number  of  men  for  the  King’s 
fervice  ;  when  it  was  unanimoufly 
agreed  to,  and  14,000!.  has  been 
fince  fubfcribed. 

,  This  day  in  Newgate 

'  ’  Market  country  provilions 

fold  as  follow  ; — Beef  2  s.  4  d.  to  2 s 
10  d.  mutton  2  s.  2d.  to  2s.  8  d. 
veal  2  s.  io  d.  to  3  s  6d.  pork  2  s. 
8  d.  to  3  s.  4d.  per  hone;  butter 
1  s.  7  d  to  s.  10  d.  the  lump :  eggs 
7  s.  6d.  fo  9  3.  the  hundred  ;  barn¬ 
door  fowls  1  s.  2  d.  to  1  s  6d.  each, 

1  This  morning,  a  little 

*  paft  nine  o’clock,  the  three 
following  malefadtors  were  brought 
out  of  Newgate,  and  put  into  one 
cart,  from  whence  they  proceeded 
to  Tyburn,  attended  by  the  Under 
Sheriff,  &c.  viz.  ]ohn  Gagin,  for 
breaking  open  the  houfe  of  James 
M‘Donald  in  Marvbone,  and  heal¬ 
ing  a  20I.  bank  note, threeguineas, 
and  three  half  guineas,  a  filver 
watch  <Nc.  William  Pollard,  for 
breaking  into  the  houfe  of  Richard 
Longworth,  in  the  Old  Bailey,and 


healing  a  black  cloak,  and  othier 
things  ;  and  Benjamin  Johnfon,  for 
breaking  open  the  liables  of  Tho¬ 
mas  Hull,  in  Chifwell -hreet,  and 
healing  fome  bridles,  faddles,  &c. 

A  monument  was  opened 
in  Wehminher  Abbey,  in 
the  Poet’s  Corner,  to  the  memory 
of  the  late  Dr.  Goldfmith. 

We  have  an  account  of  the  fol¬ 
lowing  melancholy  accident  in  a 
letter  from  Shrewsbury  Two 
young  gentlemen,  Tons  of  the  Rev, 
Mr.  Pratchet,  of  Hodnet,  in  this 
county,  having  fpent  a  night  at 
their  uncle’s  in  the  neighbourhood* 
they  went  out  together  in  the 
morning  ;  coming  to  a  pic  that 
was  froze  over,  the  Oxonian,  as  is 
fuppofed,  being  provided  with 
fkaits,  went  upon  the  ice  to  enjoy 
that  healthful  but  dangerous  exer- 
cife.  The  ice  giving  way,  he 
funk  ;  and  his  brother,  in  attempt¬ 
ing  to  fave  him,  (for  he  was  found 
with  his  coat  off,  and  his  fhirt  rolled 
up  to  his  fhoulder)  fhared  his  un¬ 
happy  fate. 

At  Edinburgh,  on  the  15th  of 
this  month,  the  Lords  of  Seffion, 
by  a  majority  of  ten  to  four,  gave 
judgment  in  favour  of  the  unli* 
mited  freedom  of  the  Blacks  in  this 
country  ;  fo  that  Scotland  has  the 
honour  of  giving  the  firft  general 
decifion  upon  this  great  queftion. 
All  the  trials  in  England  concern¬ 
ing  the  rights  of  Negroes,  even 
thac  of  Somerfet  in  the  King’s 
bench,  having  been  only  upon 
fpecial  points,  fuch  as,  whether  the 
maker  of  a  Negro  in  Britain  was 
entitled  to  take  a  legacy  left  to  the 
Negro  ?  given  againk  the  maker* 
with  coks.  by  Lord  Northingtori  ; 
or  whether  the  maker  could  by  his 
own  authority  put  a  Negro  in  fet> 
sers,  and  fend  him  beyond  Teas  ? 

(.£]  2  given 


1 64]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


given  again  ft  the  mafter  in  the  cafe 
of  Somerfet.  The  four  diflentient 
judges  to-day  were,  the  Lord  Pre¬ 
sident,  and  Lords  Elliock,  Mon- 
boddo,  and  Covington.  Lord  Aiva 
was  abfent  by  indifpofition. 

25th.  By  the  KING,  / 

A  Proclamation  /or  a  Ge¬ 
neral  Faji. 

George  R. 

_  WE,  taking  into  our  moft  Se¬ 
rious  consideration  the  juft  and 
neceiTary  meafures  of  force  which 
we  are  obliged  to  ufe  againft  our 
rebellious  Subjects  in  our  colonies 
and  provinces  in  North  America  ; 
and  putting  our  truft  in  Almighty 
God,  that  he  will  vouchsafe  a  Spe¬ 
cial  bleffing  on  our  arms,  both  by 
Sea  and  land,  have  refolved,  and 
do,  by  and  with  the  advice  of  our 
privy  council,  hereby  command. 
That  a  public  faft  and  humiliation 
be  obServed  throughout  that  part  of 
our  kingdom  of  Great  Britain  called 
England,  our  dominion  of  Wales, 
and  town  of  Berwick  upon  Tweed, 
upon  Friday  the  27th  day  of  Fe¬ 
bruary  next  ;  that  So  both  we  and 
our  people  may  humble  ourfelves 
before  Almighty  God,  in  order  to 
obtain  pardon  of  our  Sins  ;  and 
may,  in  the  raoft  devout  and  So¬ 
lemn  manner.  Send  up  our  prayers 
and  Supplications  to  the  Divine  Ma- 
jefty  for  averting  thofe  heavy  judg¬ 
ments,  which  our  manifold  fins  and 
provocations  have  moft  juftly  de- 
ferved,  and  Sor  imploring  his  in¬ 
tervention  and  bleffing  fpeedily  to 
deliver  our  loyal  fubjects  within  our 
colonies  and  provinces  in  North 
America  Srom  the  violence,  injuf- 
tice,  and  tyranny  of  thoSe  daring 
rebels  who  have  afTumed  to  them- 
Selves  the  exercife  oS  arbitrary 
power,  to  open  the  eyes  of  thofe 


who  have  been  deluded  by  Specious 
falsehoods  into  adls  oS  treaSon  and 
rebellion,  to  turn  the  hearts  oS  the 
authors  oS  thefe  calamities,  and  fi¬ 
nally  to  reftore  our  people  in  thoSe 
diftra&ed  provinces  and  colonies 
to  the  happy  condition  of  being  free 
fubjetfts  of  a  free  ftate,  under  which 
heretofore  they  fiourifhed  fo  long 
and  profpered  fo  much  :  and  we 
do  ftridtly  charge  and  command, 
that  the  Said  public  faft  be  reve¬ 
rently  and  devoutly  obServed  by  all 
our  loving  Subjects  in  England,  our 
dominion  of  Wales,  and  town  of 
Berwick  upon  Tweed,  as  they  ten¬ 
der  the  favour  of  Almighty  God, 
and  would  avoid  his  wrath  and  in¬ 
dignation  :  and  upon  pain  of  Such 
punifhment  as  we  may  juftly  infli£t 
cn  all  Such  as  contemn  and  negleit 
the  performance  of  So  religious  a 
duty.  And  for  the  better  and  more 
orderly  Solemnizing  the  Same,  we 
have  given  directions  to  the  moft 
Reverend  the  Archbifhops,  and 
the  Right  Reverend  the  Bifhops 
of  England,  to  compofe  a  form  of 
prayer  Suitable  to  this  occafion,  to 
be  ufed  in  all  churches,  chapels, 
and  places  of  public  worfhip  ;  and 
to  take  care  the  Same  be  timely  dif- 
perfed  throughout  their  refpeCtive 
diocefes. 

Given  atour  court  at  St.  James’s, 
the  23d  day  of  January,  1778, 
in  the  eighteenth  year  of  our 
reign. 

God  Save  the  King. 

[A  Similar  proclamation  is  pub- 
lifhed  in  the  Gazette  for  a  general 
faft  in  Scotland,  on  Thurfday  the 
26th  day  of  February  next.] 

A fmgular  Fraud.  On  Monday 
la.lt,  at  noon,  a  woman,  moft  hand- 
Somely  drelTed,  and  affeCting  the 
woman  of  fafhion,  went  into  the 
fhop  of  a  holier  in  the  Strand,  and 

appeared 


CHRONICLE. 


appeared  (being  without  a  hat)  as 
if  fhe  had  j alt  ftepped  out  of  a  car¬ 
riage  ;  and  indeed  this  was  the 
cafe.  She  alked  to  look  at  fome 
filk  ftockings  ;  feveral  pairs  were 
(hewn  her  ;  and  prefently  in  came 
a  fellow  in  livery,  who,  with  his 
hat  off,  laid,  “  Sir  Thomas  is  in 
the  carriage,  my  Lady.” — She  re¬ 
plied,  it  was  very  well,  Ihe  would 
be  with  him  in  a  few  minutes.  She 
then  paid  for  two  pair  of  ftockings, 
went  away,  and  got  into  a  poft- 
chaife  ftanding  in  the  ftreet,  and 
the  footman  followed  her  into  the 
chaife,  which  then  drove  oft'.  This 
latter  circumftance  fomewhat  fur- 
priling  the  holier,  he  examined  the 
different  loofe  parcels  of  ftockings 
that  he  had  opened,  and  difcovered 
that  her  Ladylhip”  had  ftolen 
nine  pair.  “  ' 

Died,  at  Brockmonton,  near 
Leominfter,  Herefordlhire,  Edward 
Evans,  in  the  load  year  of  his 
age,  retaining  his  underftanding  to 
the  laft.  He  had  been  ill  near  four 
months,  and  was  threlhing  in  a 
barn  when  he  was  firft;  taken  ill. 

At  Peckham,  aged  ioi  years, 
Mr.  Fryer,  formerly  purfer  of  a 
man  of  war. 

At  Stroud,  near  Rochefter,  Mr. 
Adam  Devaile,  at  the  age  of  102 
years. 

During  the  courfe  of  laft  year 
there  have  been  born  in  the  city  of 
Paris,  11,445  boys,  anc*  IO»82i 
girls.  The  number  of  deaths 
amounts  to  9101  men,  and  8011 
women  ;  and  during  the  fame  fpace 
of  time  3411  boys,  and  3294  girls 
were  brought  into  the  Foundling 
Hofpital  ;  fo  that  there  were  286 
more  foundling  children,  and  2725 
burials  lefs,  than  in  the  preceding 
year. 


[165 

FEBRUARY. 

According  to  the  accounts 
delivered  by  Sir  Grey  Cooper,  1 
relative  to  the  extraordinary  ex- 
pences  of  calling  in  the  gold  coin, 
it  appears  that  the  money  deficient 
in  weight,  as  delivered  into  the 
bank,  under  the  different  procla¬ 
mations,  was  as  follows  : 

£-  s.  d. 

1  ft  proclamation,  3,806,435  7  2 

2d  proclamation,  4,876,171  18  3 

3d  proclamation,  6,880,986  5  3 

i5>563»593  10  8 

Difpatches  were  received  at 
the  India-houfe  on  Saturday  2cl* 
laft  from  Madrafs,  containing  au¬ 
thentic  advices  of  the  death  of  Lord 
Pigot,  on  the  1  uh  of  May.  The 
fame  difpatches  mention  the  lofs  of 
the  company’s  fhip  Marquis  of 
Rockingham,  Capt.  Hamilton,  in 
her  voyage  from  Madras  to  Sadras, 
but  that  the  crew,  and  the  greateft 
part  of  the  treafure,  had  been 
laved ;  only  one  cheft  of  filver  is 
faid  to  be  loft. 

Extrad  of  a  Letter  from  Fort  Saint 

George ,  dated  May  18,  1777. 

M  It  is  with  the  deepeft  forrow 
that  I  now  acquaint  you  with  the 
melancholy  event  of  the  death  of 
Lord  Pigot.  Through  the  great 
care  and  fk.il!  of  Mr.  Pailley,  he 
feemed  to  have  got  the  better  of 
the  firft  illnefs  which  he  laboured 
under,  when  1  wrote  to  you  by  the 
French  fhips  in  March  ;  but  he  re- 
lapfed,  and  Mr.  Pailley  (as  well  as 
Major  Horne,  under  whofe  charge 
my  Lord  ftill  remained  a  prifoner) 
reprefented  to  the  people  in  the 
fort  that  there  was  a  neceflity  for 
removing  him,  for  the  benefit  of 
[£]  3  the 


i66]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


the  fea  ait ;  and  he  was  (by  the 
particular  perfuafionof  Mr.  Paifley 
and  his  own  friends)  accordingly 
brought,  in  a  palanquin,  on  the 
28th  paft,  from  the  Mount  to  the 
Company’s  Garden  Houfe,  which 
is  about  a  mile  from  the  fort,  and 
not  fo  far  from  the  fea.  The  bur¬ 
geons,  on  the  7th  and  8th  inftant, 
declared,  that  he  could  not  furvive 
ft  few  days  :  and  on  the  9th  his 
friends  perceived  that  he  had  hini- 
felf  determined  to  prepare  for  his 
approaching  diffolution,  by  telling 
Mr.  Ruffell,  Mr.  Stone,  and  Mr, 
Monckton  (who  were  conflantly 
with  him)  that  he  wilhed  to  write 
a  letter  to  the  Company,  He  then 
fat  up  in  his  bed,  and  dictated  the 
letter  with  all  poflible  propriety  and 
recollection  5  and  took  occafion  to 
tell  them,  that  that  would  probably 
be  the  laft  letter  that  he  fhould 
ever  addrefs  to  them  !  The  next 
morning  he  called  for  feveral  pa¬ 
pers,  relative  to  his  own  affairs ; 
and  having  fpokfe  of  the  fubjeCts  to 
which  they  related,  with  great  pre- 
eilion,  he  dictated  a  codicil  to  his 
will  (of  feme  length)  in  the  cleared 
manner.  Thbugh  the  force  of  his 
conditution,  and  the  faculties  of 
his  mind,  were  overborne  by  his 
long  confinement,  and  the  infult 
and  cruelty  with  which  he  had  been 
treated,  yet  the  powers  of  his  un- 
derdanding  preferved  their  natural 
tone  to  the  lad  moment,  and  gave 
the  cleared  proof  of  that  recollec¬ 
tion  and  firmnefs  which  lias  fo  much 
diftinguifhed  his  character.  He 
died  on  Sunday  the  nth  of  May, 
having  been  kept  a  prifoner  from 
the  23d  of  Augud,  1776,  to  the 
time  of  his  death.  As  no  guard 
had  attended  him  (though  he  was 
accompanied  by  Major  Horne) 
when  he  was  removed  fjom  the 


Mount,  it  was  imagined  that  the 
people  in  the  fort  would  take  the 
opportunity  of  the  fituation  he  then, 
was  in,  to  drop  that  redraint,  led 
he  fhould  die  in  durefs  ;  but  on  tbs 
evening  of  the  day  that  he  was  re-* 
moved.  Lieutenant  Sydenham  (who 
aCts  as  Town  Major)  put  the  fepoy 
guards,  which  were  round  the 
Garden  Houfe,  under  the  Com¬ 
mand  of  Major  Horne,  who  hirn-s 
felf  alfo  foon  appeared,  and  told 
Mr.  Monckton,  in  the  prefence  of 
Sir  Edward  Hughes ,  that  he  had 
hsen  called  before  the  board  (after  he 
had  left  Lord  Pigot  at  the  Garden 
Houfe  in  the  morning)  and  found 
great  fault  with  for  letting  his  Lord- 
Jhip  come  in  without  a  guard ;  and 
that  he  was  now  again  ordered  to 
continue  in  the  charge  of  his  per  Jon , 
which  he  had  complied  with ♦ 

(<  In  this  fituation,  as  foon  as 
my  Lord  died,  Mr.  Monckton 
thought  it  proper  to  write  to  Major 
Horne,  demanding  the  body,  that 
it  might  be  interred  ;  and  the  Ma¬ 
jor  wrote  to  him  back,  that  the 
guards  had  been  taken  off  in  the  night  a 
(though  this  is  doubted)  and  that 
there  was  no  obflrutiion  to  the  in*» 
terment  of  the  body. 

€i  Mr*  Monckton  faw  it  alfo 
proper  to  write  to  Mr.  Ram,  who 
was  coroner  at  the  time  of  the  fub<? 
verfionof  the  government,  and  had 
ever  fmee  refufed  to  refign  his  off 
fee  ;  defiring  him  to  repair  to  the 
Garden  Houfe,  and  hold  an  in- 
queft  on  the  body  of  Lord  Pigot, 
his  Lordfhip  dying  under  confine*- 
ment.  The  coroner  immediately 
fummoned  a  jury,  and  the  inqueff 
was  opened  over  the  body  at  four 
P.  M.  Mr.  Paifley  and  three  other 
furgeons  attending  ;  but  it  being 
necelfary  in  this  hot  country  to 
inter  the  corpfe  without  delay, 

7  the 


CHRONICLE.  [167 


the  inqueft  was  adjourned  to  the 
next  day,  and  is  not  yet  ended.” 

,  On  Saturday  laft,  the  policy 
3  *  bufinefs  refpeiting  the  fex  of 
Madame  D’Eon,  was  folemnly  ar¬ 
gued  before  Lord  Mansfield,  in  the 
court  of  King’s  bench,  when  the 
defendant  pleaded  a  late  ait  of  par¬ 
liament  for  the  non-payment  of  the 
policy  he  had  underwritten,  which 
ftatute  provides.  That  no  infurance 
fhall  be  valid,  where  the  perfon 
infuring  cannot  prove  an  antece¬ 
dent  intereft  in  the  perfon  or  thing 
infured. — The  Chief  Juftice  ad¬ 
mitted  the  ftatute  to  be  binding  in 
the  prefent  inftance  ;  by  which  de- 
cilion  all  the  infurers  in  the  above 
tranfailion  will  now  be  deprived  of 
the  golden  harveft  they  have  fo 
long  expeited. 

By  the  above  decifion  no  lefs  a 
fum  than  feventy-five  thoufand 
pounds  will  remain  in  this  country, 
which  otherwife  muff  have  been 
tranfmitted  to  Paris. 

,  The  three  petitions  pre- 

fented  by  the  Sheriffs  to  the 
Lower  Affembly  on  Monday  from 
the  city  of  London,  were  for  the 
following  purpofes,  viz.  one  peti¬ 
tion  for  115,000!.  for  the  Seffion- 
houfe,  and  6000 1.  fpent  in  pur- 
chafing  old  houfes  to  make  ave¬ 
nues,  &c.  to  the  fame.  Another 
for  raifing  20,000  1.  for  finifhing 
the  gaol  of  Newgate.  Another  for 
20,000 1.  for  making  a  new  ftreet 
from  Bifhopfgate  to  Barbican. 

,  A  queftion  referved  for 

7  *  the  opinion  of  the  judges 

was  argued  in  the  court  of  King’s 
bench.  An  aition  was  brought 
again  ft  the  Poft-mafter  general  to 
recover  the  value  of  a  bank  note  of 
ico  1.  the  fame  being  taken  out  of 
a  letter  by  Mitchel,  a  fervant  to 
the  Polt-mafter-general,  who  fuf- 


fered  capitally  for  that  crime.  It 
was  denied  by  the  defendant,  that 
the  under  officers  of  the  poll-office 
were  the  fervants  of  the  poft-maller- 
general  ;  they  were  the  fervants  of 
the  public,  and  gave  fecurity  to  the 
King  ;  and  as  no  negleit  was  fo 
much  as  alledged  againfl  the  Pofl> 
mafter-general,  there  could  be  no 
reafon  in  law  or  equity  for  making 
him  refponfible.  The  final  deter¬ 
mination  of  this  weighty  queftion, 
fo  important  to  the  intercourfe  of 
trade,  was  adjourned. 

A  fatal  ac%jdent  happened  j  ^ 
to  Dr.  Sclater,  as  he  was  * 
coming  up  St.  Mary  Hill  between 
two  and  three  o’clock  in  the-afcer- 
noon,  by  a  fack  of  carroway-feeds 
falling  upon  him  from  the  flings, 
as  they  were  craning  into  a  grocer’s 
warehoufe,  which  killed  him  on 
the  fpot. 

- Whitaker,  for  many  ^ 

years  fummoning  officer  of 
juries  for  the  city  and  liberties  of 
Weftminfter,  was  ordered  into  court 
to  receive  judgment  upon  convic¬ 
tion  by  attachment  for  corruption, 
in  his  office.  The  interrogatories 
and  anfwers  were  read  by  Sir  James 
Burrows,  when  the  court  ordered 
him  to  pay  a  fine  of  200 1.  and  to 
remain  a  prifoner  until  the  fame 
was  difcharged.  He  was  alfo  dis¬ 
qualified  from  his  employment. 
Mr.  Cowper  made  a  few  obferva- 
tions  in  his  behalf,  but  the  judges 
expreffed  the  utmoll  difguft  at  his 
conduit,  and  he  was  immediately 
taken  into  the  cuftody  of  the  tip- 
ftaff.  By  the  delinquent’s  own  an¬ 
fwers  it  appeared,  that  for  eleven 
years  paft  he  made  upon  an  ave¬ 
rage,  50I.  per  annum,  by  receiving 
a  certain  fee  from  each  perfon, 
whom  he  excufed  from  ferving  the 
office  of  Juror. 

[i]  4 


17th,  We 


368]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  .778. 


We  are  informed  a  fcheme 
is  in  agitation,  of  making 
a  navigable  canal  from  this  city  by 
Fakenham  to  Lynn,  whereby  an 
eafy  conveyance  of  goods  will  be 
obtained,  a  communication  opened 
with  the  feveral  counties  of  Suffolk, 
Cambridge.  Bedford,  Rutland, 
Northampton,  and  Lincoln,  and  the 
floods  fo  deftrudtive  to  many  of  its 
inhabitants  in  a  great  meafure  pre¬ 
vented. 

,  This  day  was  heard  be- 
20til*  fore  SirGeorge  Hay,  LL.D. 
in  the  eccleliallical  court,  Dodor’s 
Commons,  a  caufe,  the  Earl  of 
Briftol  againft  Elizabeth  Chud- 
leigh,  late  Dutchefs  of  Kingfton, 
but  now  (by  the  late  verdid  of  the 
Houfe  of  Peers,  convened  at  Weft- 
min Peer- hall)  Countefs  of  Briftol,  to 
prove  his  marriage  with  the  faid 
Elizabeth,  which  proof  was  fully 
eftablifhed  in  the  fame  manner  as 
before  the  Lords  ;  and  the  court  ac«* 
cordingly  gave  it  as  their  opinion, 
that  the  marriage  was  ftridly  legal. 
This  caufe  was  brought  againft  the 
Countefs  by  the  Earl,  as  an  intro- 
dudion  to  a  divorce  which  he 
means  to  fue  out  againft  her  on  the 
fcore  of  adultery,  and  which  he 
could  not  do  prior  to  his  proving 
his  marriage  with  her,  as  flie  was, 
before  the  hearing  above-mention¬ 
ed,  recognifed  in  the  eccleftaftical 
court  as  the  wife  of  the  late  Duke 
of  Kingfton,  and  not  of  the  Earl  of 
Briftol. 

Same  day  the  report  was  made 
to  his  Majefty  in  council  of  the 
convids  under  fentence  of  death  in 
Newgate,  when  the  fix  following 
were  ordered  for  execution  on  Fri¬ 
day  the  5th  of  March  next,  viz. 
William  Stephens, Robert  Griffiths, 
Thomas  Dunn,  John  Pugh,  Henry 
Green,  for  breaking  into  the  houfe 


of  Mr.  Wale,  in  Church-row* 
Chelfea,  and  Healing  a  great  quan¬ 
tity  of  linen,  value  50  1.  and  Fran* 
cis  Green,  for  robbing  James  Boult 
in  the  Staines  ftage-coach  on  the 
highway,  near  the  turnpike  at  Bel- 
font,  of  a  flop-watch,  with  fllver 
cafes,  a  guinea  and  a  half,  and 
feme  halfpence. 

The  following  were  refpited  dur¬ 
ing  his  Majefty’s  pleafure,  viz. 
Thomas  Cantrell,  for  breaking 
into  the  houfe  of  William  Afteil, 
with  intent  to  fteal  ;  James  Gable, 
for  robbing  Mary  Overton  on  the 
highway  near  the  French  hofpital 
in  the  City  Road,  of  4s.  John 
Smith,  for  robbing  Elizabeth  Ed¬ 
wards  on  the  highway  in  Wheeler- 
ftreet,  Spitalfields,  of  a  red  cardi-* 
nal ;  and  Jofeph  Weft,  concerned 
with  Francis  Green,  (mentioned  in 
the  preceding  article)  for  robbing 
James  Boult  in  the  Staines  ftage- 
coach. 

The  feffions  ended  at  the  a 
Old  Bailey,  when,  with  21  0 
eight  others,  the  two  following  pri- 
foners  received  fentence  of  death  : 
Thomas  Sherwood,  for  uttering  and 
publiihing  as  true,  knowing  it 
to  be  forged  and  counterfeited,  a 
letter  of  attorney,  purporting  it  to 
be  the  letter  of  the  Rev.  John  My- 
onet,  D.  D.  and  the  Rev.  James 
French,  to  appoint  him,  Thomas 
Sherwood,  to  transfer  700  1.  bank 
ftock  of  3  per  cent,  annuities :  Pe¬ 
ter  Ceppi,  alias  Scipio,  for  forci¬ 
bly  entering  the  apartments  of 
Harriet  Knightley,  and  firing  a 
loaded  piftol  at  the  faid  Harriet 
Knightley,  which  penetrated  thro5 
the  breaft  bone,  and  went  a  con- 
fiderable  way  into  the  body,  and 
was  extracted  from  her  right  fide. 

The  account  of  Mrs.  Knightley 
was,  that  on  the  1 3th.  of  January 
8  laft 


CHRONICLE.  [169 


Jail  Ceppi  came  into  her  room,  flie 
being  in  bed,  locked  the  door,  fat 
himfelf  in  a  chair,  and  told  her  he 
was  come  to  do  her  bufinefs,  which 
fhe  not  underitanding,  afked  him 
to  let  her  get  out  of  the  bed,  which 
he  did  ;  he  then  took  out  two  pif- 
tols  ;  die  went  towards  the  door  in 
order  to  get  out ;  he  fet  his  back 
again  ft  it;  {he  to  appeafe  him,  told 
him  he  might  ftay  breakfaft  ;  he 
anfwered  he  would  have  none,  but 
would  give  her  a  good  one.  She 
then  called  out  to  alarm  the  houfe, 
ran  towards  the  bed,  and  faid 
“  Pray  don’t  fhoot  me,”  and  drew 
up  clofe  to  the  curtains  :  he  fol¬ 
lowed,  and  difcharged  the  piltol. 
During  this,  a  wafherwoman  ran 
up  ftairs,  and  with  a  poker  broke 
the  bottom  pannel  of  the  door, 
through  which  Mrs.  ICnightley  was 
drawn  half-naked,  and  Ceppi  fol¬ 
lowing,  ran  down  ftairs,  but  was 
purfued  and  taken.  In  his  de¬ 
fence,  he  faid,  he  had  propofed 
honourable  terms  of  marriage  to 
her,  but  that  fhe  had  refufed  and 
deferted  him  ;  that  he  was  over¬ 
come  with  grief  and  love,  and  that 
his  defign  was  not  to  hurt  her,  but 
fhoot  himfelfin  her  prefence. 

The  device  for  the  great  feal  of 
South-Carolina  --A  palmetto  tree 
fupported  by  twelve  fpears,  which, 
with  the  tree,  are  bound  together 
in  one  hand,  on  which  is  written 
*  quis  feparebit  ?’  On  the  tree  are 
two  fhields,  the  one  infcribed 
March  26,  the  ocher  July  4,  and 
at  the  foot  of  the  palmetto,  an  Eng- 
lifh  oak  fallen,  its  root  above  the 
ground,  and  its  branches  lopt. 

In  the  Exergue. 

MELIOREM  LAPSA  LOCAVIT. 

1776. 

Legend,  ‘  South  Carolina.’  Im¬ 
mediately  over  the  palmetto,  and 


on  the  oppoftte  part  of  the  circle, 

*  Animis  ad  fata  paratis.* 

R  EVER  S  E. 

Hope  advancing  over  a  rock, 
which  is  rugged  and  fteep  behind, 
her,  but  fmooth  and  of  a  gentle 
afcent  before.  The  way  is  ftrewed 
with  the  arms  of  an  enemy.  She 
holds  a  laurel  flower  in  her  right 
hand,  and  has  a  view  of  the  fun 
riling  in  full  fplendour. 

In  the  Exergue, 

S  p  e  s. 

Legend,  Dum fpiro fpero. 

Madrid ,  'June  19.  The  follow¬ 
ing  particulars  make  part  of  the 
treaty  of  peace  concluded  in  Oc¬ 
tober  laft,  between  our  court  and 
that  of  Lifbon. 

1.  The  ifland  of  St.  Catharine  is 
to  be  reftored  to  Portugal,  in  the 
fame  flate  it  was  in  when  it  was 
furrendered  to  the  Spaniards  ;  but 
it  is  exprefsly  ftipulated,  that  here¬ 
after  no  foreign  veflel  fhall  be  fuf- 
fered  to  enter  the  ports  of  the 
ifland. 

2.  The  colony  of  the  blefled  Sa¬ 
crament  is  ceded  for  ever  to  Spain. 

3.  The  Rio  Grande  is  to  be  open 
to,  and  held  in  common  by  both 
nations  ;  Portugal  is  to  hold  the 
northern  fhore,  while  the  foutherrt 
remains  in  the  polTeffion  of  Spain. 
All  other  nations  are  to  be  ex¬ 
cluded  from  the  navigation  of  the 
river. 

4.  Portugal  is  to  reftore  to  Spain 
the  forts  and  pofleflions  fhe  feized 
during  the  conteft  ;  and  the  latter 
is  to  be  at  liberty  to  ereft  in  her 
territories  as  many  fortrefles  as  fhe 
fhall  think  proper. 


MARC  H. 

The  houfe  of  farmer  Clewin,  ^ 
of  Finchley,  was  fuddenly  fur- 

rounded 


ijo]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778; 


rounded  in  the  dead  of  night  by 
a  gang  of  nine  or  ten  ruffians,  who 
broke  open  the  doors,  and  after 
molt  inhumanly  cutting  and  man¬ 
gling  feveral  of  the  family,  they 
robbed  the  houfe  of  plate,  caffi, 
linen,  and  other  moveables  to  a 
great  value,  and  then  made  off 
with  their  booty. 

A  few  days  ago  was  found,  by 
feme  perfons  who  were  getting 
Hone  in  a  piece  of  ground  near 
Critch,  called  the  Cullen,  in  Der- 
byffiire,  an  earthen  pot  full  of 
copper  coin,  faid  to  be  coined  in 
the  year  3 26  ;  they  are  not  fo  large 
as  a  halfpenny,  and  are  of  various 
forts ;  the  impreffion  on  each  fide 
very  plain.  The  weight  of  the 
coins  ail  together  was  exa&ly  nine 
pounds. 

1  At  a  court  of  common- 

*  *  council,  a  member  moved, 
that  an  humble  addrefs  and  pe¬ 
tition  be  prefented  to  his  Majeffy, 
that  fuch  mea fares  of  reconcilia¬ 
tion  be  adopted,  as  may  put  a  fpee- 
dy  end  to  the  ruinous  war  we  are 
now  engaged  in;  which  was  re¬ 
ceived  in  the  affirmative. 

This  morning,  about  two 
o'clock,  a  gang  of  eight  vil¬ 
lains  broke  into  the  houfe  of  Mr. 
Cuthbert,  at  Kentilh-Town,  and 
after  behaving  very  inhumanly  to 
him  and  his  wife  (whofe  leg  they 
cut  in  a  terrible  manner),  robbed 
them  of  Eaft-lndia  bonds,  bank 
notes,  and  money,  to  the  amount 
0/700!.  They  ffaid  upwards  of 
two  hours  in  the  houfe  ;  they  had 
their  faces  blacked,  and  were  other- 
wife  difguifed.  They  are  fuppofed 
to  be  the  fame  ruffians  who  robbed 
fanner  Clewin,  at  Finchley. 

,  Laft  week  a  very  melan¬ 

choly  accident  happened  to 
Mifs  Vane,  daughter  of  the  Hon. 


Mr.  Vane,  of  Beilby,  in  York¬ 
shire  ;  being  fitting  by  her  ffre,  fhe 
dropped  her  keys  within  the  fen¬ 
der,  and  ftooping  to  take  them  up, 
her  head-drefs  took  fire,  and  fhe 
was  burnt  fo  dreadfully  before  it 
could  be  extinguilhed,  that. fhe  ex¬ 
pired  in  a  few  hours. 

This  evening,  Mr.  Banger/ 
clerk  to  a  merchant  in  Bufh-Iane, 
conceiving  he  had  received  an  in- 
fuit  from  Mr.  Saunders,  a  haber- 
dafher,  in  Cannon-ftreet,  fent  for 
Mr.  Saunders  to  the  London-ftone 
Tavern,  where  he  produced  a  pair 
of  piftols,  and  offering  one  to  Mr, 
Saunders,  demanded  fatisfadlion. 
The  latter  declaring  he  thought  his 
life  too  valuable  to  rifque  it  fo, 
high  words  enfued,  which  the  land¬ 
lord  overhearing,  infilled  the  par¬ 
ties  fhould  quit  his  houfe.  On  this 
they  adjourned  to  another  tavern, 
where  Mr.  Banger  Bill  infilling  on 
his  fighting,  him,  and  Mr.  Saun¬ 
ders  declining,  the  epithets  coward 
and  fcoundrel  were  thrown  outs 
and  Mr.  Banger  then  proceeding  to 
cudgel  him,  the  tuck  of  the  ftick 
flew  out  and  wounded  Mr.  Saun¬ 
ders  fo  feverely,  that  he  died  foon 
after.  The  coroner's  inqueff 
brought  in  their  verdidl  wilful 
murder. 

This  evening,  a  houfe,  in  , 
the  upper  part  of  Illington,  ut  • 
was  broke  open  by  fix  or  eight 
men,  who  ftripped  it  of  every 
thing  of  value.  They  gagged  the 
family,  except  one  girl  about  feven 
years  of  age,  who  hid  herfelf  un- 
der  a  bed,  and  efcaped  them,  and 
by  whofe  affiftance  the  family  were 
releafed-  It  is  fuppofed  to  have 
been  done  by  the  gang  who  rob¬ 
bed  Mr.  Clewin. 

This  day  was  tried  before 
Lord  Mansfield,  at  Guild¬ 
hall, 


13th, 


C  H  R  O  N 

hall,  London,  a  caufe  v.hich  in¬ 
volved  in  it  a  queftion  that  the  no¬ 
ble  judge  obferved  was  of  the 
higheft  impo:  to  commerce.  The 
action  was  brought  by  a  tradelman 
near  the  [Vaniion-houfe,  againff  a 
merchant  at  Aberdeen,  to  recover 
the  amount  of  fome  goods.  T  he 
defendant  infilled,  that  together 
with  the  money  paid  into  court, 
and  what  had  been  otherwife  re¬ 
ceived  by  a  bill  for  38  1.  the  whole 
of  the  demand  was  fully  fatisfied. 
The  plaintiff  "denied  that  the  bill 
was  ever  meant  to  be  received  at 
his  own  rifle  :  he  took  it  only  to  en¬ 
deavour,  as  an  aft  of  friendlhip,  to 
procure  the  money  upon  it  of  the 
acceptor  ;  but  it  turned  out  in 
proof,  that  a  receipt  was  given  for 
this  bill  by  the  plaintiff,  without 
any  exception  ;  and  that  the  de¬ 
fendant  laid  at  the  time,  that 
though  the  drawer  was  infolvent, 
he  believed  the  acceptor  to  be  a 
very  good  man  ;  however,  the  re- 
verfe  appeared,  and  the  biil  was 
dilhonoured.  The  banker  kept  it 
three  days  after  it  became  due, 
which  was  the  10th  of  July;— ron 
the  z  i  ft  the  plaintiff  wrote  to  the 
defendant,  and  not  before.  The 
queftion  was,  ‘‘Whether  this  fhould 
be  held  fufficient  notice  and  the 
noble  Lord  on  the  bench  pointed 
out  this  material  doftrine  as  a  rule 
in  paper  circulation  :  he  faid  the 
law  requires  that  reafonable  notice 
fhould  be  given  in  all  fuch  cafes  ; 
that  otherwife,  the  inconvenience 
would  be  terrib  e  to  traders,  for 
this  day  that  might  be  got,  which 
to-morrow  would  be  irrecoverable  ; 
that  three  days  was  the  extent  of 
time  allowed-  to  be  recoverable  ; 
afterwards  the  holder  of  the  bill 
muff  look  to  it  as  his  own,  and  the 
plaintiff  in  this  caufe  had  neglected 


I  C  L  E.  .  ri7i 

to  write  to  the  defendant  for  thir¬ 
teen  days  after  the  biil  was  due, 
which  was  ten  days  too  late. 

Wednefday,  March  ii,  his  Ma- 
jefty  went  to  the  Houle  of  Peers, 
attended  by  the  Duke  of  Ancafter 
and  the  Earl  of  Oxford,  and  gave 
the  royal  affent  to  the  following 
bills,  viz. 

The  bill  to  allow  the  exportation 
of  a  certain  quantity  of  corn,  peas* 
and  bifeuit,  to  Newfoundland,  for 
a  limited  time. 

The  bill  for  the  benefit  of  cap- 
tors  of  prizes  from  the  enemy. 

The  bill  to  enable  his  Majefty  to 
appoint  Commiffioners,  with  fuf- 
ficient  powers,  to  treat  and  agree 
upon  the  means  of  quieting  the 
difturbances  now  fubfiffing  in  cer¬ 
tain  of  the  American  colonies. 

The  bill  to  declare  the  intentions 
of  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain, 
concerning  the  exercife  of  impoffng 
taxes  in  the  American  colonies. 

The  bill  to  repeal  an  aft  that  im- 
pofed  a  duty  on  tea  imported  from 
Great  Britain  into  any  of  the  Ame-s 
rican  colonies. 

The  bill  to  repeal  an  aft  for  re¬ 
gulating  the  government  of  Mafla- 
chuffet’s  Bay. 

The  bill  to  puniffi  mutiny  and 
defertion,  and  for  the  better  pay¬ 
ment  of  the  army  and  their  quar¬ 
ters. 

The  bill  to  apply  the  fum grant¬ 
ed  for  the  pay  and  cloathing  of  the 
militia  for  the  fervice  of  the  pre- 
fent  year. 

Alfo  to  fuch  other  bills  as  were 
ready. 

This  evening  feveral  vil-  , 
lains  broke  open  the  houfe  ^  * 

of  Mr.  John  Keys,  a  farmer  at 
Enfield,  and  after  cutting  and 
wounding  a  man  lervant  in  fo  dan¬ 
gerous  a  manner  that  he  is  fin ce 

dead 


172]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


dead  of  the  wounds,  plundered  the 
lioufe  of  50].  in  cadi,  and  plate  to 
the  amount  of  200  1. 

,  A  warrant  under  his  Ma- 
5  *  jelly’s  fign  manual,  was  fent 

to  Newgate  for  the  difcharge  of 
Mr.  Ebenezer  Smith  Platt,  who 
about  fifteen  months  fince  was 
committed  for  treafon  at  Savannah, 
in  the  colony  cf  Georgia. 

r  .  Admiral  Keppel  took 

1  *  leave  of  his  Majefty,  pre¬ 

vious  to  his  fetting  out  for  Portf- 
snouth  to  command  the  feet  of  ob- 
i'ervation. 

,  Yeflerday  an  exprefs  ar- 

‘ L  *  rived  from  the  Hague,  with 
authentic  advice  to  our  court,  that 
the  King  of  Pruflia,  with  three  ar¬ 
mies  had  entered  Auftrian-Silefia  ; 
the  firfl  army  was  commanded  by 
the  King  in  perfon ;  the  fe.eond  by 
his  brother.  Prince  Henry;  and 
the  third  by  the  Prince  of  Brunf-" 
wick  (who  married  the  Princefs 
Augufta). 

,  This  morning,  at  fix 

*  o’clock,  his  Excellency  the 
French  Ambaflador  fet  out  from  his 
lioufe  at  Whitehall,  with  all  his  re¬ 
tinue,  on  his  return  home,  pur- 
Tuant  to  orders  from  his  court. 

A  general  embargo  was  laid  on 
all  (hipping  in  the  ports  of  France, 
probably  to  fecure  an  indemnifica¬ 
tion,  (hould  any  ftroke  be  fuddenly 
firuck  by  the  Englilh  at  fea. 

1  A  woman  in  Queen- 

*  ftreet,  Holborn,  fent  her 
fon,  a  boy  about  eleven  years  of 
age,  fcr  fome  potatoes,  and  fuf- 
pedling  that  he  had  not  brought  the 
quantity  which  (he  fent  for,  went 
and  enquired,  and  finding  he  had 
not,  in  order  to  deter  him  from 
doing  fo  again,  locked  him  up  in  a 
garret:  after  he  had  been  there 
iome  time  (he  went  to  releafe  him. 


v/hen  lhe  found  him  hanging,  and 
no  figns  oflife  in  him. 

James  Elliot,  tried  laft 
Summer  aflize  for  a  forgery  * 

on  the  Bank,  and  on  a  motion  by  his 
counfel  for  an  arreft  of  judgment, 
the  word  pounds  being  omitted  on 
the  counterfeit  note,  was  called  up 
and  acquainted  with  the  opinion  of 
the  judges,  which  was,  that  his 
motion  was  unanimoufiy  over¬ 
ruled  ;  and  that  fentence  of  death 
was  to  be  palled  upon  him  accord- 
ingly.  1  . 

An  order  was  fent  to  the 
Cuftom-houfe  to  frop  all  the 
French  Ihips  in  the  river  Thames. 
The  like  orders  have  been  fent  to 
all  the  fea-ports  of  the  kingdom. 
But,  it  is  faid,  the  French,  having 
received  intelligence  of  what  had 
been  done  in  their  own  ports,  had 
moil  of  them  withdrawn. 

Lord  Stormont  arrived  at  the 
Hotel  in  Suffolk- ftreet,  from  Paris, 
and  waited  upon  his  Majefty  at  the 
levee,  where  he  had  the  honour  of 
a  private  audience. 

A  certain  Baronet  (Sir  G.C — e), 
formerly  the  Director,  and  for  a 
confiderable  time  the  foie  manager 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Eaft-India 
Company,  is  faid  tohave  petitioned 
that  company,  praying  an  annuity 
of  200 1.  to  enable  him  to  live  and 
maintain  his  family.  The  petition 
was  referred  to  a  committee  for 
their  confideration,  and  it  is  gene¬ 
rally  imagined  the  prayer  of  it  will 
be  complied  with.  The  Baronet, 
a  few  years  fince,  was  in  pofTeftion 
of  three  hundred  thoufand  pounds, 
a  feat  in  the  Houfe  of  Commons, 
and  a  confiderable  (hare  of  parlia¬ 
mentary  intereft. — A  raoft  linking 
inllance  of  the  mutability  of  human 
affairs  ! 


28th.  Yeiler- 


CHRONICLE;  [173 


^  ^  Yefterday  the  royal  aflent 
*  was  given  to  the  following 
bills,  which  were  pafied  by  com- 
miffion  : 

The  bill  for  the  more  effectually 
preventing  the  forging  of  ac¬ 
ceptances  of  bills  of  exchange, 
or  number  of  principal  fums  of 
acceptable  receipts,  for  notes,  bills, 
&c. 

The  bill  for  building  a  prifon  in 
the  county  of  Cornwall. 

The  bill  for  payment  of  cofts  to 
parties  on  complaints  determined 
before  Juftices  of  the  Peace  out  of 
feffions,  charges  to  conftables  in 
certain  cafes,  &c. 

The  bill  for  enlarging  the  pier 
and  harbour  of  Scarborough. 

The  lottery  bill. 

And  to  feveral  navigable,  road, 
and  inclofure  bills. 

The  embargo  laid  yefferday  up¬ 
on  French  veffels  will  be  far  from 
an  equitable  retort  upon  that  na¬ 
tion  for  the  manoeuvre,  as  the 
number  of  veffels  is  very  unequal. 
The  Court  of  France’s  foie  motive 
was  to  engrofs  a  number  of  our 
feamen  into  their  own  hands. 

Yefterday  orders  were  fent  from 
the  Secretary  of  State’s  office  to  the 
Lords  Lieutenants  of  the  different 
counties,  to  embody  the  militia  of 
each  county  immediately. 

Several  claufes  are  added  this 
year  to  the  Lottery  Bill  ;  the  prin¬ 
cipal  of  which  are  as  follow  : 

To  oblige  every  Lottery- Of¬ 
fice  keeper  to  take  out  a  licence  at 
the  expence  of  50  1.  and  give  fecu- 
rity  not  to  infringe  anv  part  of  the 
Ad. 

tc  That  no  perfon  {hall  difpofe 
of  any  part  of  a  Ticket  in  any 
fmaller  lhare  or  proportion  than  a 
fixteenth,  on  50  1.  penalty. 

“  And  that  any  perfon  felling 


any  goods,  wares,  or  other  mer¬ 
chandize,  or  who  {hall  offer  any 
fum  or  fums  of  money,  upon  any 
chance  or  event  whatfoever,  re¬ 
lating  to  the  drawing  of  any 
Ticket,  {hall  be  liable  to  a  penalty 
of  20  1. 

**  To  enable  the  Commiffioner3 
of  his  Majefty’s  Treafury  to  efta- 
blifh  an  Office — all  Shares  to  be 
ftamped  at  that  Office — The  ori¬ 
ginal  Tickets  from  which  fuch 
Shares  are  to  be  taken,  to  be  kept 
at  that  Office,  till  a  certain  time 
after  drawing — Books  of  Entry  to 
be  regularly  kept. — Perfons  carry¬ 
ing  Shares  to  be  ftamped  to  pay  a 
fmall  fum  fpecified  in  the  Adi— 
Penalties  for  perfons  not  ftamped, 
and  a  claufe  for  punifhing  perfons 
who  fhall  forge  the  ftamp  of  any 
Ticket.” 

Francfort ,  March  6.  We  have 
accounts  from  Vienna,  that  the 
camp  equipages  of  the  emperor 
and  the  lords  of  his  train  are  ready; 
and  it  is  laid,  that  befides  the 
20,000  Croats  who  are  marching 

.  o 

towards  Bohemia  to  form  a  fine 
there  to  prevent  defertion,  25,000 
of  the  Imperial  troops  have  orders 
to  be  in  readinefs  to  marth  at  the 
ffril  fignal  ;  which  orders  have 
alfo  been  fent  to  all  the  troops  in 
Bohemia. 

V erf  allies,  March  21.  Meffrs, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Silas  Deane, 
and  Arthur  Lee,  deputies  from 
the  United  States  of  North  Ame¬ 
rica,  had  the  honour  to  be  pre- 
fented  to  the  King  the  20th  of 
this  month,  by  the  Count  de  Ver- 
gennes,  Minifter  and  Secretary  of 
State  for  the  department  of  foreign 
affairs. 

Paris ,  March  21.  The  day  be¬ 
fore  yefterday  the  count  d’Artois, 
the  French  king’s  youngeft  bro¬ 
ther. 


174]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i7;8. 


ther  and  the  duke  of  Bourbon, 
fon  of  the  prince  of  Conde,  met 
in  the  prefence  of  fix  noblemen, 
among  whom  were  the  marquis  of 
St.  Hermine  and  count  of  Bourbon 
Baffet ;  when  the  two  princes 
drawing  their  fwords,  attacked 
each  other  with  fuch  fury,  that 
they  would  foon  have  put  an  end 
to  the  conteft,  had  not  the  noble¬ 
men  prefent  interfered.  The 
count  d’Artois  was  flightly  wound¬ 
ed  in  the  fword  arm,  the  duke 
of  Bourbon  being  a  much  better 
fwordfman  than  his  highnefs.  The 
cccafion  of  the  quarrel  was  owing 
to  the  duchefs  of  Bourbon  having 
had  the  imprudence  at  the  maf- 
querade  to  lift  up  the  mafk  of  the 
count,  who  was  incognito  with  a 
lady  that  die  had  difmifTed  from 
amongft  her  ladies  of  honour  The 
young  fpirited  lover  was  fo  much 
incenfed  at  this  liberty,  that  he 
wrung  the  duchefs’s  nofe,  and  put 
all  the  court  in  confufion  on  that 
account.  The  King  having  heard 
of  his  rencontre,  has  exiled  him  to 
Choifi. 

Died.  The  Rev.  and  learned 
Dr.  Samuel  Ogden,  Re&or  of 
Lawford,  Effex,  Woodwardian 
Profelfor  at  Cambridge. 

Lately,  at  Wednesfeld,  near 
Wolverhampton,  in  Staffordfhire, 
William  I  ven,  aged  115  years; 
he  retained  all  his  mental  faculties 
till  the  day  of  his  death,  was 
remarkably  chearful,  and  fre¬ 
quently  heard  finging.  He  mar¬ 
ried  4  wives,  the  laft  in  his  105th 
year,  through  principle,  as  he  de¬ 
clared  when  interrogated  by  the 
clergyman,  as  he  had  always 
led  a  virtuous  life,  and  always 
would. 


APRIL. 

The  Oxford  canal  from  * 
Coventry  was  ftnifhed  on  Mon-  1  * 
day  laft,  to  Banbury,  when,  feveral 
veftels  came  up  there  with  coals, 
which  were  fold  at  one  fhilling  per 
cwt. 

On  Thurfday  laft,  at  the  affizes 
on  the  Midland  Circuit  held  at 
Warwick,  a  caufe  was  heard,  of 
no  little  importance  to  perfons  en¬ 
gaged  in  partnerfhips.  An  attor¬ 
ney  of  Coventry  undertook  to  place 
out  at  intereft  the  fum  of  500  i. 
which  a  gentleman  entrufted  him 
with  for  that  purpofe.  The  above 
attorney,  it  feems,  gave  his  client 
a  bond,  as  a  fecurity,  the  validity 
of  which  never  was  fufpefted  till 
after  the  attorney’s  deceafe,  when 
many  forgeries  being  proved  againft 
his  eftate,  the  gentleman  who  was 
plaintiff  in  the  above  caufe,  found 
on  enquiry,  the  bond  which  he 
had  in  poffeftion  was  alfo  a  forged 
one  ;  but  recollefling  to  have  paid 
part  of  the  above  fum  into  the 
hands  of  the  partner  of  the  above 
attorney,  who  was  totally  ignorant 
ofhis  fraudulent  proceedings,  and, 
on  the  difeovery  of  the  forgery, 
tendered  the  whole  of  the  money 
he  had  received  to  the  plaintiff ; 
who  refufed  it,  and  accordingly 
brought  his  aflion  to  recover  the 
whole  of  the  money  advanced  on 
the  bond  given  by  the  attorney  ; 
when,  after  many  learned  and  in¬ 
genious  arguments,  the  jury  gave 
a  verdift  againft  the  partner  in  the 
whole  fum  claimed  by  the  plain¬ 
tiff. 

This  day  was  fold,  for  one  , 
thoufand guineas, the  celefcrat-  4th* 
ed  marble  ftatue  of  a  dog,  known  to 

the 


CHRONICLE.  [175 


the  virtuofi  by  the  name  of  Alci- 
biades’s  dog,  and  fuppofed  to  be 
the  mod  exquifite  piece  of  fculp- 
ture  of  the  kind  in  the  known 
world.  It  is  faid  to  have  been  pur- 
chafed  at  Rome  for  70  guineas. 

1  On  Monday  night,  about 

'  *  two  o’clock,  the  debtors  in 

one  part  of  the  old  jail  of  New¬ 
gate  which  remains  on  the  north- 
iide  of  Newgate-ftreet,  attempted 
to  make  their  efcape,  and  would 
probably  have  effected  it,  if  fome 
perfonsin  the  neighbourhood,  who 
were  alarmed  at  the  noife,  had  not 
fent  notice  of  it  to  Mr.  Akerman, 
who  foon  arrived  with  proper  af- 
fiftance,  when  it  was  found  the 
prifoners  had  broke  from  their  up¬ 
per  apartments,  and  got  to  the 
lower  outward  door.  They  were 
fecured,  and  a  guard  left  to  prevent 
any  future  attempt. 

,  The  town  and  neighbour- 
^  *  hood  of  Birmingham  were 

greatly  alarmed  with  a  dreadful 
florm  of  thunder,  lightning,  and 
rain  ;  fuch  an  one  as  is  not  re¬ 
membered  to  have  happened  be¬ 
fore  fo  early  in  the  year,  by  the 
oldeft  inhabitant,  and  by  which 
much  damage  has  been  fuftained. 
A  windmill,  handing  at  ‘Holloway 
Head,  fuffered  feverely.  A  body 
of  fire,  in  a  fouth-weft  dire&ion, 
and  in  fhape  like  a  weaver’s  fhut- 
tle,  was  perceived,  by  a  gentleman 
riding  on  the  Bromfgrove  road,  to 
hrike  obliquely  the  main-beam  of 
the  mill,  which  immediately  fplit 
afunder  ;  one  of  its  fails,  and  a 
cog-wheel,  were  fhivered  in  pieces, 
and  it  was  otherwife  materially  in¬ 
jured  ;  the  miller  was  {truck  down 
by  the  violence  of  the  fhock,  and 
remained  fenfelefs  for  fome  time. 
At  Barr,  a  ball  of  fire  came  down 
the  kitchen  chimney  of  the  Blue 
Boar,  filled  the  houfe  infiantly 


with  a  fulphureous  flench,  and 
then  forced  its  way  through  the 
window,  carrying  the  cafement 
along  with  it.  From  other  places 
we  hear  of  houfes  being  unroofed, 
trees  fplit,  See. 

This  day  a  declaration  was  made 
of  the  numbers,  upon  the  ballot 
for  fix  directors  of  the  Eafl-India 
Company,  when  the  fufFrages  ap¬ 


peared  to  be  as  follows : 

William  James,  Efq.  846 

Wm.  George  Freeman,  Efq.  838 
John  Stables,  Efq.  837 

John  Wood  houfe,  Elq.  829 

Laurence  Sullivan,  Efq.  491 

William  Mills,  jun.  Efq,  457 

John  Pardoe,  Efq.  343 

Alexander  Hume,  Efq.  324 


George  Wombweil,  Efq.  was 
afterwards  elected  chairman,  and 
William  James,  Efq.  deputy  chair¬ 
man  of  the  above  company  for  the 
year  enfuing. 

A  court  of  common-  , 
council  was  held  at  Guild-  10 
hall  for  the  election  by  ballot  of 
the  Marlhals  of  this  city. — On  the 
dole  of  the  ballot  there  appeared 
107  for  Mr.  Gates,  and  89  for  Mr. 
Miller,  they  being  the  only  candi¬ 
dates  ;  whereupon  Mr.  Gates  was 
declared  duly  elected  upper,  and 
Mr.  Miller  under  Marfhal.  The 
falary  of  the  former  is  fixed  at  25 olJ. 
and  the  latter  at  200 1.  per  an¬ 
num.  Both  are  fubjeft  to  the  or¬ 
ders  and  regulations  of  a  commit¬ 
tee  of  the  court.  Formerly,  thefe 
places,  with  thofe  of  Marfhaimen, 
were  enjoyed  by  purchafe  ;  they 
are  now  placed  on  a  footing  fuit- 
able  to  the  dignity  and  opulence 
of  the  metropolis  of  the  Britiih 
empire. 

The  court  then  proceeded  to  the 
election  of  a  Marlhalman,  when 
Mr.  Will.  Payne  was  appointed  to 
that  oflic,e. 


Alfo 


*7 6]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i7;3. 


Alfo  this  day  a  petition  was  pre¬ 
fen,  ted  to  Lord  George  Germaine, 
jigned  by  all  the  merchants  of  Ca¬ 
nada,  now  in  London.  This  pe¬ 
tition,  after  reciting  feveral  grie¬ 
vances,  concludes  thus : 

*  We  beg  leave  to  allure  your 
lordfhip,  that  thefe  caufes,  orjgi-* 
nating  chiefly  from  the  Quebec 
aft,  have  concurred  to  fpreada  ge¬ 
neral  difcontent  throughout  the 
province,  without  any  advantage 
to  the  parent  hate,  and  fo  far  to 
alienate  the  affections  of  his  Ma- 
jelty’s  fubjefts,  as  to  give  great  rea- 
fbn  to  apprehend  a  difpofition  in 
them  to  change  their  prefent  form 
of  government,  fhould  fuch  an  op¬ 
portunity  unhappily  offer. 

‘  We  therefore  humbly  intreat 
your  lordfhip  to  take  into  your 
confideration  the  dangerous  and 
confufed  fituation  of  this  colony, 
and  grant  us  your  patronage  and 
affiftancein  endeavouring  to  obtain 
a  repeal  of  the  Quebec  Aft,  the 
fource  of  thefe  grievances,  and  an 
eftablifhment  in  its  head  of  a  free 
government,  by  an  aflembly  or  re- 
prefentation  of  the  people,  agreea¬ 
ble  to  his  Majehy’s  royal  promife, 
contained  in  his  proclamation  made 
in  the  year  1763.  This  meafure 
alone,  which  we  are  firmly  per- 
fuaded  is  founded  equally  on  the 
principles  of  juhice  and  good  po¬ 
licy,  is  adapted  to  conciliate  the 
minds  of  a  difiatisfied  people,  to 
confirm  their  wavering  difpofition, 
and  to  rehore  that  mutual  confi¬ 
dence  between  the  governors  and 
the  governed,  which  is  eflentially 
neceffary  to  the  happinefs  of  both.’ 

16th  This  morning  the  Earl 
of  Carlifle,  Governor  John- 
hone,  and  William  Eden,  Efq; 
{the  Commiffioners  appointed  by 
his  Majehy  to  treat  with  the  Ame¬ 
ricans)  embarked  at  Portfmoutlr, 


on  board  his  Majehy’s  fhip  T?L 
dent,  Capt.  Elliot,  which  imme¬ 
diately  dropped  down  to  St.  He¬ 
len’s,  and  failed  for  America  on 
the  2ih. 

Same  day  his  Majehy  went  in 
hate  to  the  Houfe  of  Peers,  and 
gave  the  royal  aflent  to 

The  bill  to  enable  his  Majehy  to 
make  provifion  for  the  younger 
branches  of  the  Royal  Family  by- 
granting  them  annuities. 

The  bill  for  laying  a  tax  on  all 
inhabited  houfes. 

The  bill  for  laying  additional 
duties  on  French  and  other  wines 
imported  into  this  kingdom. 

The  bill  for  laying  a  tax  on  fer- 
vants  refiding  in  Scotland. 

The  bill  to  indemnify  perfons 
who  have  omitted  to  qualify  them- 
felves  for  offices  or  employ¬ 
ments  within  the  time  limited, 
and  allowing  a  farther  time  for  that 
purpofe. 

The  town  of  Whitehaven  . 
in  Cumberland,  oppofite  the 
Irifh  coah,  was  fuddenly  alarmed 
by  a  party  from  an  American  pri¬ 
vateer,  who  landed  in  the  night, 
and  fet  fire  to  one  of  the  fliips  in 
the  harbour,  withadefign  to  burn 
the  town,  which,  however,  was 
providentially  prevented  by  the  ex¬ 
ertion  of  the  inhabitants,  who  ex- 
tinguifhed  the  flames  before  they 
had  reached  the  rigging.  One  of 
the  party,  who  was  left  behind,  on 
his  examination  declared,  that  the 
party  landed  confided  of  30  men, 
that  they  belonged  to  the  Ranger 
privateer,  fitted  out  at  Pifcataqua 
in  New  England,  Capt.  Jones, 
commander  ;  that  fhe  mounted  18 
guns  befides  fwivels,  and  had  on 
board  between  140  and  150  men  j 
that  fhe  had  taken  two  prizes  and 
had  fent  them  into  France.  The 
fame  privateer  has  fince  landed 

fpm© 


CHRONICLE.  [177 


feme  men  on  the  weftern  coaft  of 
Scotland,  and  pillaged  the  houle 
of  Lord  Selkirk,  near  Kircud¬ 
bright,  of  plate,  jewels,  and  all 
the  moveables  that  were  of  value. 
His  lordfhip  was  in  London,  but 
his  lady  and  family  were  in  the 
houfe. 

Edinburgh ,  April  27. 

The  following  are  the  particu¬ 
lars  of  the  plundering  of  Lord  Sel¬ 
kirk’s  houfe  by  the  crew  of  the 
Ranger,  an  American  privateer. 

On  the  23d  of  April,  about  ten 
o’clock  in  the  morning,  30  armed 
men  came  in  a  boat  from  a  priva¬ 
teer,  of  20  guns,  and  pretending 
at  firft  to  be  a  prefs  gang,  the  men 
ftirrounded  the  houfe,  and  the  offi¬ 
cers  entered  and  defired  to  fee  the 
heads  of  the  family.  As  Lord 
Selkirk  was  then  at  London,  Lady 
Selkirk  made  her  appearance.  They 
loon  made  known  to  her  who  they 
really  were  ;  faid  they  meant  to 
have  feized  Lord  Selkirk’s  perfon, 
had  he  been  at  home,  and  to  have 
carried  him  off,  but  all  they  now 
alked  was  to  have  the  plate  of  the 
houfe.  As  there  could  be  no 
thought  of  refiftance,  this  was  at 
once  complied  with;  and  having 
taken  poffefion  of  it  they  marched 
off  and  reimbarked.  They  behav¬ 
ed  civilly,  and  only  the  officers  pre¬ 
fumed  to  enter  the  houfe,  and 
happily  her  lady  (hip  did  not  fuffier 
from  the  alarm.  It  is  worth  ob- 
ferving,  that  the  matter  of  the  pri¬ 
vateer  was  born  at  chat  place,  his 
father  having  been  gardener  to  the 
Selkirk  family.  His  real  name  is 
Paul,  though  he  affumes  that  of 
Jones,  to  veil  in  fome  meafure  his 
crimes,  for  he  has  been  guilty  of 
two  or  three  capital  and  a  rocious 
offences  in  different  parts  of  the 
Britifh  dominions. 

Vol.  XXL 


Berlin,  April  12.  On  the  5th 
inflant,  his  Majefly  reviewed  all 
the  regiments  of  our  garrifon  on 
the  plains  of  Charlottcnburgh,  and 
expreffed  the  higheft  fatisfaftion 
at  the  appearance  they  made  :  af¬ 
ter  the  review  he  addreffed  all  the 
general  officers  prefent,  among 
whom  were  his  royal  brothers,  and 
Prince  Ferdinand  of  Brunfwick,  in 
the  following  manner. 

“  Gentlemen , 

“  Moil  of  us  have  ferved  toge¬ 
ther  from  our  earliell  days,  and 
are  grown  grey  in  the  fervice  of 
our  country  ;  we  coiifequently 
know  each  other  perfectly  well ; 
we  have  borne  our  fhare  in  the  fa¬ 
tigues  and  troubles  of  war,  and  I 
make  no  doubt  but  you  are  as  un¬ 
willing  to  fhed  blood  as  I  am.  But 
my  dominions  are  now  threatened  : 
my  duty,  as  a  King,  obliges  me 
to  protect  my  fubje&s,  and  to  take 
the  in  oft  fpeedy  and  efficacious 
meafures  to  difperfe,  if  poffible, 
the  Form  that  hangs  over  them. 
To  effed  thefe  important  purpofes, 
i  rely  upon  that  zeal  for  my  fer¬ 
vice,  and  that  attachment  to  my 
perfon,  which  you  have  always  ex¬ 
preffed,  and  which  I  never  yet  fail- 
ed  to  experience  at  your  hands  ; 
and  you  may  reft  allured,  gentle¬ 
men,  that  1  fhall  ever  acknow¬ 
ledge,  with  a  heart-felt  fat  is  fac¬ 
tion,  the  fervices  that  I  am  lure 
you  will  render  to  your  King  and 
country.  But  let  me  intreat  yon 
never  to  lofe  fight  of  humanity, 
even  when  your  enemies  are  in 
your  power  ;  and  to  caufe  the  molt 
exact  uifcipiine  to  be  obferved  by 
the  troops  under  your  command. 
For  mv  part,  i  wilh  not  to  travel 
like  a  King  :  rich  and  gawdy  equi¬ 
pages  have  no  charms  tor  me  ; 
but,  infirm  as  I  now  am.,  1  cannot: 

[M)  travel 


178]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i778. 


travel  as  I  formerly  did,  when  in 
the  vigour  of  youth.  I  fhall  be 
obliged  to  ufe  a  polt-chaife,  I  leave 
you  at  liberty  to  do  the  fame  ;  but 
in  the  day  of  battle  you  fhall  fee 
me  on  horfeback,  and  I  hope  that 
my  generals  will  not  fail,  in  that, 
to  imitate  their  King.” 

After  his  Majefty  had  finifhed 
this  addrefs,  the  minifter  of  the 
war  department,  declared  that  the 
King  had  been  gfacioufly  pleafed 
to  order  prefents  to  be  made  in  the 
following  proportion  to  all  the 
officers  of  the  army,  to  enable 
them  to  equip  themfelves  for  the 
camp :  ( 

To  every  General  500  rixdollars 
To  every  Colonel  200 
To  every  Major  150 
To  every  Captain  100 
To  every  Lieutenant  80. 

To  every  Enfign  60. 

And  that  the  pay  of  all  the 
troops,  from  the  day  they  take  the 
held,  fhall  be  augmented  one 
fourth  as  well  in  money  as  in 
provifions. 

Francfort ,  April  28.  The  King 
of  Pruffia  has  actually  made  a 
movement  in  perfon  againil  the 
Emperor,  at  the  head  of  200,000 
men.  This  motion  was  made  with 
fo  much  fecrecy,  that  it  was  not 
known  till  carried  into  execution, 
as  the  following  laconic  card  left 
in  his  cabinet,  addreffied  to  the 
m miller,  fufficiently  teflifies — £ You 
will  find  money  enough  in  the 
treafury  for  the  public  fupplies  ;  I 
trull  in  God  I  fhan’t  be  long  ab- 
fent,  as  1  am  only  gone  on  a  frnall 
excurfion,  in  order  to  teach  a 
young  gentleman  in  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  his  military  exercife.— Fre¬ 
derick.’ 

Vienna ,  April  20.  The  great 
quantity  of  inovv,  which  fell  dur- 

7 


ing  24  hours  in  Hungary  a  few 
days  after  Ealter,  has  occafioned 
very  considerable  Ioffes.  In  one 
part  of  that  kingdom,  near  our 
frontiers,  20,000  fheep,  a  confi¬ 
derable  number  of  horned  cattle, 
and  fome  thoufand  of  horles  have 
perifhed. 

LENT  ASSIZES. 

At  Reading,  2  were  condemned, 
I  of  whom  was  reprieved. 

At  Winchelter  10,  2  of  whom 
being  for  murder,  received  fentence 
of  death. 

At  Northampton,  2  were  capi¬ 
tally  convicted,  but  reprieved. 

At  Salifbury,  6  were  condemned, 
but  all  reprieved. 

At  Worcester,  3  received  fen¬ 
tence  of  death,  but  reprieved. 

At  Maid  (lone,  7  pri  loners  re¬ 
ceived  fentence  of  death,  among!! 
whom  was  James  Elliot,  for  a  for¬ 
gery  on  the  bank,  who  was  found 
guilty  the  preceding  affizes,  but 
his  cafe  left  for  the  twelve  judges. 

At  Aylefbury,  5  were  condemn¬ 
ed,  3  of  whom  were  ordered  for 
execution. 

At  Lincoln,  4  received  fentence 
of  death. 

At  Gloucefter,  Elizabeth  Grim- 
mett  was  convicted  of  the  murder 
of  her  baitard  child,  and  hanged  ; 
5  other  pnfoners  received  fentence 
of  death,  of  whom  three  were  re¬ 
prieved. 

Mr.  Baron  Eyre  in  his  charge  to 
the  grand  jury  informed  them, 
that  a  plan  is  in  contemplation  for 
the  punifhment  of  criminals,  by 
confining  them  to  hard  labour  in 
work-houfes  to  be  ere&ed  for  that 
purpofe. 

At  Dorchelter,  4  received  fen¬ 
tence  of  death. 

At 


CHRONICLE. 


At  Cambridge,  3  were  found 
guilty,  and  ientenced  to  three 
years  labour  on  the  Thames. 

At  Huntingdon,  1  was  capi¬ 
tally  convicted,  but  afterwards  re¬ 
prieved. 

At  the  fame  affizes,  Ann  Stim- 
fon,  aged  10,  Vlary  Bolworth,  aged 
9,  and  Mary  Male,  aged  3  years, 
were  tried  on  an  indidment  for 
the  wilful  murder  of  Sarah  Bright, 
an  infant  not  four  years  old  ;  The 
manner  in  which  they  committed 
this  horrid  ad  was,  by  fixing  Tree 
pins  at  the  end  of  a  kick,  which 
they  thrull  into  the  child's  body, 
which  lacerated  the  private  parts, 
and  foon  turned  to  a  mortification, 
of  which  fhe  languifhed  a  few  days, 
and  then  died. — The  court  and 
jury,  after  a  very  long  trial,  thought 
they  were  non  capax  doli ,  and  ac¬ 
quitted  them. 

At  Leicester,  Elizabeth  Johnfon 
(alias  Ball)  and  her  mother,  were 
indided  for  the  murder  of  a  female 
baltard  child,  of  which  Elizabeth, 
the  daughter,  was  delivered  on  the 
13th  of  January  laft.  The  mother 
of  the  infant  was  found  guilty, 
and  immediately  received  fentcnce 
to  be  hanged  j  her  mother  was  ac¬ 
quitted. 

At  Kingfton  affizes,  (for  Surry) 
16  were  capitally  convicted ,  6  of 
whom  (ail  for  highway  robbery) 
were  executed. 

A  bill  of  indictment  was  found 
againft  a  capital  tradefman  in 
Southwark,  for  felonioufly  receiv¬ 
ing  two  punt  heons  of  runs,  know¬ 
ing  them  to  be  Itolen.  The  tradef¬ 
man  is  decamped  to  France.  He 
is  a  freeholder  to  the  amount  of 
300  K  a  year. 

Alexander  M‘Key,  was  likewife 
capitally  convi&ed,  for  ihooting  a 
lieutenant  in  the  navy,  and  his 


[179 

fentence  left  for  the  decifion  of  the 
twelve  judges. 

Joleph  Agnus,  an  Italian  mufi- 
cian,  was  alio  found  guilty  of  an 
attempt  to  commie  a  rape  on  Eliza¬ 
beth  Weichfel,  an  infant  of  about 
1 1  years  of  age,  to  whom  he  was 
godfather. 

At  Oxford,  Robert  Hitchcock, 
a  farmer  of  conliderable  property, 
at  Coombe,  near  Woodltock,  Ox¬ 
ford  (hire,  was  tried  for  the  wilfu 
murder  of  his  own  father,  con¬ 
demned,  and  hanged. 

Derby  affizes  proved  a  maiden 
one. 

At  York,  3  were  condemned. 

At  Exeter^  14  received  fentence 
of  death,  but  were  all  reprieved. 

- Philips,  a  midfhipmanj 

committed  on  fufpicion  of  mur¬ 
dering  - Collier,  at  Torbay, 

was  alfo  tried  ;  his  fentence  is  to 
be  determined  by  the  twelve 
judges. 

Ac  Coventry >  the  affizes  proved 
maiden. 

At  Shrewffiury,  7  were  con¬ 
demned. 

At  Warwick,  8  were  capitally 
con  viCTed . 

At  Stafford,  8  were  condemned 

At  Bury,  2  were  condemned. 

At  Taunton,  5  received  fentence 
of  death,  but  were  all  reprieved. 

Ac  Brecon  affizes,  one  Howell* 
a  blind  butcher,  was  convi&ed  of 
healing  table  linen,  grain,  leather. 
Sec.  Sec.  and  fentenced  to  be  im* 
prifoned  feven  years. 

At  Chelmsford,  2  were  capitally 
convi&ed.  / 

At  Thetford,  2  were  condemn* 
ed. 

Died,  Mrs.  Rofs  (the  late  cele¬ 
brated  Mifs  Fanny  Murray)  wife 
of  Mr.  Rofs  the  comedian. 

[M]  2  Hugh 


'i3o]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Hugh  Gal  foot,  Efq;  in  the  93d 
year  of  his  age,  who  failed  round 
the  world  with  Lord  Anfon. 

At  Newton  Regis,  near  Fam- 
worth,  in  Staffordlhire,  Mrs.  Eli¬ 
zabeth  Worthington,  in  the  117th 
year  of  her  age. 


MAY. 

,  Three  officers  of  the  Excife 
&  *  having  received  intelligence 

that  a  gang  of  fmugglers  would  pafs 
over  Black-friars-bridge  into  Surry 
on  Monday  morning,  between  the 
hours  of  twelve  and  two,  applied 
for  the  a  Hi  ft  an  ce  of  the  military,  in 
order  to  make  a  feizure  of  the 
goods ;  they  were  accordingly  at¬ 
tended  by  a  ferjeant  and  22  horfe 
grenadiers,  difmounted.  One  of 
the  officers,  with  three  grenadiers, 
fecured  the  gate,  while  the  re¬ 
mainder  concealed  themfelves  on 
the  London  fide  of  the  bridge,  to 
cut  off  their  retreat.  Soon  after 
two  the  fmugglers  came  upon  the 
bridge,  to  the  number  of  32,  but 
found  themfelves  Hopped,  by  the 
gate  being  fecured  ;  and  at  the 
other  end  the  grenadiers  were 
drawn  up  in  a  line,  with  their 
firelocks  and  bayonets  fixed.  The 
fmugglers,  however,  formed  in 
two  lines,  placing  their  loaded 
horfes  in  the  rear,  and  rufhing 
.upon  the  foldiers  bayonets,  broke 
through,  and  got  clear  off,  except 
one  man,  who  was  Hopped,  and 
his  goods  feized.  One  of  the  fmug- 
gler’s  horfes  dropped  down  in  the 
Old  Bailey,  being  pierced  in  fe- 
veral  places  with  the  bayonets. 
Many  of  the  others  were  wounded, 
and  one  of  the  men  had  his  leg  cut 
in  three  places..  The  grenadiers 
were  ordered  to  fire,  but  expecting 

i  1 


no  refinance,  their  pieces  were  not 
loaded.  Several  of  them  were 
hurt,  by  being  thrown  down  and 
trampled  upon  by  the  horfes.  The 
value  of  the  goods  was  fuppofed  to 
be  about  icoo  1. 

In  the  court  of  King’s-  ^ 
bench,  was  argued,  for  the  0 
laft  time,  the  queftion  refpedting 
the  poH-office,  whether  the  poH- 
m after  was  refponfible  for  any  lofs 
fuftained  in  his  department  ?  The 
adlion  on  which  this  queftion  arofe, 
was  brought  by  the  proprietor  of 
the  bank-note  for  which  Mitchel 
was  tried,  condemned,  and  exe¬ 
cuted  :  counfel  for  the  poll-office 
contended  the  aftion  was  not  main¬ 
tainable.  The  queftion  was  or¬ 
dered  to  be  argued,  and  had  been 
once  before  ably  fpoke  to  in  the 
laft  term.  After  counfel  had  yef- 
terday  finilhed  their  arguments, 
the  Earl  of  Mansfield  delivered  the 
opinion  of  the  court,  who  were 
unanimous  that  the  aftion  could, 
not  be  maintained :  thatfince  1699, 
there  was  no  adtion  brought  of  this 
nature,  though  it  was  notorious 
that  Ioffes  frequently  were  fuftain¬ 
ed  ;  that  it  was  the  opinion  of  the 
people  in  general,  that  they  could 
not  refort  to  the  poftmafter ;  to 
prove  this  to  be  the  univerlal  opi¬ 
nion,  his  lordlhip  mentioned  the 
mode  purfued  by  merchants  in 
tranfmitting  bills,  by  dividing  them 
into  two  or  three  pieces,  and  in- 
clofing  them  in  different  covers. 

There  was  a  numerous 
meeting  at  Northumberland- 
houfe,  of  all  the  nobility  and  gen¬ 
try  of  the  counties  of  Northum¬ 
berland,  Durham,  and  Newcaltle 
upon  Tyne,  to  confider  of  the  de¬ 
fence  of  the  coafts  of  thofe  coun¬ 
ties,  from  invalion.  His  grace 
opened  the  bufinefs  by  acquainting 


CHRONICLE.  [181 


tne  company,  that  there  was  too 
much  reafou  feriouHy  to  believe 
that  the  French  intended  to  flrike 
fome  ferious  blow  in  that  particu¬ 
lar  part  of  the  illand  ;  of  this,  he 
faid,  there  was  alarming  intelli¬ 
gence  ;  the  mode  of  warding  it 
off,  and  of  preparing  for  defence, 
he  fubmitted  to  the  judgment  of 
the  meeting.  After  fome  flight 
converfation,  it  was  propofed  that 
application  fhould  be  immediately 
made,  by  the  Duke  of  Northum¬ 
berland  and  Lord  Darlington,  the 
lord  lieutenants,  to  government, 
for  five  regiments,  three  of  militia, 
and  two  of  regular  regiments,  be- 
fides  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  to  be 
llationed  at  Sunderland,  Durham, 
NewcaHle,  Morpeth,  and  Alnwick, 
and  a  general  officer  to  refide  in  as 
central  a  fituation  as  poffible,  and 
two  thoufand  fupernumerary  hand 
of  arms,  two  Hoops  to  cruize  off  the 
coaft;  and  on  a  motion  of  Sir 
Charles  Hardy,  two  large  (hips  of 
war,  one  to  be  ftationed  at  the 
mouth  of  the  harbour  of  Shields, 
and  the  other  at  Sunderland.  Thefe 
meafures  were  agreed  to. 

Same  day  a  trial  of  the  pyx  of  all 
the  monies  coined  in  the  Tower 
fince  Midfummer  1774,  was  made 
at  Weflminfter  before  the  lords  of 
his  MajeHy’s  moff  hon.  privy- 
council  ;  when  the  gold  monies, 
amounting  to  above  fixteen  mil¬ 
lions  of  pounds  flerling,  were  re¬ 
ported  to  be  perfedly  agreeable  in 
Hrmnefs  to  the  Handard  trial  plates 
kept  in  the  Exchequer  for  that  fer- 
vice.  It  appeared  on  inquiry,  that 
twenty  millions  and  a  half  of  gui¬ 
neas  and  half  guineas  had  been 
coined  in  his  MajeHy’s  mint  fince 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1772. 

,  This  evening,  about  7 
*  o’clock,  a  {mall  boat,  with 


a  fail,  in  which  wer&  three  young 
gentlemen  of  Weflminfier-fchool, 
was  overfet  by  a  fudden  fquall  of 
wind  oppofite  VauxhalJ,  by  which 
accident  two  of  them  were  drown¬ 
ed  :  the  other  was  with  difficulty 
taken  up  by  a  waterman  from 
Vauxhall  Hairs.  They  prove  to  be 
the  Tons  of  Sir  Charles  Whitworth 
and  Mr.  Fenton.  Dr.  Warren’s 
fon  was  in  the  boat,  but  was  for** 
tunately  laved. 

Ye  Herd  ay  the  Houfe  of  Lords 
heard  counfel  in  the  writ  of  error 
between  John  Horne,  appellant, 
and  the  King,  refpondent. 

The  attorney  and  folicitor  gene¬ 
ral  having  finiffied  their  arguments 
for  the  crown  againH  Mr.  Horne, 
Mr.  Dunning  was  heard  in  reply 
for  the  appellant  ;  after  which  the 
chancellor,  by  dehre  of  the  Houfe, 
took  the  opinion  of  the  twelve 
judges  upon  the  cafe.  It  was  de¬ 
livered  by  Lord  Chief  JuHice  De 
Grey,  who,  in  the  name  of  the 
twelve,  pronounced  in  favour  of 
the  fentence  paffed  upon  the  ap¬ 
pellant  by  the  court  of  King’s 
Bench. 

On  the  chancellor’s  putting  the 
queHion,  that  the  fentence  he  re- 
verfed,  the  non-contents  were  20, 
and  the  contents  only  4, 

Yeiterday  the  report  was  , 
made  to  his  MajeHy  in 
council,  of  the  convids  who  receiv¬ 
ed  fentence  of  death  laH  February 
feffions  at  the  Old  Bailey,  when 
the  leven  following  were  ordered 

o 

for  execution  on  Friday  rhe  z2d 
inflant,  viz.  Edward  Lake,  011 
three  indidlments,  for  robbing  on 
the  highway  ;  Thomas  Ofborne, 
for  robbing  Terefia  Barkham  on 
the  highway  ;  Philip  Ramfay  and 
William  Murray,  for  a  burglary 
in  the  houfe  of  Jofeph  Field ;  1  ho- 
[M]  7,  mas 


iSsI  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i;7g. 


mas  Hughes,  for  fel'onioufiy  deal¬ 
ing  in  the  houfe  of  the  Couotefs 
Dowager  Morton,  48  guineas  and 
fome  apparel;  Thomas  Sherwood, 
for  forgery and  Peter  Ceppi,  alias 
Scipio,  for  forcibly  entering  the 
apartments  of  Harriet  Rnighuey, 
and  firing  a  loaded  pil'd  at  her 
I  Admiralty  Office.  Extrad 
‘  of  intelligence  received  by 
the  coramirTioners  for  executing  the 
office  of  Lord  High  Admiral  of 
Great  Britain,  in  relation  to  the 
French  fleet  lately  failed  from 
Toulon,  as  laid  before  both  hoofes 
of  parliament. 

Received  nth  April,  *778,— 
Count  D’Rliaing  is  to  fail  from 
Ti’oulon  between  the  12th  and  15th 
of  this  month,  with  ten  (hips  and 
five  frigates  ;  his  defats ation  is  not 
known,  but  it  is  imagined  he  is  to 
go  to  Bred. 

Received  15  th  April.— Count 
D’Eftaing  arrived  at  Toulon  the 
27th  pad,  with  unlimited  powers. 
Fie  has  added  two  Blips  to  his  fqua¬ 
dron,. 


Received  2 1  ft  April.* — -Since  the 
arrival  of  CoumDfEftaing  at  Tou¬ 
lon,  they  have  redoubledTheir  ac¬ 
tivity  in  order  to  complete  the  arm¬ 
ing  his  fquadron . 

Received  27  th  April. —The  whole 
of  Count  D’Eftaing’s  fquadron,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  lift,  is  in 
the  road,  and  will  fail  tomorrow. 

Count  D’Eftaing’s  fquadron 
Ships.  Guns.  Commanders. 


Le  Languedoc  90  Mr.  D’Eftaing 
Le  Tonnant  So  Brumcn" 


Le  Cefar 
Le  Zele 
Le  He  dor 
Le  Protedeur 
Le  Marfeillois 


70 

70 

70 

79 

70 


Broves 
Barras 
M  cries 
DM  pchon 
Virtrieux 


Le  Gu  errier  70  Bougainville 

Le  Vailliant  64  Chabert 


X  a  Provence  64  Champercin 

Le  Fantafque  64  Suffier 

Le  Oagittaire  50  ID’ Albert 

Frigates. 

Vefiels.  Guns.  Commanders, 

La  F  lee  he  26  Mr.  de  CaTeiiannis 


L’Aimable  26 
L’Alomene  26 
1  a  Chi  mere  26 
L3Engageante  26 
L ’Eclair  16 


Sr.  Cofine 
Bonneval 
Sr.  C  ezair 
Previll 
de  r  lotte. 


Received  27th  April,—  n  ac¬ 
count  is  received  from  Toulon,  by 
exprefs,  of  Count  D’Eftaing5  Squa¬ 
dron  having  fet  fail  the  14th  at 
four  in  the  afternoon,  with  a  fa¬ 
vourable  wind. 

Received  5th  May.-— By  the  latefl 
intelligence  the  armament  atTou- 
Ion  con  fills  of  fix  teen  (hips  of  the 
line,  eight  frigates,  and  four  large 
armed  xebecs,  which  are  fitting 
with  all  poffible  expedition.  It  is 
thought  they  may  pafs  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar  for  Cadiz  the  firit 
eafterly  wind.' 


In  the  court  of  common-council, 
the  following  letter  was  read, 
which  had  been  received  by  the 
chamberlain  from  the  fpeaker  of 
the  Houfe  of  Commons : 

“  Sir,  I  defire  you  will  return 
my  thanks  to  the  court  of  cpmmon- 
council,  tor  the  honour  they  have 
done  me,  by  making  me  a  free¬ 
man  of  the  city  of  London,  an  ho¬ 
nour  far  beyond  my  expedition. 

i(  I  had  no  other  motive  for  my 
late  condud,  than  the  faithful  dif- 
charge  of  my  duty  ;  and  upon  the 
mo  ft  careful  review  of  all  that  has 
palfed  upon  that  occafion,  1  cannot 
wifh  to  have  omitted  one  word  of 
that  fpeech  which  has  attraded 
this  extraordinary  notice  of  the 
common-council;  for,  bolides  the 
fatisfadion  wmch  I  feel  in  having 
done  vyhat  I  then  thought,  and 

m 


C  H  R  o 

ftill  think  to  have  been  right,  I 
have  had  (what  will  ever  be  to  me 
the  pride  and  honour  of  my  life) 
my  behaviour  repeatedly  approved 
by  the  general  and  almolt  unani¬ 
mous  voice  of  the  Houfe  of  Com¬ 
mons,  who  alone,  by  this  conlti- 
tution,  have  the  right  to  call  in 
queiliou  and  decide  upon  the  par¬ 
liamentary  conduct  of  their  fpeaker. 

I  am,  Sir,  your  molt  obedient, 
humble  fervant, 

F.  NORTON.” 

The  above  letter,  being  read, 
was  ordered  to  be  entered  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  court ;  and  Sir 
Fletcher  having  politely  declined 
accepting  the  gold  box,  it  was  or¬ 
dered  to  be  referved  till  a  proper 
perfon  can  be  found  to  be  prefent- 
ed  with  it. — Vid.  An.  Reg .  1 777, 
Chron.  p.  181. 

C  ,  Yellerday,  by  virtue  of  a 
1  “  ’  commiffion  from  his  Ma- 
jefty,  the  royal  affient  was  given  to 
the  following  bills,  viz. 

The  bill  to  raife  a  certain  fum  by 
loans  on  exchequer  bills  for  the 
fervice  of  1778. 

The  bill  to  indemnify  perfons 
who  have  omitted  to  qualify  them- 
felves  for  offices  within  the  time 
limited,  and  allowing  them  a  fur¬ 
ther  time. 

The  bill  to  allow  a  further  time 
for  the  inrollment  of  deeds  and 
wills  made  by  Papifts,  and  for  the 
relief  of  protellant  purchalers. 

The  bill  to  continue  and  revive 
feveral  expiring  laws. 

The  bill  to  repeal  fuch  part  of 
an  att  as  relates  to  the  manner  of 
difcharging  bonds  given  on  the  ex¬ 
portation  of  goods  to  foreign 
parts. 

The  bill  to  amend  an  a£t  for 
the  relief  of  the  poor,  fo  far  as' 
relates  to  the  apprenticing  parilh 
children. 


N  I  C  L  E.  [183 

The  bill  to  enable  the  city  of 
London  to  raife  a  fum  of  money 
for  completing  the  building  of 
Newgate,  and  for  other  public 
purpofes  within  the  city. 

And  to  feveral  other  public  and 
private  bills. 

The  RightHon.  the  F.arl  » 

ofDalhoufie,  his  Majefty’s 
Commiffioner  to  the  General  Af« 
fembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland, 
delivered  his  commiffion  to  that 
affembly,  together  with  his  Ma- 
jeity’s  letter  and  royal  warrant  for 
1000  1.  to  be  employed  for  the  pro¬ 
pagation  of  proteftant  fchools  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland.  A  com¬ 
mittee  being  appointed  to  draw  up 
an  anfwer  to4his  Majelty’s  letter, 
it  was  debated,  whether  a  claufe 
ffiould  be  inferted,  expreffing  the 
affiembly’s  concern  on  feeing  a  bill 
brought  into  parliament  for  re¬ 
pealing  thofe  laws  that  refpefl  Ro¬ 
man  Catholics,  and  praying  his 
Majefty  to  difcountenance  the 
fame,  as  tending  to  fruftrate  the 
very  purpofe  for  which  the  royal 
bounty  was  granted  ;  but  it  paffied 
in  the  negative. 

This  morning  the  fol-  , 

lowing  convicts  were  exe¬ 
cuted  at  Tyburn,  according  to 
their  fentence,  viz.  Thomas  Sher¬ 
wood,  for  forgery  ;  Edward  Lake 
and  Thomas  Gfborne,  for  highway- 
robberies  ;  Philip  Ramfay,  Wil¬ 
liam  Murray,  and  Thomas  Hughes, 
for  burglary ;  and  Peter  Ceppi, 
alias  Scipio,  for  fhooting  at  Har¬ 
riet  Knightley,  and  wounding  her 
in  a  dangerous  manner. 

This  day,  by  virtue  of  a  Q  . 
commiffion  from  his  Majef¬ 
ty,  the  royal  affient  was  given  to  the 
following  bills,  "Viz. 

The  bill  for  granting  to  his  Ma- 
jeity  a  certain  fum  qn  a  vote  of 
credit,  for  the  fervice  of  1 778. 

[M]  4  The 

t 


1 


184]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


The  bill  for  granting  to  his  Ma- 
jefty  a  certain  fum  out  of  the  fink¬ 
ing  fund. 

The  bill  for  railing  a  certain 
fum  by  loans  on  exchequer  bills. 

The  bill  to  prevent  the  clandef- 
tine  conveyance  of  fugars  from  the 
American  colonies. 

The  bill  for  the  relief  of  inlbl- 
vent  debtors. 

The  bill  for  the  more  eafy  and 
fpeedy  recruiting  his  Majeily’s 
land  forces. 

The  bill  to  enable  the  truflees  for 
different  turnpikes,  to  carry  into 
execution  fuch  ails  as  relate  to  the 
tolls  for  horfes,  &c.  employed  by 
officers  and  foldiers  on  duty. 

The  bill  to  continue  an  aft  for 
punifhing  convifts  by  hard  labour. 

The  bill  to  apply  the  fum 
granted  for  the  pay  and  cloathing 
of  the  militia. 

The  bill  for  allowing  the  ex¬ 
portation  of  certain  enumerated 
goods  direftly  from  Ireland,  to  any 
of  the  Britiffi  plantations  in  Ame¬ 
rica,  or  any  of  the  Britiffi  fettle- 
men  ts  on  the  coaft  of  Africa. 

The  bill  to  allow  the  free  im¬ 
portation  of  cotton  yarn,  manu¬ 
factured  in  Ireland,  into  any  of  the 
Britiffi  ports. 

The  bill  for  the  relief  of  pro- 
tehantpurchafersofforfeited  eftates 
in  Ireland. 

The  bill  for  relieving  his  Ma- 
jefly’s  Roman  Catholic  fubjefts, 
from  certain  pains  and  penalties 
impofed  on  them  by  an  aft  of  King 
William. 

And  to  feveral  other  public  and 

private*  bills. 

By  the  bill  for  the  relief  of  Ro¬ 
man  Catholics  above  mentioned, 
the  claufe  in  the  aft  of  William 
the  Third  for  profecu ting  of  popifh 
bifhops,  prieils,  or  jefuits,  is  to 


be  repealed;  alfo  the  claufe  for 
fuhjefting  Pa  pills  keeping  fchoola 
for  the  education  of  youth  to  per¬ 
petual  imprifonment ;  alfo  the 
claufe  that  difables  Papifls  to  in¬ 
herit  lands  bydefcent,  and  gives  to 
the  next  of  kin  (being  Proteilants) 
a  right  to  inherit  fuch  lands  ;  alfo 
the  claufe  that  difables  Papifts 
from  purchasing  manors,  lands,  or 
hereditaments,  in  England  or 
Wales  ;  but  leaves  all  lands  in  pof- 
feffion  juft  as  they  were,  and  all 
caufes  in  litigation,  as  if  this  aft 
had  never  been  made  ;  and  the  be¬ 
nefits  arifmg  from  it  are,  on  con¬ 
dition  of  taking  the  oath  of  alle¬ 
giance  within  fix  months  after  its 
Raffing  into  a  law. 

The  coach-revenue  of  lafl  year, 
amounting  to  117,0001.  fhevvs  that 
23, 000  coaches  had  paid  duty; 
allowing  three  horfes  to  every 
coach,  one  with  another,  their 
number  will  amount  to  69,000. 

This  evening  three  riding 
officers  belonging  to  the 
cuftoms,  meeting  a  man,  faid  to  be 
a  fmuggler,  near  Epfom,  endea¬ 
voured  to  Hop  him,  when  the  latter 
made  the  beit  of  his  way  to  town ; 
the  officers  purfued  him,  and  du¬ 
ring  the  purfuit,  feveral  ffiotswere 
exchanged  ;  at  length  arriving  in 
Fetter-lane,  Fleec-ffreet,  about  ten 
o’clock,  another  fkirmifh  enfued, 
when  one  of  the  officers,  who  had 
received  feveral  wounds,  ffiot  the 
fmuggler  in  the  body,  who  was 
immediately  carried  to  an  inn  in 
Holborn,  where  he  died  foon  after. 
The  coroner’s  inqueft  brought  in  a 
verdift  of  wilful  murder  againft  the 
officers. 

Ext/  a lJ  of  a  letter  from  Dublin , 
May  3 1 . 

“  On  the  1 1  th  infiant  an  aftion, 
brought  by  the  Rev,  Edward  Ber¬ 
wick, 


CHRONICLE. 


[185 


wick,  again  ft  the  Right  Hon.  John 
Hely  Hutchinfon,  Provoft  of  this 
college,  for  rejeding  the  plaintiff’s 
vote  at  the  laie  election  for  mem¬ 
bers  to  ferve  in  parliament,  was 
tried  at  the  bar  of  the  court  of 
Common-pleas,  by  a  fpecial  jury  of 
refpedable  citizens;  when,  after 
hearing  the  plaintiff’s  evidence, 
and  feveral  of  his  counfel,  the 
court,  without  hearing  any  witnefs 
on  the  part  of  the  defendant, 
having  unanimoufly  declared  that  , 
it  appeared  from  the  plaintiff’s  evi¬ 
dence  that  the  defendant  had  aded 
by  the  advice  of  counfel,  and  tnat 
therefore  no  improper  motive  could 
be  imputed  to  him,  thejuryfound 
the  defendant  not  guilty  1  he 
queftion  of.  law  relative  to  the 
plaintiff’s  right  of  voting,  was  not 
determined,  nor  was  the  charter 
of  ftatutes  on  which  that  queftion 
depended,  laid  before  the  court. 
It  appeared  in  the  courfe  of  the 
trial,  that  the  adion  was  not  fup- 
portcd  at  the  expence  of  the  plain¬ 
tiff,  but  by  contribution.  This 
was  the  firft  adion  of  that  kind 
ever  brought  in  Ireland.” 

Died,  Mrs.  Catherine  Wilfon, 
at  Car li fie,  aged  97.  Her  two 
fons  (Chriftopher  and  Jofeph  Phi- 
lipfon,  Efqrs.)  paid  her  a  vifitlaft 
fummer,  and  found  her  in  fuch 
high  health,  that  file  both  danced 
and  fang.  It  is  remarkable,  that 
ihe  retained  all  her  fenfes  in  full 
perfedion  to  the  laft.  She  lived  to 
fee  the  fifth  generation,  and  her 
eldeft  fon  is  now  faid  to  be  in  his 
g2d  year  ;  fo  that  fhe  mutt  have 
been  married  at  fourteen . 

Mrs.  Sparrow,  in  the  ioothyear 
of  her  age,  at  Lymington. 

JohnLambart,  at  Kendal,  aged 
103.  He  lived  a  fqrvant  in  one 
family  near  70  years. 


JUNE. 

A  general  embargowas  laid  „ 

I  ll* 


on  all  Ihipping  in  the  different 
fea-ports  in  Great  Britain,  on  Sa¬ 
turday  morning  laft:— -The  fame 
morning  early  about  fifty  lieute¬ 
nants  and  midfhipmen  drew  up 
their  gangs  on  'lower  hill,  after¬ 
wards  manned  fifteen  galleys,  and 
then  furrounded  every  tier  offhips, 
fo  that  no  failors  could  efcape  on 
Ihore.  All  the  tenders  were  filled 
with  men. 

A  large  American  privateer, 
mounting  16  carriage  guns,  and 
feveral  fwivels,  landed  at  Foggy- 
ton,  near  Bamff,  in  the  north  of 
Scotland,  and  plundered  MefTrs. 
Gordon’s  houfe,  carried  off  the 
plate  and  other  portable  effects  ; 
but  the  country  being  alarmed, 
they  foon  moved  off. 

The  court  of  Common-  , 
Pleas,  in  the  cafe  of  Mr. 

Swain  (the  man  imoreffed  from  the 
feryice  of  the  Navy  Board,  by  a 
warrant  from  the  Admiralty), 
have  declared,  that  when  a  free¬ 
holder  enters  into  the  profeffion  of 
a  feaman,  he  gives  up  his  right  of 
protection  from  being  irmpreffed, 
becaufe,  by  his  knowledge,  he  be¬ 
comes  eligible  to  the  fervice  of  the 
navy. 

His  Majefty  went  in  ftate  to  , 
the  Houfe  of  Peers,  arid  put  ^ 
an  end  to  the  feffions. 

Before  his  Majefty  came  to  the 
Houfe  of  Peers,  Edward  Thurlow, 
Efq;  late  Attorney-General,  took 
his  feat  by  the  title  of  Lord  Thur¬ 
low,  Baron  Afhfield;  and  after  the 
parliament  was  prorogued,  Earl 
Bathurft  went  to  St.  James’s,  and 
rengned  the  feals  into  his  Majefty’s 
hands,  which  were  immediately 
prefemed  to  Lord  Thurlow. 

T  uefday 


/ 


i86]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Tuefday  was  tried  before  Mr. 
Juftice  Blackffone,  at  Weftrninfter, 

/  an  aftion  of  trefpaffs,  brought  by 
Mr.  Davies,  hoffer,  in  New  Bond- 
fireet,  againff  Me  if.  Conffable,  Ve¬ 
nables,  and  Burton,  three  cuftom- 
houfe  officers,  for  having  entered 
his  houfe,  and  feized  (as  fmuggled) 
divers  goods  to  the  faleable  value  of 
i72l.10s.6d.  On  the  part  of  the 
defendants,  who  refted  their  cafe 
on  the  general  iffue,  it  was  urged, 
that  as  they  afted  under  an  infer- 

■J  , 

mation,  and  had  taken  things, 
which(though  not  contraband,  had 
ail  the  appearance  of  being  fe)  they 
were  not  trefpaffes  under  the  add 
of  19  Geo.  II.  which,  excufes 
officers  from  damages  when  among 
the  things  they  may  feize  any  part 
of  them  be  really  prohibited  ;  but 
as  all  the  gdods  of  the  plaintiff  in 
this  cafe  were  proved  to  Be  legal, 
and  as  the  information  was  not  in 
•writing ,  or  on  oath,  but  confided 
only  in  conjecture,  raifed  in  the 
mind  of  feme  rival  in  trade  of  the 
plaintiff’s,  the  jury,  under  the  can¬ 
did  and  conflitutional  clireftion  of 
t he j udge , con ff  dered  t he  defe n da n  ts 
as  trefpaffers  on  the  common  rights 
of  Englishmen,  and  found  a  ver- 
dift  againft  them  for  300 1.  includ¬ 
ing  the  value  of  the  goods. 

Bath ,  June  2.  On  Tuefday  I  a  It 
Mr.  Hill,  of  Marlborough,  had  a 
wen  extirpated  from  his  fhoulder, 
which  had  been  growing  many 
years,  and  weighed  upwards  of  ele¬ 
ven  pounds.  Mr.  Hill  is  in  a  very 
prom  i  fin  £  way  of  doin'?  well. 

,  Faffed  the  great  feal  ccm- 
^  ’  millions  authorizing  the  Earl 

of  Buckinghamfhire,  to  give  and 
declare  the  royal  alien t  to  the  fol¬ 
lowing  a 61  s  of  the  1  r i fh  parliament: 

An  .act  for  continuing  an  ait  for 
the' further  encouragement  of  life 
lags. 


To  explain  a  ffatute  of  Henry 
the  Vlllth,  intituled  the  Ait  of 
Faculties. 

For  the  better  prefervation  of 
ff  fh,  in  rivers,  lakes,  and  inland 
waters. 

For  the  further  encouragement 
of  the  whale  fifheries  carried  on 
from  Ireland. 

For  reviving  and  continuing  fe¬ 
ver;)  1  temporary  ftatutes. 

To  amend  an  ait  to  regulate  the 
trials  of  controverted  eleitions,  or 
returns  of  members  to  ferve  in  par¬ 
liament. 

For  the  relief  of  infolvent  deb¬ 
tors. 

For  preventing  the  cutting  or 
deftroving  of  plain,  ftained,  or 
printed  linens,  cottons,  lawns,  or’ 
muffins,  or  other  manufactured 
goods. 

For  regulating  the  price  and  af- 
ffze  of  bread,  preventing  frauds 
and  impolitions  in  the  fale  of  flour, 
meal,  beer,  ale,  potatoes,  but¬ 
cher’s  meat,  and  other  articles  fold 
by  weight  or  meafure  in  the  county 
of  Dublin. 

To  amend  and  continue  an  act 
for  better  regulating  the  baking 
trade  in  the  city  of  Dublin,  and 
for  other  purpofes. 

For  enforcing  a  due  execution  of 
the  laws,  .relative  to  turnpike  roads 
in  that  kingdom. 

To  amend  an  aft  for  amending 
the  public  roads. 

To  explain  and  amend  the  afts 
made  for  the  encouragement  of  the 
fifheries  of  that  kingdom. 

For  encouraging  the  planting  of 
timber  trees. 

For  preferving  the  health  of  pri- 
fo ners  in  gaol,  and  for  preventing 
the  gaol  di  item  per. 

1  o  oblige  ffiips  more  effectually 
to  perform  quarantine,  and  for 
better  preventing  the  plague  being 

brought 


CHRONICLE.  [1S7 


brought  from  foreign  parts  into 
Ireland,  and  to  hinder  the  fpread- 
ing  of  infection. 

hnd  to  five  private  bills. 

^  A  motion  for  railing 
2  *  300,0  o  1  by  way  of  tontine, 

at  feven  and  an  half  per  cent,  with 
increasing  intereli,  vva  made  and 
agreed  to  in  the  Inlh  Houle  of 
Commons. 

,  Laft  week,  at  the  fefiions 

7t  h  •  7 

in  the  court  of  King’s-bench, 

Weftminller-hall,  an  aftion  was 
tried  by  a  fpecial  jury  brought  for  a 
breach  of  marriage  contract.  The 
defendant  was  the  fon  of  an  emi¬ 
nent  weaver  in  Spitalnelds,  and 
the  plaintiff  a  lady  of  fome  pro¬ 
perty  in  that  neighbourhood.  It 
appeared  in  evidence,  that  the  ac¬ 
quaintance  fir  It  commenced  upon 
honourable  terms,  feveral  years 
fince  ;  but  the  lady’s  father  not  be¬ 
ing  able  to  give  a  fortune  equal  to 
the  expectations  of  the  defendant’s 
father,  the  defendant’s  father  dis¬ 
approved  of  the  match  ;  but  the 
young  couple  liking  each  other, 
continued  to  keep  company  until 
after  the  death  of  the  lady’s  father, 
who  left  her  a  fortune  at  her  own 
difpofal.  Soon  after  her  father’s 
death,  (he  went  to  live  in  one  of  her 
own  houfes  feparate  from  her  mo¬ 
ther,  where  (he  and  the  defendant 
foon  became  intimate,  and  lived 
feveral  years  as  man  and  wife,  in 
the  opinion  of  all  their  acquain¬ 
tances  ;  nay,  the  young  man’s 
father  dined  at  his  Ton’s,  where  the 
lady  fat  at  the  head  of  the  table  as 
the  wife  ;  but  a  difagreement  ari- 
fing  between  them,  the  gentleman 
availed  himfelf  of  the  lady’s  having 
no  legal  tie  upon  him,  quitted  her, 
leaving  her  with  child.  They  foon 
came  together  again,  at  which 
time  the  contract  proved  upon  trial 
\yas  made.  The  only  defence  fet 


up  by  the  defendant’s  counfel  was, 
that  his  father  did  not  confider  the 
match  prudent,  and  as  he  found 
his  fon  was  not  married,  never 
would  give  his  confent.  Earl 
Mansfield  fummed  up  the  evidence 
with  great  precifion,  and  the  jury 
retired  to  confider  of  their  verdict, 
and  in  half  an  hour  returned  into 
court,  and  gave  the  plaintiff  1 200 1. 
damage^. 

An  inquifition  was  taken 
on  the  bodies  of  two  men 
near  Lei  on,  who  were  fuffocated 
in  a  fubterraneous  place,  in  which 
was  concealed  a  large  quantity  of 
liquors.  The  men  were  mailer 
and  fervant,  the  former  of  whom 
fir  ft  went  in  to  take  out  fome  of  the 
'liquor,  but  not  returning,  the  lat¬ 
ter  followed  him,  and  he  alfo  not 
returning,  a  third  perlon  attempt¬ 
ed  to  enter,  but  was  happily  pre¬ 
vented  by  touching  the  feet  of  the 
fervant,  who  had  fallen  down  dead 
ciofe  to  his  mailer,  and  near  the 
entrance  of  the  place,  which,  from 
the  emillion  of  prodigious  damps 
and  foul  air,  appeared  not  to  have 
been  opened  for  a  confiderable  time 
pall. 

This  evening  one  Lloyd,  ^ 
in  Parker  s-lane,  Drury- 
lane,  having  had  fome  words  with 
his  wife,  pulled  a  knife  from  his 
pocket  and  {tabbed  her  in  the  neck, 
at  the  back  of  her  head,  and  after¬ 
wards  ffruck  her  on  the  forehead  : 
he  then  attempted  to  efcape,  but 
was  apprehended,  notwithilanding 
he  made  a  llouc  refiftance. — Next 
day  the  woman  died  in  the  Mid- 
dlefex  Hofpical.  The  priibner 
was  on  his  examination  touching 

O 

the  matter  when  the  news  of  her 
death  was  brought.  On  being  ac¬ 
quainted  with  it,  he  faid,  “  I 
thought  fhe  cou  d  not  have  lived 
fo  long,”  During  his  examination 

it 


\ 


*88]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


it  appeared  that  the  prifoner  and 
the  deceafed  had  dined  together 
with  feme  friends  at  their  own  room 
in  Parker’s-lane ;  that  after  dinner, 
one  of  them  had  taken  the  liberty 
to  kifs  the  deceafed,  which  was 
conlirued  by  the  prifoner  as  too 
great  freedom  ;  that  he  (lifted  his 
revenge  till  the  company  were 
gone,  and  being  fom'ewhat  intoxi¬ 
cated  with  liquor,  which  fomented 
the  rage  of  jealoufy,  perpetrated 
the  deed. 

This  morning  the  fol- 
**  *  lowing  ftx  malefadors  were 
carried  from  Newgate  and  executed 
at  Tybupn,  viz.  Francis  Lewis 
Cromifon,  alias  Grimifon,  for 
Healing  out  of  the  houfe  of  Colonel 
Edmonds,  in  Queen -fqu are.  Weft- 
minder,  where  he  was  butler,  a 
large  quantity  of  plate;  Henry 
Jordan,  William  Turner,  and  Jo¬ 
seph  Davis,  for  breaking  open  the 
houfe  of  Mrs.  Errington,  known 
by  the  name  of  Copenhagen  houfe, 
near  Iftington,  and  dealing  a  quan¬ 
tity  of  wearing-apparel,  (liver 
plate,  and  cafh  ;  James  Fryer  and 
Thomas  Horner,  for  breaking 
open  the  dweliing-houfe  of  Mr. 
Daniel  Clewin,  at  Finchley,  and 
Healing  a  filver  cup,  a  lilver  watch, 
and  feveral  other  things  of  value. 

On  Tuefday  evening  a  warrant 
from  the  oftice  of  the  Earl  of  Suf¬ 
folk  was  fent  to  Newgate,  refpit- 
jng  the  execution  of  Thomas  Con¬ 
don  (who  was  convicted  with  Fryer 
and  Horner,  of  burglary  in  the 
houfe  of  Mr.  Clewin,  at  Finchley) 
until  the  ill  day  of  July  next  ;  his 
companions  having  declared  when 
they  received  the  facramenr,  that 
he  wasnot  concerned  in  the  rob-f 
bery. 

Thomas  Condon,  who  was  to 
have  been  executed  yederday,  ob¬ 
tained  his  reprieve  through  the 


interceftion  of  a  magiftrate,  who 
received  a  letter  from  one  of  the 
unfortunate  malefadors  the  day 
before,  acquainting  him  in  the 
mod  folemn  manner,  of  the  inno- 
cency  of  Condon,  of  the  charge  for 
which  he  was  condemned. 

The  following  is  the  fubdance 
of  the  confeftion  of  Horner  and 
Fryer,  which  was  laid  before  the 
privy  council,  and  was  the  ground 
on  which  they  granted  Condon  a 
refpite. 

That  Horner,  Fryer,  Gentle¬ 
man  Harry,  alias  Sterne,  Hartley, 
and  Bean,  were  the  only  people 
concerned  in  the  robbery  at  farmer 
Clevvin’s,  and  that  Condon  and 
Jordan  were  innocent ;  but  they 
did  not  deny  Jordan’s  being  con¬ 
cerned  in  the  robbery  at  Copenha¬ 
gen  houfe.-— That  in  the  robbery 
at  Enfield-waih,  where  the  fer- 
vant  was  fo  terribly  cut,  the  gang 
confided  of  Fryer,  Gentleman 
Harry,  and  Bean  ;  that  Horner 
was  at  the  fame  time  in  Clerken- 
well-bridewelJ,  as  a  diforderly  pri¬ 
foner  ;  and  that  Fryer  brought  him 
five  guineas,  being  his  (hare  of  the 
booty,  as  he  was  to  have  been  con¬ 
cerned  in  the  robbery  ;  and  that 
Fryer  was  the  pej-fon  who  cut  the 
fervant.  U 

Lad  week  the  purchafe  of 
the  Opera  Houfe  was  com¬ 
pleted  ;  M.eflrs.  Harris  and  Sheri¬ 
dan  paying  down  io,oooL  to 
MelTrs.  Yates  and  Brookes,  and 
giving  fecurity  for  the  remaining 
twelve. 

The  following  unfortunate  ac¬ 
cident  happened  lately  at  farmer 
French’s,  at  Stanmore,  in  Mid- 
dlelex:  A  number  of  nay-makers 
and  labourers  having  taken  their 
repofe,  as  it  is  common  in  the 
country  in  hot  weather,  under  the 
fide  of  a  hay-rick,  containing  about 


CHRONICLE. 


fixty  loads,  the  rick,  by  over¬ 
weight  at  the  top,  overfet  upon 
them,  and  fmothered  them.  Three 
women,  one  man,  and  a  child, 
have  been  got  out  dead. 

The  following  is  an  authentic 
account  of  the  fummer  encamp¬ 
ments  : 

Salijhury.  id,  2d,  3d,  and  6th 
dragoon  guards. 

St.  Edrnundjlury .  3d,  4th,  7th, 

and  10th  dragoons. 

Coxheath ,  Kent.  1  A  battalion  of 
royals,  2d,  14th,  18th,  59th,  and 
65th  regiments  of  foot,  id  regi¬ 
ment  of  dragoons,  and  twelve  re¬ 
giments  of  militia. 

War  ley  Common ,  Ej/ex.  6th,  25th, 
and  69th  regiments  of  foot,  and  fix 
regiments  of  militia,  viz.  the  So- 
merfet,  Wilts,  Kent,  Carmarthen, 
Glamorgan,  and  Pembroke. 

Winchester  30th  regiment  of 
foot,  fix  regiments  of  militia. 

Three  regiments  of  militia  at 
Plymouth,  two  ditto  at  Portfmouth, 
and  one  at  Dover. 

Vienna ,  June  10.  By  letters  from 
Moldavia  we  iearn,  that  the  Hof- 
podar  of  that  principality,  lately 
raided  to  that  dignity,  did  not  long 
enjoy  it,  the  Grand  Signior  having 
fent  a  perfon  to  demand  his  head, 
which,  it  is  faid,  was  executed 
without  any  obflacle.  The  good 
underdanding  and  harmony  be¬ 
tween  that  prince  and  Rufiia,  has 
been  the  chief  caufe  of  his  death. 

Diej),  at  her  apartments  in  Ox- 
ford-flreet,  Mifs  Mary  Lydia  Lu- 
crine,  a  maiden  lady  of  genteel 
fortune,  and  who  fome  years  fince 
meeting  with  a  difappointment  as 
to  matrimony,  made  a  vow  tf  ne¬ 
ver  to  fee  the  light  of  the  fun 
again  accordingly  the  windows 
of  her  apartments  were  clofely  diut 
up,  and  (he  flrickly  kept  her  refo- 
lution, — A  few  days  ago,  another 


[1% 

lady,  who  had  refolved  <c  never  to 
fee  the  light  of  day  again,”  from 
a  matrimonial  difappointment* 
lived  fhut  up  in  darknefs  (at  leaft 
(he  had  only  a  lamp  or  candle 
burning)  in  Charter-houfe-ftreet ; 
and  this  lady,  like  the  above, 
rigidly  kept  her  maiden  vow. 

The  Rev.  James  Hampton,  at 
Knightfbridge,  Reftor  of  More- 
Monkton,  and  of  Folkton,  in 
Yorkihire,  and  well  known  to  the 
learned  world  for  his  tranflation  of 
Polybius. 


JULY. 

A  court  was  held  at  the  a 
Eafl-India  Houfe  in  Leaden- 
hall-Areet,  when,  among  other 
matters,  it  was  moved  and  carried* 
that  the  next  dividend  be  eight  per 
cent,  on  the  whole  flock,  fubje& 
to  the  determination  of  the  pro¬ 
prietors.  > 

The  chairman  was  much  prefled 
to  read  a  copy  of  a  letter  from 
the  Nabob  of  Arcot  (the  original 
of  which  was  in  the  pofleflion  of 
Lauchlin  Macleane,  Efq;  who,  it 
is  fuppofed,  is  gone  to  the  bottom 
in  the  Swallow),  but  oppofed  the 
motion  with  all  his  power,  and  got 
the  better  of  it.  The  purport  of 
the  letter  is  faid  to  be  a  declaration 
of  the  Nabob  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  the  Company,  and  fubmit  him- 
ieif  as  a  tributary  to  the  King  of 
Great  Britain,  confefling  no  other 
fuperior,  and  determining  in  fu¬ 
ture  to  pay  no  price  for  the  Com¬ 
pany’s  protection 

Same  day,  at  the  final  clofe  of 
the  poll  at  Guilohail  for  chamber- 
lain,  the  numbers  were,  for  Benja¬ 
min  Hopkins,  Efq;  1216;  and  for 
John  Wilkes,  Efq;  287;  majority 

929* 


Cam - 


i9o]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Cambridge.  “  The  prizes  of  fif¬ 
teen  guineas  each,  given  by  the  re- 
preferitatives  in  parliament  for  the 
univerhty,  for  the  bell  eh  ays  in  La¬ 
tin  profe,  are  this  year  adjudged  to 
Mr.  Gretton  of  Trinity,  and  Mr. 
Wakefield  of  jefus  College,  Senior 
Batchelors;  and  to  Mr.  Rennel  of 
King’s,  and  Mr.  Taylor  of  Bennet 
College,  Middle-Batchelors.” 

The  feveral  depositions  on 
the  part  of  Earl  P — cy,  in 
a  libel  for  a  divorce  againii  his 
lady,  were  read  in  the  confiftory 
court  of  Doctors  Commons,  when 
Dr.  Bettefworth  pronounced  im¬ 
mediately  for  a  divorce. 

,  Farenheit’s  thermometer, 

*  on  Sunday  lall,  in  town,  and 
an  eaHern  afpeft  in  the  fliade,  at 
half  paft  one,  was  at  785  ;  at  three 
was  at  79,  where  it  remained  till 
the  thunder  ftorm,  after  which  it 
fell  about  two  degrees.  Thefe  ob- 
fervations  were  made  on  a  very 
cor  reft  inftrument,  which  Food 
near  a  window  which  was  open  ; 
the  gulls  of  wind  which  occafionally 
entered,  were  as  hot  as  if  it  had 
come  from  a  furnace. 

Ip fatt eh*  July  n.  Tuefday  the 
2^d  ult.  an  exhibition  was  made 
at  LoweftofF  of  the  new  invented 
lamp  to  give  light  to  fhips  out 
at  fea.  It  confills  of  above  1000 
fmall  mirrors,  fed  by  oil,  which 
refieft  the  light.  It  anfwered  be¬ 
yond  expeftation,  and  is  much  fu- 
perior  to  the  prefent  light-houfes. 
A  Ihip  was  fent  out  to  fea,  when 
the  people  on  board  favy  it  many 
minutes  before  they  could  the 
light-houfe;  at  four  leagues  diilance 
it  appeared  like  a  globe  of  fire  in 
the  air. 

.  Sir  AlexanderLeith,  Bart. 
*7  and  member  of  parliament, 
furrendered  himfelf  at  the  bar  of 
the  Old  Bailey,  to  take  his  trial 


on  a  capital  indiftmenton  the  pro* 
fecution  of  Benjamin  Pope,  Efq* 
before  the  fudge1'  Nares  and  Bul- 
ler.  Mr.  Pope  being  examined  by 
Serjeant  Davy,  counfel  for  Sif 
Alexander  Leith,  kept  the  court 
in  a  continual  laugh  ;  it  appeared 
from  his  own  confeffion,  that  Sir 
Alexander  Leith  had  inftituted  di¬ 
vers  luits  in  law  and  equity  againii 
him,  previous  to  his  criminal  com¬ 
plaint;  and  that  thofe  fuits,  or  the 
dread  of  their  confequence,  gave 
birth  to  the  prefent  profecution  * 
for  on  his  being  a  Iked,  If  he  did 
not  rely  on  Sir  Alexander’s  con- 
viftion  as  the  only  means  of  bar¬ 
ring  the  feveral  fuits  againii  him  ? 
he,  to  the  aftonilhment  of  the  whole 
court,  calmly  replied.  That  he 
had  been  told,  if  Sir  Alexander 
was  hanged,  the  fuits  would  abate. 
Here  the  bench  reprobated  the  pro¬ 
fecution  in  terms  of  the  utmoH  fe- 
verity,  and  mentioning  fomething 
relative  to  the  profecution  to  Mr. 
Bearcroft,  counfel  for  the  profecu¬ 
tion,  he  inllantly  replied,  “  If  I 
am  alked  the  queftion  by  the 
bench,  I  declare  there  is  not  a  fha- 
dow  of  caufe  for  the  profecution. 
Here  the  bufinefs  clofed,  and  the 
bench  granted  Sir  Alexander  a 
copy  of  his  indiftment. 

[The  indiftment  charged  Sir 
Alexander  with  felonioufiy  Heal¬ 
ing,  taking,  and  carrying  away,  a 
quantity  of  plate  and  houfehold 
furniture.  There  was  alfo  a  fe- 
cond  count  in  the  indiftment, 
charging  Sir  Alexander  with  horfe- 
flealing,  viz.  felonioufiy  Healing, 
taking  and  carrying  away  three 
horfes,  the  above  plate,  houfehold 
furniture,  and  horfes,  being  the 
property  of  Benjamin  Pope,  Efq;] 

An  indiftment  was  tried  in  the 
court  of  King’s  -bench,  on  the  pro¬ 
fecution  of  Mr.  Davis,  againii  the 

Governor 


CHRONICLE.  [i9t 


Governor  and  Council  of  Bengal, 
for  falfe  imprifonment,  and  lend¬ 
ing  him  home  to  England.  He 
proved  his  cafe,  and  his  authority 
from  the  company.  The  defence 
fet  up  confilied  of  three  parts  ; 
firft.  That  he  was  concerned  in  a 
conlpiracy  in  1776;  this  was  ad¬ 
vanced  bv.counfel,  but  not  pr-oved  ; 
the  fecond.  That  his  licence  was  to 
trade  as  a  mariner  only,  and  not 
to  intermeddle  in  the  inland  trade  ; 
and  the  miftake  in  his  licence  was 
not  a  julfification,  as  his  petition 
was  for  liberty  to  trade  as  a  mari¬ 
ner,  and  not  to  trade  as  a  mer¬ 
chant  ;  the  third  ground  of  j unifi¬ 
cation  was,  the  conflrudion  of  the 
katute  j u iti lied  the  company’s  fer- 
vants  taking  up  any  Englifhman  in 
the  dominionsof  an  Indian  prince, 
where  we  had  no  fettlement  ;  this 
the  company’s  counfel  infilled  they 
had  a  right  to  do.  Lord  Manf- 
field  faid.  That  the  lafl  j  unifica¬ 
tion  was  of  the  utmoll  importance 
to  the  company,  and  if  the  jury 
found  that  the  profecutor  had  acted 
in  India  contrary  to  what  he  knew 
he  fhould  have  done,  then  the 
queiiion  of  conflrudion  fhould  be 
referved  for  the  opinion  of  the 
judges.  The  jury  found  for  the 
profecution. 

,  The  feflions  ended  at  the 
2wt  '  Old  Bailey,  when  thirteen 
prifoners  received  judgment  of 
death,  twelve  were  fentenced  to 
hard  labour  on  the  river  Thames, 
twelve  to  hard  labour  in  Bridewell, 
four  to  be  imprifoned  in  Newgate, 
iixteen  branded,  twelve  to  be  whip¬ 
ped,  and  fifteen  difcharged  by  ad 
of  parliament. 

Lyon  Lyons,  convided  in  Ja¬ 
nuary  feffions  of  (hooting  at  Tho¬ 
mas  Goodall,  received  judgment 
mi  death. 


A  caufe  came  on  in  the 
court  of  Common-Pleas, 
Guildhall,  before  I. ord  Chief  Juf- 
tice  JDe  Grey,  wherein  Capt  Ni- 
cholls  was  plaintiff,  and  Governor 
Verelk,  and  feme  inferior  officers, 
defendants.  The  adion  was  for 
falfe  imprifoning  the  Captain  at 
Calcutta,  on  charge  of  carrying  cn 
a  trade  which  they  deemed  illegal. 
'The  trial  began  at  nine  o’clock  in 
the  morning,  and  laked  till  after 
five  in  the  evening.  The  jury 
withdrew  about  three  quarters  of 
an  hour,  when  they  returned  with 
a  verdid  for  the  plaintiff. 

At  a  burying-place  called 
Ahade,  in  the  county  of  Donegal, 
in  Ireland,  there  was  lately  dug  up 
a  piece  of  fiat  ilone,  about  three 
feet  by  two,  the  device  on  which 
was  a  figure  of  death,  with  a  bow 
and  a~row,  fnooting  at  a  woman 
with  a  boy  in  her  arms  ;  and  un¬ 
derneath  was  an  infeription  in  Irifii 
charaders,  of  which  the  following 
is  a  j  ufl  tranfiation  : 

“  Here  are  depofited,  with  a  de- 
fign  of  mingling  them  with  the  pa¬ 
rent  earth,  from  which  the  mortal 
part  came,  a  mother  who  loved  her 
fon  to  the  deftrudion  of  his  death. 
She  clafped  him  to  her  bofom  with 
all  the  joy  of  a  parent,  the  pulfe  of 
whofe  heart  beat  with  maternal 
affedion  ;  and  in  the  very  moment 
whilft  the  gladnefs  of  joy  danced  in 
the  pupil  of  the  boy’s  eyes,  and  the 
mother’s  bofom  fwelled  with  tranf- 
port — Death’s  arrow,  in  a  flafh  of 
lightening,  pierced  them  both  in  a 
vital  part,  and  totally  difi’olving 
the  entrails  of  the  fon,  without  in¬ 
juring  his  (kin,  and  burning  to  a 
cinder  the  liver  of  the  mother, 
fent  them  out  of  this  world  at  one 
and  the  fame  moment  of  time,  in 
the  year  of  Chrik  1343.” 

23d.  The 


i9i]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


,  The  following  are  fome 
*  j  of  the  mifchiefs  done  by  the 
late  terrible  ftorms  of  lightening, 
&c. — A  barn  belonging  to  the  rec¬ 
tory  farm  at  Hampton,  in  Cam- 
bridgeihire,  was  fet  on  fire  and 
con  fumed,  together  with  twenty 
quarters  of  wheat,  ten  quarters  of 
beans,  a  new  cart,  feveral  ploughs, 
and  other  implements  of  hulban- 
dry.™~.A  man  was  ftruck  dead  near 
Battle-bridge.— Four  cows  belong¬ 
ing  to  Mrs.  Laycock,  of  iflington, 
grazing  in  a  field  near  the  New 
River  refervoir,  were  all  ftruck 
dead.— -Seven  fheep  and  a  heifer 
were  found  dead  on  Hounflow 
Heath.—- At  Hanwell  and  at  Lale- 
ham  a  great  deal  of  damage  was 
done,  feveral  barns  being  fet  on 
£re. — jft  Weybridge,  in  Surry,  a 
man  and  his  two  daughters  were 
liruck  dead. —  The  turret  dock 
upon  Mr.  Green’s  houfe,  brewer, 
at  Pimlico,  was  fet  on  fire  and  de- 
ftroyed;  but  by  the  timely  aftift- 
ance  of  the  engine  on  the  premiffes, 
further  mifchief  was  prevented.— 
One  Cheaphoufe,  a  carpenter  at 
Lambeth,  driving  a  horfe  over  St. 
George’s  Fields,  in  order  to  draw 
a  piece  of  timber,  was  liruck  dead. 
— As  Mr.  Nelme,  jeweller,  at' 
Clerkenwell,  was  crolfmg  his  own 
yard,  he  was  ftruck  fpeechlefs,  and 
continued  in  that  ftate  about  feven 
hours,  when  he  began  by  degrees 
to  recover,  but  remains  exceeding 
weak  by  the  violent  fhock  he  re¬ 
ceived.- — A  youngwoman  big  with 
child,  going  along  Thames- ilreet, 
was  ftruck,  and  taken  in  labour  in 
the  ftreet.  Some  people  humanely 
put  her  into  a  coach,  and  went 
with  her,  in  order  to  convey  her 
home  to  Lambeth,  but  (he  died 
without  being  delivered,  juft  be¬ 
fore  ihe  reached  the  place  cf  her 


abode. — At  Millington  Hofpital, 
near  Shrewfbury,  it  enceied  the 
roof  of  an  apartment  where  no  per- 
fon  was,  melted  the  pewter,  broke 
ail  the  earthen  ware,  &c,— We 
hear  from  Ofweftrv,  that  it  en- 
tered  the  kitchen  of  a  carrier  of 
that  town,  and  killed  a  maid  wjho 
was  rocking  the  cradle  with  a  child 
in  it ;  but  though  feven  more  peo¬ 
ple  were  in  the  fame  room,  notone 
of  them  was  hurt.— A  barn  be¬ 
longing  to  a  farmer  at  Shepperton, 
caught  fire  by  a  flafti,  and  was  con- 
fumed,  as  were  feveral  loads  of 
hay.— A  cottage,  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  above  place,  was 
alfo  burnt  down  by  the  fame  acci¬ 
dent.— A  hay-ftack  belonging  to  a 
farmer  on  Epping-foreft,  was  fet 
on  fire  and  entirely  con  fumed.—*  A 
man,  his  wife,  and  two  children. 
Handing  at  the  door  of  a  houfe  at 
Chigwell,  in  EfTex,  were  all  ftruck 
dead. 

All  deferters  from  any  of  ^ 
the  military  corps,  are  in  fu-  3 
ture  to  be  fent  to  the  Eaft  Indies, 
or  the  coaft  of  Africa,  for  life  :  — 
this  new  regulation  has  been  read 
at  the  head  of  every  regiment  in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  by  his 
Majefty’s  order. 

There  is  now  growing  in  the 
garden  of  Charles  Leigh,  Efq;  of 
Addington,  in  Lancafhire,  a  fer-. 
pent  melon,  which  meafures  ill 
length,  five  feet  two  inches  and  an 
half.  The  fruit  of  this  curious 
plant,  grew  to  the  above  length  in 
fourteen  days,  and  for  a  week  paft 
has  continued  increafing  in  thick- 
nefs. 

Ip/nuicb ,  July  3  1.  On  Saturday 
a  gang  of  Smugglers,  confifting,  as 
was  reckoned,  of  140  men,  landed 
a  large  quantity  of  tea,  and  other 
dry  goods,  which  they  loaded  into 

27  cans, 

d 


CHRONICL  E. 


27  carts,  near  Orford  ;  they  alfo 
had  with  the  above  carts  two  other 
carts,  which  contained  56  half¬ 
ankers  of  fpirits.  As  they  were  on 
the  road  not  far  from,  and  leading 
to,  Melton,  they  were  overtaken 
by  Med’.  Planner,  Brock,  Burdett, 
and  three  other  officers  of  excife, 
who  began  to  feize  the  fore  mod 
carts,  and  a  fmart  fcuffie  enfued  ; 
but  the  great  fuperiority  of  the 
numbers  of  the  fmugglers,  forced 
the  officers  foon  to  deiiil  from  their 
attempt  to  feize  the  dry  goods, - 
with  which  the  fmugglers  got  clear 
off.  However,  the  two  carts,  and 
56  half-ankers  of  fpirits,  fell  into 
the  officers  hands,  and  are  fafely 
lodged  in  the  Cuftom-houfe. 

Died,  at  a  village  near  Read¬ 
ing,  John  Jackfon,  aged  93,  and 
James  Jackfon,  aged  87.  Thefe 
two  brothers  were  old  bachelors, 
and  afforded  a  ftriking  indance  of 
the  inefficiency  of  wealth  to  create 
happinefs.  Though  thefe  old  men 
had  been  bled  with  great  riches 
ever  ft  nee  they  were  20  years  of 
age,  they  abfolutely  denied  them- 
felves  the  common  neceffaries  of 
life  ;  and  lived  in  the  village  for 
fifty  years  pad  as  poor  men,  and 
often  accepted  of  charity  from  rich 
perfons  who  redded  near  them  ; 
they  never  buffered  any  woman  or 
man  to  come  into  their  apartment ; 
(which  was  only  one  ffiabby  room) 
and  about  three  weeks  ago  were 
both  taken  ill,  and  after  languiffi- 
ing  a  fhort  time,  they  expired  on 
the  fame  day,  within  an  hour  of 
each  other.  It  is  computed  by  their 
writings,  that  they  have  died  worth 
an  hundred  and  fifty  thoufand 
pounds. 

In  his  130th  year.  John  Watfon, 
Keeper  of  Lime  park,  Cheffiire. 
Vol.  XXL 


[‘93 

At  Paris,  aged  1 20,  Henry  d’Ar- 
cary  de  Beaucovoy,  Lord  of  Co- 
viemont,  Knight  of  the  order  of 
St.  Louis,  Governor  of  Beau- 
quefne,  &c. 

In  the  pariffi  of  Kinnef,  in  Scot¬ 
land,  Ifabel  Guthrie,  aged  105; 
Ihe  had  three  hulbands,  the  iaft  of 
whom  fhe  faw  chriftened  in  her  fe- 
cor.d  hufband’s  time  fhe  kept  a 
public  houfe  in  that  pariffi  ever 
lince  the  year  1690. 

Letter  from  Smyrna ,  July  3. 

This  day  the  city  of  Smyrna,  , 
the  richeft  city  in  the  Levant,  after 
being  kept  in  continual  agitation, 
by  a  fucceffion  of  ffiocks  from  the 
2,5th  of  June,  was  thrown  into 
univerfal  concern ation  by  the  mofi 
violent  earthquake  ever  known  in 
that  part  of  the  world.  Many 
houfes  were  deflroyed,  together 
with  four  mofques,  and  three  pub¬ 
lic  baths,  and  many  people  buried 
in  the  ruins  ;  forty  men  were  bu¬ 
ried  by  the  fall  of  one  mofque, 
fome  of  whom  were  dug  out  alive 
twenty- four  hours  after;  between 
feven  and  ten  in  the  morning  were 
two  more  violent  ffiocks,  which  were 
followed  by  twenty-four  others  ; 
between  that  time  and  midnight 
the  next  day  (the  4th)  the  earth 
ffiook  again  five  or  fix  times,  but 
lefs  violent  than  the  day  before  : 
every  ffiock  was  preceded  by  a 
fubterraneous  noife,  like  the  report 
of  cannon.  The  5th  was  a  more 
terrible  day  than  the  preceding 
ones.  The  earthquakes  began  on 
that  morning  at  half  an  hour  pall 
one,  and  the  earth  was  not  ftill  one 
moment  till  eight  o’clock  ;  during 
that  fpace  there  were  nine  violent 
ffiocks,  which  threw  down  wails 
and  houfes,  and  caufed  a  fire  which 
lalted  twenty-eight  hours ;  and  as 
[iVJ  ther* 


194]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778.' 


there  were  thirteen  other  fhocks 
before  midnight,  no  fuccour  could 
be  given  towards  putting  a  Hop  to 
the  progrefs  of  the  flames ;  every 
one  endeavoured  to  make  his 
efcape ;  many  of  thole  who  ftaid 
to  take  away  their  effects  were 
crufhed  in  ruins  of  houles  ;  every 
building  was  confumed  as  far  as 
St.  Venerando,  when,  there  being 
nothing  more  to  burn,  the  lire 
Hopped  in  the  mountains ;  more 
than  half  the  city,  and  all  the 
richer  quarter  of  it,  is  burnt  down  ; 
the  houfes  of  the  French,  Engliih, 
Neapolitan,  Venetian,  and  Ragu- 
fan  Confuls,  were  confumed  among 
thereil;  and,  what  was  more  ter¬ 
rible,  three  dervres,  or  places  built 
on  purpofe  to  fee u re  things  from 
jSre,  were  burnt  down,  which  was 
never  known  to  have  happened  be¬ 
fore,  and  they  were  full  of  valua¬ 
ble  effects ;  and  many  magazines 
were  confumed,  Notwith Handing 
thefe  calamities,  there  were  people 
who  had  villainy  enough  both  to 
be  incendiaries  and  thieves.  The 
defoiation  is  beyond  conception, 
and  the  damage  fo  great  that  it  is 
much  doubted  whether  this  city 
will  ever  recover  it.  It  is  a  moll: 
fliocking  fight  to  fee  the  neigh¬ 
bouring  mountains  covered  with 
people  of  all  nations  wanting  the 
neceffaries  of  life  ;  and  their  fitua* 
tion  is  the  more  deplorable,  as  the 
magazines  of  wheat,  rye,  barley, 
coffee,  &c.  are  burnt. ” 

SUMMER  ASSIZES. 

At  Northampton  t  condemned, 
but  afterwards  reprieved. 

At  Guildford  <-,-—2  of  whom, 
viz.  JolhuaCrompton,  for  forgery  ; 
And  R  Pendleton,  for  the  murder 
of  EG  wife,  were  executed. 

4 


At  Abingdon  c,  2  reprieved  * 

At  Winchefler  5,- — 3  reprieved. 

At  Kingflon  upon  Hull  1  fo? 
coining. 

At  Huntingdon  2 ;  but  re» 
prieved. 

At  Salifbury  1 —  reprieved. 

At  York  i — -reprieved. 

At  Maidlfone  5  —2  reprieved. 

At  Lincoln  4 — all  reprieved. 

At  Nottingham  2— reprieved. 

At  Derby  1 — reprieved. 

At  Shrewfbury  2, — -1  reprieved. 

At  Exeter  1. 

At  Chelmsford  8,-— 4  of  whom 
were  executed. 

At  Warwick  5,— 2  of  whom 
(women)  for  the  murder  of  their 
children,  were  executed. 

At  Glouceiler  6— -reprieved. 

At  Hereford  1  for  murder  exe¬ 
cuted. 

Hertford,  Leicefter,  and  Wor- 
cefter  proved  maiden. 


AUGUST. 

Friday  lad,  about  eleven  ,, 
o’clock,  during  a  violent  1 
florrfi  of  thunder  and  lightning,  as 
a  team  of  fix  oxen  belonging  to 
farmer  Fincott,  of  Saddle  wood,  in 
the  parilh  of  Hawkefbury,  were  at 
work  in  Treffam  Field,  the  whole 
team  in  an  in  Han  t  was  ftruck  dead 
by  a  flalh  of  lightning.  The  boy 
who  was  driving  them  had  flopped 
the  beads,  and  was  Handing  by 
way  of  ihelter  clofe  by  the  middle¬ 
men  ox  ;  he  was  rendered  infenfi- 
ble  for  fame  time,  but  afterwards 
recovered.  One  of  the  yokes  was 
fplintered,  and  it  is  fuppofed  that 
the  chain  ferved  as  a  conduflor  to 
the  lightning.  The  boy’s  back 
was  Angularly  marked*  the  light¬ 
ning  had  perforated  his  coat  in  two 

different 


C  H  R  O  N  I  C  L  E.  [i95 


different  parts,  and  left  five  places 
in  his  back  where  the  fkin  was 
crafed,  about  the  fize  of  a  fhilling, 
and  had  the  appearance  of  a  burn 
from  gunpowder. 

i  Came  on  before  Earl 

^  *  Mansfield,  at  Guildhall,  an 
action  brought  by  the  city  againft 
the  fruit-people  of  Kent,  Effex, 
Berkffiire,  &c\  for  refuling  to  pay 
is.  8d.  for  landing  their  goods  at 
Blackfriars  hairs  ;  when  after  two 
hours  hearing  the  city  was  non- 
fuited. 

The  court  of  feffion  of  Scotland 
have  lately  determined  a  caufe  of 
great  importance  to  the  public. 
The  proprietors  of  the  bank  of 
Douglas,  Heron,  and  Co,  having 
loll  their  whole  capital  paid  in,  a 
demand  was  made  upon  them  fome 
time  ago  of  300I.  more  upon  each 
fhare  ;  this  was  refufed  to  be  paid 
by  fome  of  the  proprietors,  upon 
the  grounds,  that  they  were  not 
liable  for  more  than  their  (lock, 
and  that  great  partof  their  lofs  was 
occafioned  by  the  directors  borrow¬ 
ing  money  on  annuities,  which 
they  had  no  power  to  do.  To  this 
it  was  replied,  that  the  directors 
had  full  power  to  borrow  money 
for  the  ufeof  the  company  ;  but  at 
any  rate  the  creditors  of  the  com¬ 
pany  inuft  be  paid,  in  whatever 
manner  the  directors  and  proprie¬ 
tors  might  fettle  the  matter  betwixt 
themfelves  afterwards.  The  court 
unanimoufly  found  the  proprietors 
obliged  to  pay  the  additional  call 
of  300 1.  each  fhare,  and  aifo  found 
them  liable  in  coifs  of  fuit. 

,  Mr,  Thomas  Linley,  a 

'  celebrated  performer  on  the 
violin,  and  eldeft  fonofMr.  Lin¬ 
ley,  one  of  the  proprietors  of 
Drury-lane  Theatre,  fell  out  of  a 
boat  into  a  lake  belonging  to  his 


Grace  the  Duke  of  Ancafter,  at 
Grimfthorpe,  in  Lincolnihire,  and 
was  unfortunately  drowned.  He 
remained  under  water  full  forty 
minutes,  fo  that  every  effort  made 
ufe  of  to  reftore  him  to  life  proved 
ineffectual. 

Laft  year  there  were  upwards  of 
400  lottery-offices  in  and  about 
London  only ;  but  the  late  aCt 
obliging  the  keepers  of  them  to 
take  out  licences  at  the  expence  of 
50 1.  the  whole  number  at  prefent 
for  all  England,  as  appears  by  the 
lift  publifhed  by  authority,  amounts 
to  no  more  than  51. 

This  day  died,  raving  mad, 
the  only  daughter  of  Mr. 
Grading,  a  wine-merchant,  in 
Thames-lfreet ;  who  was  bit  by  a 
favourite  cat  about  three  weeks  ago. 

This  morning  about  five 
o’clock,  by  virtue  of  an  in¬ 
formation,  fome  cuftom-houfe  offi¬ 


cers,  affilted  by  a  file  of  mufque- 
teers,  entered  the  Fleet  Prifon,  in 
fearch  of  run  goods,  on  which  the 
prifoners  were  much  alarmed,  and 
fome  little  refinance  was  made  ; 
but  after  the  foldiers  had  knocked 
two  or  three  of  them  down,  they 
retired,  and  left  them  to  fearch  for 
the  goods.  Previous  to  their  go¬ 
ing,  the  officers  had  obtained  leave 
from  the  Chief  Juflice  of  the  Com¬ 
mon-Pleas,  to  enter  with  their 
arms  to  prevent  any  mifchief  being 
done  to  them  by  the  prifoners. 
The  feizure  confided  cf  2491  lb, 
weight  of  tea,  1874  lb.  weight  of 
coffee,  feveral  large  bags  of  cho¬ 
colate,  weighing  1020  lb.  and  a 
large  quantity  of  lace,  worth  about 
1500  1.  The  way  thefe  contraband 
articles  were  got  into  the  above 
prilon,  was  by  ladders  raifed  on 
the  outfide,  and  the  goods  let  down 
on  the  infide,  but  not  for  the  ufe  or 
[iVJ  2  benefit 


196]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


benefit  of  any  of  the  prifoners,  ex¬ 
cept  what  they  got  for  warehoufe- 
room  from  the  Smugglers,  who  for 
a  long  time  pail  have  fecreted  ar¬ 
ticles  in  the  above  prifon  to  a  very 
large  am,ount. 

Norwich)  Aug.  11.  This  day  a 
very  interefting  caufe,  refpefting 
common  rights,  was  tried  between 
Henry  Wells,  of  Banham,  plain¬ 
tiff,  and  Thomas  Wading,  of 
Winfarthing,  defendant,  on  an 
aftion  brought  by  the  plaintiff,  on 
behalf  of  himfelf  and  the  other  in¬ 
habitants  of  Banham,  againfl  the 
defendant,  for  his  keeping  and 
depart  tiring  upon  the  large  wafte 
called  Banham  Heath,  a  very  con- 
fiderable  number  of  fheep  more 
than  he  could  keep  levant  and 
Couchant  upon  the  lands  in  his 
occupation  ;  when,  after  a  hearing 
cf  three  hours,  the  jury  found 
a  verdift  for  the  plaintiff,  with 
damages  and  coils. 

Same  day  parted  the  great  feal  a 
commifiion  impowering  the  lords 
of  the  Admiralty  to  iffue  letters  of 
marque,  alfo  authorizing  them  to 
fend  like  powers  to  the  Governors 
of  the  Leeward  Ifiands,  and  in  the 
Wert  Indies, 

The  fame  time  a  commirtlon 
parted  the  great  feal  empowering 
the  High  Court  of  Admiralty  to 
condemn  fuch  prizes  as  fliall  be 
taken  from  the  French. 

^  This  morning  a  terrible 
*  fire  broke  out  at  farmer  Au¬ 
ger’s,  at  Waltham  bury  Farm  in 
EfTex,  occafioned  by  a  rtack  of  hay 
being  put  up  too  foon,  which  en¬ 
tirely  confumed  the  fame,  together 
with  the  barns,  rtables,  out-houfes, 
granaries,  all  the  waggons,  carts, 
ploughs,  See.  two  horfes,  and'  the 
produce  of  i  ro  acres  of  corn  un- 
thrdhed.  The  damage  is  com¬ 


puted  at  3000 1.  and  upwards.  The 
dwelling-houfe  and  furniture  are 
faved. 

the  court  of  fertion 
of  Scotland  determined  a 
caufe  of  great  importance  to  the 
liberty  of  the  fubjeft.  The  law 
regarding  recruiting,  to  prevent 
perfons  being  trepanned,  when 
drunk.  See.  humanely  gives  a  cer¬ 
tain  time  for  thofe  who  are  inlirted 
to  get  off,  upon  returning  the  in¬ 
lifting  money,  and  what  is  called 
the  fmart  money.  It  has  been 
doubted  whether  the  time  allowed 
by  aft  of  parliament  is  twenty- four 
hours  or  four  days.  Three  per¬ 
fons  who  had  taken  the  inlifting 
money,  had  offered  to  return  it, 
with  the  fmart  money,  on  the  third 
day,  which  was  refufed,  as  it  was 
alledged  it  ought  to  have  been  re¬ 
turned  within  twenty- four  hours. 
This  gave  rife  to  the  prefent  aftion. 
The  court  unanimoufty  gave  the 
caufe  in  favour  of  the  three  men, 
and  eftablifhed  this  important 
point,  that  any  perfon  inlifted  may 
be  fet  at  liberty,  upon  returning 
the  money  within  four  days. 

On  Saturday  a  French 
fignalment,  or  hue  and  cry 
was  received  at  the  Public  office  in 
Bow-ilreet,  from  the  Lieutenant- 
general  of  the  police  at  Paris,  giv¬ 
ing  an  account  of  a  moll  horrid 
murder,  committed  by  a  fellow 
whofe  furname  is  Richard,  and  a 
woman  whofe  name  is  Serard,  or 
Suer,  with  a  particular  defeription 
of  their  perfons.  The  murder  they 
committed  is  perhaps  beyond  ex¬ 
ample  ;  after  having  poifoned  her 
hulband,  in  concert  with  the  above 
Richard,  in  order  to  put  him  out 
or  the  way,  that  he  might  not  be  an 
interruption  to  their  criminal  cor- 
refpondence  j  he  had  fcarcely  been 

buried 


f 


C  H  R  0-N  I  C  L  E. 


buried  before  they  formed  the 
hellifli  defign  of  poifoning  live 
children,  the  offspring  of  the  above 
Richard-  This  infernal  purpofe 
they  completed,  and  poifoned  every 
one,  with  fo  firong  a  potion,  that 
they  fwelled  inftantly  beyond  cre¬ 
dibility,  and  died  in  a  few  hours 
in  the  molt  excruciating  torments; 
the  eldeft  was  a  line  young  girl  of 
about  feventeen,  and  the  youngelt 
about  three  years  of  age,  all  of 
whom  were  buried  together  in  one 
grave,  at  Lalande  upon  Maine. 
Although  the  firidleft  fearch  has 
been  made  all  over  France,  and 
the  conquered  countries,  yet  thefe 
detefiabie  beings  haveefcaped  that 
juftice  due  to  crimes  as  accumu¬ 
lated  as  they  are  monlirous. 

R  j  Laft  week  Mrs.  jobnfon, 
1  *  of  Thames-ltreet,  coming 

over  Moorfields,  found  a  pocket- 
book  containing  bank  notes  to  the 
amount  of  icool.  which  fhe  carried 
to  Mr.  Drummond,  banker,  at 
Charing-crofs,  when  he  generoufly 
gave  her  50 1.  for  her  honefty. 
And  the  next  morning  the  fame 
gentlewoman  found  a  gold  watch 
belonging  to  Mr.  Drummond’s 
brother,  which  fhe  carried  home, 
and  received  a  reward  of  20I. 

, ,  In  the  Weft-India  iflands 
*  there  has  been  fome  difiurb- 
ance  about  the  King’s  duty,  which 
Hands  thus:  four  and  a  half  per 
cent,  is  to  be  paid  to  the  crown  out 
of  all  fugarsand  rum  exported  from 
the  iflands.  The  ufual  method 
has  always  been,  to  pay  in  rum 
and  fugar,  the  former  of  which  was 
ufually  fold  on  the  ifland,  and  the 
latter  fent  to  England  to  be  dif- 
pofed  of.  Hogfiieads  of  fugar  are 
eileemed  at  12  cwt.  though  fome 
run  as  fax  as  13,  14,  and  fome- 
times  15  cwt,  yet  the  duty  was  al- 


r 1 97 

ways  paid  reckoning  them  at  1 2  cwt. 
Sometimes  the  fugar  was  not  fo 
good  as  that  for  which  it  was  paid, 
and  on  the  paffage  to  England  ac¬ 
cidents  have  happened  by  weather 
and  leakage  ;  to  prevent  any  lofs 
in  future,  and  to  make  the  utmoff 
of  the  duty,  a  collector  on  a  certain 
ifland  has  refufed  to  accept  the  fu- 
gars,  as  formerly,  at  an  efiimate, 
but  infills  upon  a  full  four  and  a 
half  per  cent,  agreeable  to  what  is 
f  lipped.  The  planters  have  there¬ 
fore  agreed  not  to  (hip  any  till  the 
matter  is  fettled  on  the  old  founda¬ 
tion  and  ufage  ;  and  we  are  happy 
to  hear  that  this  matter  will  be 
fhortly  fettled,  as  Admiral  Barr, 
rington  carried  over  infirudlions  to 
receive  the  duty  as  heretofore  it 
has  been  accuftomed  to  be  re¬ 
ceived. 

There  is  now  growing  in  a  gen¬ 
tleman’s  garden  at  Spondon,  near 
Derby,  a  cucumber  that  meafures 
19  inches  in  length,  and  30  in 
circumference.  It  is  fuppofed  to 
weigh  near  20  pounds,  and  is  ftill 
in  a  thriving  Hate.  There  are 
others  on  the  fame  bed,  which, 
though  not  fo  large,  are  neverthe- 
lefs  of  an  amazing  fize. 

There  is  alfo  now  growing  in  a 
garden  belonging  to  Mr.  Richard 
Hobcraft,  in  the  parifh  of  Buck- 
nail,  in  the  county  of  Oxford,  a 
thiflle  called  the  Card u us  Bene- 
didtus,  which  meafures  above  feven 
yards  in  circumference,  is  upwards 
of  feven  feet  high,  and  has  upon  it 
more  than  120  heads. 

A  remarkable  in  fiance  of  the 
fury  of  difappointed  love  mani- 
fefied  itfelf  in  the  defperate  attempt 
ofoneEmpfon,  a  footman  to  Dr, 
Bell,  on  the  life  of  a  maid-fervant 
belonging  to  Lord  Spencer.  The 
fellow',  having  courted  her  for  feme 
[N]  3  tin\9 


I9S]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778; 


time  in  vain,  at  laft  caufed  the 
banns  to  be  put  up  in  church, 
without  her  confent,  which  Ihe 
forbade.  Being  thus  difappointed, 
he  meditated  revenge ;  and  having 
got  a  perfon  to  write  a  letter  to  her 
appointing  a  meeting,  he  contrived 
to  Way-lay  her  and  lurprize  her  in 
Lords  Spencer’s  park  :  on  her 
fcreaming,  he  difcharged  a  loaded 
piftol  with  intent  to  kill  her,  and 
then  made  his  efcape.  The  ball 
wounded  her,  but  not  mortally. 

The  following  are  the  particu¬ 
lars  of  the  evidence  on  which  Mary 
Knight  was  convi&ed  of  the  wilful 
murder  of  her  elded  fon.  The 
only  witnefs  was  a  younger  brother. 
The  dory  the  boy  told  was  credi¬ 
ble  :  That  the  deceafed  was  fent 
into  a  field  to  glean  ;  that  when  he 
came  home  his  mother  beat  him 
with  a  great  flick,  for  not  bringing 
more  corn  ;  that  he  cried  fadly, 
nod  (he  flint  him  up  in  the  pantry  ; 
that  fome  time  after  the  witnefs 
called  him  to  come  to  play,  but 
lie  made  no  anfwer  ;  that  he  open¬ 
ed  the  pantry  door,  and  took  hold  of 
his  hand  ;  that  it  felt  cold  ;  that  he 
told  his  mother  that  Roger  (the 
deceafed)  felt  cold,  and  afked  her 
to  let  him  come  to  the  fire;  that 
his  mother  went  into  the  pantry, 
brought  Roger  wrapped  up  in  her 
apron,  and  carried  him  out  of 
doors  ;  that  he  looked  under  the 
door,  and  faw  her  throw  him  into 
the  well ;  that  when  Ihe  came  in 
again  (he  put  the  flick  (he  had  beat 
him  with  into  the  fire ;  that  before 
st  was  burnt  out  the  neighbours 
came  in,  and  took  the  deceafed  out 
of  the  well,  and  the  flick  out  of  the 
fire,  which  laft  was  produced  in 
court.  On  this  evidence,  and 
ifiefe  circnmfianees,  the  woman 


is  faicl  to  have  been  convicted  and 
executed. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  the  French 
King  to  the  Count  a  Qr-uilliers . 

V 'erf allies ,  Aug.  1 » 
ei  I  have  received.  Sir,  with  the 
greatefl  joy,  the  news  of  the  com¬ 
bat  which  you  havefuftained  again  ft 
the  English  fleet ;  and  am  exceed¬ 
ingly  pleafed  to  find  that  by  your 
prudent,  conduct,  and  excellent 
manoeuvres,  you  have  juftified  the 
choice  I  have  made  of  your  naval 
abilities.  I  defire  you  will  let  the 
officers,  and  all  your  Teamen  in 
general  know,  that  their  gallant 
behaviour  has  met  with  my  full 
approbation.  I  fincerely  fee!  for 
the  wound  of  Mr.  JDuchaflauIt, 
but  I  hops  that  it  will  have  no 
dangerous  confequence,  and  that 
he  will  boon  be  able  to  profecute  his 
good  fervices.  I  have  given  ftrifl 
orders  that  every  proper  care  fnould 
be  taken  of  the  wounded,  and  I 
defire  you  to  allure  the  widows,  as 
well  as  the  relations  of  the  de¬ 
ceafed,  that  I  am  extremely  grieved 
for  their  lofs. 

tc  M.  de  Sartine  (hall  impart 
you  my  further  orders,  and  I  have 
every  reafon  to  believe  that  they 
will  be  executed  with  fuccefs. 

(Signed)  •«  LOUIS.” 

Paris ,  Aug.  21.  This  day  the 
pregnancy  of  the  Queen  of  France 
was  publickly  declared,  and  re¬ 
ceived  with  all  the  ufual  rejoicings 
and  demonflrations  of  joy. 

Died,  at  his  houfe  in  Chif- 
well-flreet,  Mr.  William  Gallon, 
to  whofe  (kill  and  ability,  added  to 
the  ingenuity  and  invention  of  his 
father,  (dead  twenty  years  fince,) 
Great  Britain  is  indebted  for  the 
fuperiority  flie  enjoys  over  every 
/  ''  country; 


1 

CHRONICLE.  [199 


country  on  the  face  of  the  globe  in 
the  art  of  letter-founding ;  an  art 
obvioufly  and  eflentially  important 
to  a  nation,  whofe  great  and  glo¬ 
rious  charafleriftic  is  the  freedom 
of  its  prefs  !  Letter  founding  was 
firll  pra&ifed  with  reputation  and 
fuccefs  in  England,  by  Mr.Caflon’s 
father  ;  mice  his  death  it  has  been 
brought  to  wonderful  perfeflicn  by 
his  fon.  Before  the  art  wasdifcover- 
ed  by  Mr,  Gallon’s  father,  we  had 
allour  printingtypes  from  Holland, 
and  other  parts  of  the  continent  ; 
fince  hi?  difcovery,  the  moll  elegant 
editions  of  our  moll  valuable  au¬ 
thors,  as  well  as  thofe  of  other 
countries,  have  been  printed  at 
home  and  abroad  on  Englifh  letter ; 
and  of  late  years  it  has  been  uni- 
verfally  confelTed  that  the  mod 
beautiful  types  the  world  has  pro¬ 
duced,  have  been  call  in  the  foun- 
dery  in  Chifwell-dreet. 

Capt.  Maurice  Suckling:  he 
commanded  the  Dreadnought  in 
that  very  memorable  engagement, 
when  three  Englilh  men  of  war, 
under  the  command  of  Commo¬ 
dore  Forreft,  defeated  a  fquadron  of 
{even  French  men  of  war  off  Cape 
Francois,  in  October,  1757- 

William  Lee,  Efq;  chief  clerk 
on  the  pleas  fide  in  the  court  of 
King’s  Bench,  by  whofe  death  a 
place  of  4000 1.  a  year  is  become 
vacant,  the  appointment  to  which, 
for  two  lives,  rells  with  the  Earl  of 
M  ansfield. 

At  York,  aged  87  years,  Mr. 
Thomas  Gent,  printer,  citizen  of 
London,  York,  and  Dublin,  au¬ 
thor  of  the  Antiquities  of  York, 
Hull,  Ripon,  &c. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Barnardillon, 
mader  of  Bennet  College,  Cam¬ 
bridge,  principal  librarian  of  that 
xiniverfity,  re&or  of  Folmodedon, 


in  Norfolk,  and  one  of  the  pre¬ 
bendaries  of  Lincoln. 


SEPTEMBER. 

The  following  fingular  ^ 
tranfadlion  happened  lad 
week  in  the  city:  —  One  Watts,  a 
clerk  to  MefT.  Bartlett  and  Co.  at 
Edinburgh,  having  got  1600  1.  in 
his  pofleffion,  the  property  of  his 
mader,  1000 1.  of  which  was  a 
draft  on  Melfrs.  Hog  and' Co.  of 
Foder-lane,  Cheapfide,  London, 
payable  on  fight,  to  a  Mr.  Mont¬ 
gomery,  fat  off  from  Edinburgh 
on  Wednefday  lad,  with  the  cafh 
and  draft,  and  arrived  in  town  on 
Saturday  morning.  When  he  got 
to  the  corner  of  Foder-lane,  he 
accoded  a  perfon  with  ‘  Sir,  will 
you  be  fo  gude  as  to  dire£t  me  the 
ftraightgait  toMaider  Hog’s,’  pul¬ 
ling  a  paper  out  of  his  pocket.  I 
don’t  rightly  underhand  you.  Sir, 
faid  the  perfon  ;  you  feem  to  be  a 
foreigner  ;  let  me  fee  the  paper. 
On  reading  it,  he  faid.  Oh,,  Sir, 
you  want  Mr.  Hog’s,  in  Foder- 
lane?  ‘  Yes,  Sir,  (laid  Watts)  it 
is  Maider  Hog’s  ;  do  you  ken  the 
houfe?’  I’ll  (hew  you.  Sir,  faid 
the  man,  and  directly  took  him  to 
the  houfe,  while  Watts  prefented 
the  draft  for  1000 1.  and  faid  his 
name  was  Montgomery.  His  kind 
conductor,  however,  happened  to 
be  Charles  Jealous,  one  of  Sir 
John  Fielding’s  men,  who  was 
waiting  in  the  ftreet  with  others, 
in  hopes  of  meeting  with  the  raw 
Scotchman,  which  he,  luckily  for 
Melfrs.  Bartlett  and  Co.  did,  and 
on  fearching  him,  found  the  other 
6©ol.  all  but  9  1.  fpent  in  travel¬ 
ling  expences.  This,  being  in 
law  called  a  breach  of  trud,  the 
[N]  4  note 


200]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 


note  and  cafh  was  taken  from  Mai¬ 
ler  Watts,  in  the  prefence  of  his 
siaUer  Mr.  Bartlett,  who  happily 
got  to  town  time  enough  to  give 
proper  information  at  Bow-ftreet, 
and  thereby  fayed  his  property. 
Extract  of  a  letter  from  P  ortfmoutb , 
September  7. 

“  Early  on  Monday  morning  it 
was  difcovered  at  Forton  prifcn, 
near  Gofport,  that  fifty- feven  pri- 
foners,  all  Americans,  had  ef¬ 
fected  'heir  efcape  in  the  night. 
Immediately  the  picquet  guard 
from  Weovill  camp,  icoured  the 
coaii  and  country,  and  the  alarm 
was  made"  as  general  as  poilibie,  fo 
that  it  is  hoped  they  will  (bon  be 
retaken.  The  black-hole  in  which 
the  refractory  have  been  confined, 
is  immediately  under  the  room 
where  the  other  prifoners  deep  ; 
thofe  in  the  dungeon  had  for  feve- 
ral  days  under  mined  and  worked  a 
fubterraneous  paffage,  which  led 
beyond  the  v/all  that  indoles  the 
prifon,  fo  that  they  had  only  to 
open  the  ground  upwards  into  the 
country,  where  they  knew  there 
was  no  guard  to  di (cover  them.  A 
hole  fufhcient  to  admit  a  man 
through,  was  made  from  the  ceil  ¬ 
ing  of  their  bed-room  down  to  the 
black  hole  ;  by  which  they  had  con¬ 
veyed  up  the  rubbifh  brought  from 
the  working  below,  fome  of  which 
they  had  put  into  their  beds,  and 
fome  into  the  chimney,  and  the 
hole  was  eafily  covered  over  with  a 
bed  when  any  perfon  came  into  the 
room,  to  prevent  any  fufpicion  of 
their  intention.  The  prifon  is  by 
no  means  adequate  to  the  purpofes, 
and,  if  continued,  ought  to  be  in- 
dofed  with  a  very  high  wall,  fome 
difiance  from  the  houfe. 
if  be  following  is  a  Qofj  of  the  Letter 

fcnt  by  Mr*  Oliver s  in  anftwer  to 


the  Requeft  of  bis  Friends ,  to  ft  and 
for  the  Mayoralty  for  the  enfuing 
2  ear. 

ft  Gentlemen, 

“  I  AM  extremely  forry  that  the 
fituation  to  which  extreme  roilcon* 
dud,  and  extreme  infatuation, 
have  at  length  red  ucedthis  country, 
confirains  me  to  return  your  obli¬ 
ging  compliment  an  abfolute  and 
firm  refalal  of  the  honour  you  pro- 
pofe,  by  your  intended  nomination 
of  me  at  Michaelmas. 

Inftead  of  taking  upon  me 
any  further  trufi,  (  muft  propofe  to 
refign  back  into  the  hands  of  my 
fellow  citizens,  thofe  trufts  with 
which  they  have  already  honoured 
me -1  mean  my  gown  as  an  al¬ 
derman  of  London,  and  my  dele¬ 
gation  as  one  of  their  reprefenta- 
tives  in  parliament.  The  greateii 
part  of  my  property  is  veiled  in  the 
once  flourifhing  Weft-  India J  Hands, 
a  part  of  the  remaining  colonies, 
which  firll,  I  hope,  continue  to  be¬ 
long  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain. 
But  in  whatever  pofteffion  they  may 
now  or  hereafter  be,  the  precarious 
fiateof  that  much  injured  properly, 
will  fpeedily  demand  my  prefence, 
and  it  never  was  my  intention  to 
hold  an  office,  and  neglect  the  du¬ 
ties  by  abfence.  My  cafe  in’  this 
refped,  is  only  fimilar  to  that  of 
many  perfons  more,  whofe  proper¬ 
ty  is  fituated  as  mine  is  ;  and  thofe 
who  feem  leaft  willing  to  admit  it, 
will  find  at  laft  that  there  is  a  re¬ 
ciprocal  duty,  and  that  allegiance 
will  always  go  together  with  pro¬ 
tection  andjuftice. 

“  In  every  part  of  the  world  I 
(hall  always  carry  with  me  a  grate¬ 
ful  remembrance  of  the  honour 
conferred  upon  me  by  the  good 
opinion  and  confidence  of  my  fel¬ 
low-citizens,  and  fhall  quit  a  coun- 


[201 


CHRONICLE, 


try  in  which  I  have  been  To  ho¬ 
noured,  with  the  deeped  regret — a 
regret  which  receives  no  allevia¬ 
tion,  but  what  is  furnifhed  by 
thofe  who  have  caufed  the  neceffity 
of  quitting  it. 

1  am.  Gentlemen,  with  the 
greateft  eileem  and  gratitude. 

Your  much  obliged, 
and  faithful  humble  fervant, 
Margate ,  Richard  Oliver.” 
Sept.  6,  1778. 

ith  Camp  at  Coxheath,  This 
1 1  *  day  was  appointed  for  the 

execution  of  Bryant  Sheridan,  who 
was  fentenced  to  be  fhot.  The 
picquet  guard  of  every  regiment, 
marched  early  in  the  morning  to 
the  right  of  the  dragoons,  and 
formed  two  battalions  about  200 
yards  from  each  other,  with  their 
flanks  again!!  a  fmall  wood  ;  par¬ 
ties  of  dragoons  paraded  to  keep 
perfons  from  entering  the  wood, 
and  about  ten  o’clock  every  regi¬ 
ment  formed  in  the  front  of  their 
lines  ;  the  foldiers  on  the  quarter- 
guards  were  drawn  out  on  the  rear 
of  their  guard,  by  which  means 
there  was  a  lane  of  foldiers  from 
one  end  of  the  camp  to  the  other. 
About  twelve  o’clock  the  proceflion 
began  from  the  bottom  of  the  left 
wing,  as  follows : 

Ten  pioneers. 

Major  on  horfeback. 
Grenadier  company. 

Provolt  on  horfeback. 

Chaplain  on  horfeback. 

Prifoner. 

Six  men  appointed  to  flioot  him. 

Cart  to  receive  the  body. 

Colonel. 

The  royal  Irifh  regiment,  forming 
a  hollow  fquare,  with  the  drums 
(muffled)  and  fifes  playing  the 
dead  march  in  SauJ,  in  the  cen¬ 
tre. 


Adjutant. 

They  marched  up  the  centre  of 
the  parade,  and  round  the  end  of 
the  dragoons,  at  which  place  the 
Welch  regiment  were  formed. 
When  the  proceffion  reached  the 
place  where  the  piquet  guards 
were  drawn  out,  it  wheeled,  and 
marched  up  between  the  two  bat¬ 
talions,  and  halted  in  the  centre. 
The  prifoner  then  had  a  cap  put 
on,  and  the  chaplain  began  pray¬ 
ing  to  him  :  after  a  fmall  time 
l'pent  in  prayer.  General  Keppei 
arrived,  and  immediately  fpoke 
aloud,  to  the  following  purport: 
“  The  prifoner,  Bryant  Sheridan, 
has  been  tried  for  defertion,  found 
guilty,  and  fentenced  to  be  fhot; 
but  his  Majefty  has  been  gracioufly 
pleafed  to  pardon  him,  on  condi¬ 
tion  that  he  do,  as  foon  aspoffible, 
tranfport  himfelf  to  Senegal,  and 
there  ferve  his  Majefty  for  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  his  life.”  The  prifoner 
immediately  kneeled  down,  re¬ 
turned  thanks,  and  was  directly 
conduced  to  the  Provoft’s. 

The  prifoner  marched  with  great 
fortitude,  and  we  hope  the  pro- 
ceffion '  had  a  good  effect  on  the 
minds  of  the  men  in  general. 

A  few  days  fince,  as  fome  la¬ 
bourers  were  at  work  in  a  bean- 
field  at  Sudbury  green, near  Thrap- 
ltone,  in  Northamptonfliire,  they 
difcovered  a  great  quantity  of 
fmall  coin  fcattered  over  the  fur- 
face  of  the  ground,  and  in  digging 
found  many  more  buried  beneatn 
it.  On  examination,  they  proved 
to  be  filver  pieces,  of  a  penny  and 
a  halfpenny  value  each,  and  to 
have  been  coined  in  the  reigns  of 
Edward  I.  and  II.  at  London, 
York,  Canterbury,  and  divers 
other  parts  of  the  kingdom,  parti¬ 
cularly  at  Hadley,  in  Suffolk,  and 

at 


208]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


ftt  Chefter,  the  coinage  of  which 
latter  place  is  fcarce,  There  were 
amongft  them  a  conliderable  num¬ 
ber  of  Scotch  pennies  in  filver,  the 
coin  of  Alexander,  and  John  Ba- 
liol.  Kings  of  Scotland,  and  feve- 
ral  Irilh  pieces  of  the  fame  value, 
which  appear  to  have  been  made 
at  Dublin  and  Waterford,  in  the 
reigns  of  the  before-mentioned 
Kings  of  England. 

t  4  The  feffions,  which  be- 
gan  at  the  Old  Bailey  on 
the  1 6th,  ended,  when  the  fol¬ 
lowing  convi&s  received  fentence 
of  death  :  Fr.  De  Idle,  for  fteal- 
ing  jewels,  & c.  to  a  considerable 
©mount,  in  the  dwelling-houfe  of’ 
the  Hon.  Henry  Neville,  Efq. 
George  G  pod  win,  and  jofeph 
Green,  for  a  robbery  in  the  Five 
Fields,  Chelfea ;  James  Durham, 
for  horfe- Healing ;  John  Frede¬ 
rick  Ludovick  Qiebeihanfen,  for 
fhop  lifting  5  John  Jones,  a  hrick- 
maker,  for  a  rape  on  a  girl  not  ten 
years  of  age,  who  worked  with 
him  ;  Margaret  Fiilftone,  for  deal¬ 
ing  divers  articles  from'  the  dwel- 

O  a 

ling-houfe  of  Thomas  Hunt,  in 
Spital-fields ;  Patrick  Boyle,  fora 
jobbery  near  Shad  well  Work¬ 
men  fe ;  James  Farmer,  for  a  bur¬ 
glary  at  Chelfea  ;  Francis  M‘ Caw¬ 
ley,  for  dreet  robbery. 

At  the  above  fedions,  Thomas 
jRobinfon  was  convicted  of  feloni- 
cully  killing  and  flaying  Frances 
Pickwell,  a  woman  with  whom  he 
cohabited,  and  in  a  fudden  quarrel 
threw  at  her  a  pair  of  Jciffafs, 
which  penetrated  an  artery  in  the 
left  fide  of  the  neck,  of  which  die 
died  in  a  very  fhort  time. 

.  The  grand  dock  at  Hull, 
*  faid  to  be  the  larged  in 

o 

England,  was  opened  for  the  re¬ 
ception  of  fhips0 


Came  on  at  the  palace  of  ^  , 
Holyrood-houfe,  in  Scot- 
land,  the  election  of  a  peer  of  that 
kingdom  in  parliament,  in  the 
room  of  Lord  Vifcount  Irvine, 
deceafed;  when  John  Marquis 
of  Lothian,  was  unanimoufly  cho- 
fen. 

Near  500  of  Lord  Sea-  - 
forth's  Highland  regiment, 
who  had  deferred,  had  taken  pof- 
fedion  of  Arthur’s  Hill,  near  Edin¬ 
burgh,  with  a  dedgn  to  defend 
themfelves  to  the  lad  extremity  ; 
but  the  prudent  application  of 
Gen.  Oughton,  and  other  leading 
officers,  perfuaded  them  to  return 
to  their  duty,  on  promife  of  free 
pardon.  They  had  been  led  to 
believe  that  they  were  to  be  fold  to 
the  Eaft-India  company. 

This  day  the  lord  mayor  and 
court  of  aldermen  met  at  Guild¬ 
hall,  to  fwear  into  the  office  of 
fheriffs  for  the  city  of  London  and 
county  of  Middlesex,  John  Burnell, 
Efq,  and  Henry  Kitchen,  Efq. 

Yefcerday  being  Michael-  ^  ^ 

mas  Day,  the  lord  mayor,  3 
aldermen,  fheriffs,  &c.  mejt  in  the 
council  *  chamber  at  Guildhall, 
■whfen  the  common  ferjeant  came 
forward,  and  opened  the  bufinefs 
which  called  them  together  that 
day. 

Sir  Wat  kin  Lewes  then  came 
forward  on  the  Hudings,  and  ad- 
dreffed  the  liyery  to  the  following 
purport  : 

ss  Gentlemen,  and  fellow  citizens, 

ee  I  was  called  on  this  day,  by  a 
very  refpeftable  body  of  the  livery, 
to  offer  myfelf  to  this  great  £nd 
important  city,  which  is  in  a  very 
dangerous  fituatkm  at  this  time, 
as  we  are  engaged  in  a  war  with  two 

o  o 

powers,  and  that  things  grow  worfe 
and  worfe  every  day,  which  makes 

h 


CHRONICLE.  [203 


it  neceflary  for  you  to  be  very  cau¬ 
tious  in  your  choice. ” 

After  which  Mr.  Baker  came 
forward,  and  addreffed  the  livery, 
afluring  them,  that  fhould  Mr. 
Oliver  refign  his  feat  in  parlia¬ 
ment,  his  intentions  were  to  offer 
himfelf  a  candidate  to  reprefent 
this  city;  and  it  he  Ihould  be  ho¬ 
noured  with  their  choice,  would 
pay  the  greateft  attention  to  the 
welfare  of  this  city  in  particular, 
and  the  nation  in  general  ;  which 
was  received  with  (hoots  of  joy 
throughout  the  hall.  He  then 
made  a  motion,  that  an  addrefs  of 
thanks  be  delivered  to  Frederick 
Bull,  Efq.  John  Saw  bridge,  Efq. 
Richard  Oliver,  Efq.  and  George 
Haley,  Efq.  representatives  of  this 
city,  for  the  diligent  and  upright 
attention  they  have  paid,  during 
their  feats  in  parliament,  to  the 
duties  of  their  office. 

All  the  aldermen  below  the 
chair,  who  had  ferved  the  office  of 
fheriff,  were  then  put  up,  to  ferve 
the  high  office  of  lord  mayor,  when 
the  Ihow  of  hands  appeared  for 
Alderman  Plumb,  and  Alderman 
Kennet,  who  were  returned  to  the 
court  of  aldermen  for  their  elec¬ 
tion  of  one  of  them,  when  they 
made  choice  of  Alderman  Plumb, 

and  he  was  declared  duly  elected  : 

/ 

being  invented  with  the  chain,  &c 
he  made  a  lhort  fpeech  to  the 
livery,  thanking  them  for  the  ho¬ 
nour  they  had  conferred  upon  him, 
and  affuriog  them  that  he  would, 
to  the  uttnoft  of  his  abilities,  exe¬ 
cute  the  duties  of  his  office  with 
honour  and  integrity. 

Con [l  ant  inop  Ip.,  A ug .  3.  The 

plague  continues  to  render  our 
jituation  in  this  capital  very  dif- 
agreeable,  which  has  induced  moil 
of  the  merchants  to  go  into  the 
country,  fo  that  trade  here  is  en¬ 


tirely  at  a  (land.  This  diforder 
rages  as  violently  as  it  did  in  the 
year  1751,  and  is  computed  to 
have  carried  off'  upwards  of  80,000 
people  in  this  capital. 

Died,  Thomas  Towers,  Efq. 
of  the  inner  Temple,  who  has,  by 
his  laft  will,  left  a  legacy  of  1 500  1. 
to  the  corporation  of  the  Marine 
Society,  in  Bifhcpfgate-ffreet,  by 
which  that  truly  patriotic  body 
will  be  enabled  to  purfue  the  great 
objeSl  of  their  deligns :  their  finan¬ 
ces  being  much  reduced  by  their 
having  cloathed  near  1500  land- 
men  volunteers,  and  near  400 
diftreffed  boys  for  his  Majefty’s 
navy,  fince  the  month  of  April 
laft,  renders  this  affiilance  peculi¬ 
arly  ferviceable. 


OCTOBER. 

The  parliament,  which  ^ 
flood  prorogued  to  Thurfday 
the  firft  of  October,  is  further  pro¬ 
rogued  to  Thurfday  the  26th  of 
November  next,  then  to  fit  for  the 
difpatch  of  bulinefs. 

A  letter  from  Plymouth,  dated 
Sept.  29,  fays,  This  day  arrived 
the  Porcupine  man  of  war,  Capt. 
Finch,  and  has  taken  and  brought 
in  La  Modefte,  a  French  Eaft-In- 
diaman  of  1000  tons,  richly  laden 
from  China. ” 

La  Modelle  was  parted  in  a 
gale  of  wind  from  three  other 
French  Eaft-Indiamen,  about  four 
days  before  fhe  was  taken.  As 
the  frigates  belonging  to  Admiral 
Keppel’s  fleet  were  all  out  cruizing 
for  them,  their  efcape  would  be 
an  almoft  impofiibility.— The  Por¬ 
cupine  (loop  was  on  her  voyage' 
from  Lifbon  for  England,  when 
ff;e  fell  in  with  the  above  (hip. 
Her  lading  chiefly  con  fids  of  tea, 
and  her  value  is  eftimated  at 

300,000  L 


204]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


300,000!.  fieri ing  ;  150,000!.  of 
which  money  has  been  underwrote 
by  theEngliih  underwriters. 
Thefolloswing  is  the  Motion  made  by 
Mr.  Baker ,  at  the  Common- Hull, 
held  on  Michaelmas  Day  laft . 

That  the  thanks  of  this  com¬ 
mon  hall  be  given  to  John  Saw- 
bridge,  Geo.Hayley,  Richard  Oli¬ 
ver,  and  Frederick  Bull,  Efquires, 
the  reprefentatives  of  this  city  in 
parliament,  for  their  Heady  and- 
uniform  oppofltion  to  the  mea- 
fares  of  a  weak  and  wicked  admi- 
niflration,  whofe  injuilice,  obfti- 
nacy  and  folly,  have  rent  the  em¬ 
pire,  and  loft  to  Great  Britain  her 
mod  valuable  poffeffions  in  Ame¬ 
rica  ;  who  have  diffufed  difcord 
and  didruft  at  home,  and  tarnifh- 
ed  the  glory  which  Englifli  virtue 
and  Englilh  valour,  had  acquired 
in  every  quarter  of  the  globe  ;  and 
who  (in  the  hope  of  efcaping 
pumfhment  in  the  general  calami¬ 
ties  of  their  country),  to  the  mife- 
ries  of  an  unnatural  civil  con  ted, 
which  they  fomented,  have  added 
thpfe  of  a  foreign  war. 

€4  That  under  thefe  unhappy 
circumdances,  the  reprefentatives 
of  this  city,  on  whofe  fpirit,  pro¬ 
bity,  and  judgment,  we  have  the 
mod:  firm  reliance,  be  requeued  to 
continue  their  honed  endeavours 
for  the  reformation  of  thofe  abufes 
which  have  boldly  invaded,  and 
now  make  a  part  in  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  our  public  affairs  ;  and 
that  they  will  profecute  to  fharne 
and  pumfhment,  the  authors  of  our 
prefent  difgraceful  councils,  wifely 
remembering,  that  it  is  by  fuch 
critical  exertions  alone,  of  theindi- 
vidual  citizen,  in  times  like  thefe, 
that  what  remains  of  our  empire 
and  conditution,  can.  be  preferved 
from  utter  ruisi.5- 


Which  quedion  the  lord  mayor 
refufed  fhould  be  put;  and  after  a 
Jong  altercation  on  the  fubjeCt,  in 
which  the  fenfe  of  the  livery  ap¬ 
peared  to  be  nearly  unanimous  for 
patting  the  queftion,  Alderman 
Lewes  was  voted  into  the  chair, 
when  a  liveryman  propofed  it 
again,  as  well  as  the  following  re- 
folution  ;  both  of  which  being  put, 
were  voted  unanimouiiy  : 

id,  That  Sir  James  Efdaile, 
the  lord  mayor  of  this  city,  deferves 
the  cenfure  of  the  livery  of  London, 
for  refilling  to  put  to  the  vote  the 
thanks  of  the  livery  to  their  repre¬ 
fentatives  in  parliament,  for  their 
deady  and  uniform  good  conduct 
in  oppofing  the  meal  ores  of  the 
prefent  adminidration.5’ 

2 d ly ,  “  That  the  thanks  of  the 
livery  be  given  to  Sir  Watkin 
Lewes,  and  to  Wm.  Baker,  Elq,5* 
Portfmouth ,  Odl.  4.  This  morn¬ 
ing  arrived  at  the  i\;  other  Bank, 
two  Liverpool  privateers,  with  a 
French  homeward-bound  Ead-in- 


diaman,  taken  by  them  ;  ihe  is 
called  the  Gallon,  .with  a  French 
general  on  board.  She  is  faid  to 
be  valued  at  500,000  L 

The  leafon  of  the  above  (hip 
proving  fo  very  valuable  is,  that 
befides  her  own  cargo,  fne  has  on 
board  the  mod  valuable  part  of  ano¬ 
ther  Indiaman  lately  wrecked  there. 

✓ 

Dublin ,  October  6.  This  har¬ 
bour  is  now  perfectly  fecured  from 
any  attempts  which  might  be  made 
again#  our  flipping  by  the  enemy  5 
two  floating  batteries  are  now 
moored  at  the  entrance  into  Pool- 
beg  ;  they  are  two  large  Newcaflle 
cats,  one  of  them  mounting  20 
eighteen  pounders,  and  the  other 
24  twelve  pounders. 

Late  one  evening  lad 
week,  as  a  young  gentle¬ 


man 


CHRONICL  E.  [20$ 


man  was  pairing  by  Scotland-yard, 
in  a  heavy  {bovver  of  rain,  a  wo¬ 
man  decently  dreffed  begged  the 
favour  of  him  to  hold  a  child  fhe 
had  in  her  arms  whil ft  fhe  Ihook 
the  water  off  her  cloak  :  the  gen¬ 
tleman  good-naturedly  complied 
with  her  requefL  She  then  took 
off  her  cloak  and  {hook  it,  and 
retired  a  little  way  up  the  gate¬ 
way,  which  the  gentleman  ima¬ 
gining  to  be  occahoned  by  a  cir- 
cumftance  Ihe  did  not  chufe  to  men¬ 
tion,  waited  contentedly  with  his 
face  to  the  road,  avid  the  child  in 
his  arms,  till  he  thought  a  fuffi- 
cient  time  elapfed  ;  and  then 
turned  round  tore-deliver  the  child 
to  her,  but  no  woman  was  to  be 
found.  The  watch  coming  up, 
the  gentleman  informed  him  of 
the  trick,  and  he  with  his  compa¬ 
nions  made  a  diligent  fearch  for 
the-worr.an,  but  in  vain  ;  and  the 
unwary  young  fellow  was  obliged 
to  carry  the  child  himfelf  to  the 
workhoufe  in  St.  Martin’s  lane, 
none  of  the  watchmen  chooling  to 
relieve  him  from  his  burthen.  It 
is  remarkable  the  infant  conti¬ 
nued  in  a  found  deep  till  brought 
to  the  workhoufe,  where,  on  ex¬ 
amining  it,  it  proved  a  fine  boy, 
fuppofed  to  be  about  half  a  year 
old,  very  neatly  dreffed,  and  with 
a  fupply  of  all  the  neceffaries  for  a 
child  of  that  age. 

This  evening,  about  a  quarter 
paft  feven  o’clock,  their  Ma- 
jefties  fet  out  from  St.  James’s,  to 
Hand  f'ponfors  to  the  new-born 
daughter  of  the  Duke  and. Duchefs 
of  Chandos.  Her  Majefty  was 
dreffed  in  white  filk  flounced  with 
fiver,  and  a  fuperb  diamond  fto- 
macher.  The  Countefs  of  Hert¬ 
ford,  as  lady  of  the  bed-chamber 
in  waiting,  attended  on  the  occa- 
flon,  as  did  the  maids  of  honour. 


all  dreffed  in  white.  His  Majefty 
was  attended  by  Lord  Hertford 
and  the  Earl  of  Winchelfea.  Hie 
Princefs  Royal  did  not  go  from 
St.  James’s,  as  expended. 

The  canopy,  gold  fringe  and 
taflels,  and  illumination  of  lamps 
in  the  hall,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
houfe  of  his  Grace  the  Duke  of 
Chandos,  for  the  reception  of  their 
Majefties  and  the  Princefs  Royal, 
the  rich  canopy  under  which  they 
fat,  the  new  chairs  and  cufhions 
for  the  chriilening  of  his  grace’s 
new  born  daughter,  with  the  chan¬ 
delier  and  other  decorations,  are 
faid  to  have  coft  upwards  of  3000 1. 
befldes  the  apparel  of  the  child 
during  the  ceremony,  being  of  the 
richeft  laces,  to  the  amount  of  700  1. 

This  night,  about  twelve 
o’clock,  died  the  new-born 
daughter  of  his  Grace  the  Duke  of 
Chandos  ;  and  on  Saturday  mor¬ 
ning,  a  meffenger  was  difpatched 
to  Windier  to  acquaint  their  Ma- 
jellies  and  the  Princefs  Royal  of 
the  death  of  the  child. 

The  cafe  of  Mr.  Chap-  ^ 
man,  the  ingenious  painter,  12 
who  died  lately,  was  as  Angular  as 
it  was  dreadful.  About  a  fortnight 
ago  he  was  overtaken  in  the  park 
by  a  fellow,  who  afked  him  if  he 
had  any  money  ?  Mr.  Chapman 
faid,  “  ’Tis  an  odd  queftion — but 
I  have  four  or  live  {hillings,” 
€C  Shillings  !  (faid  the  other")  If 
you  had  laid  guineas,  it  might  have 
done.”  fi  What  do  you  mean  ?” 
(laid  Chapman)  “  Why  (cried 
the  villain)  you  have  attempted 
an  unnatural  crime,  and  I  lhall 
fvvear  it.”  This  he  did  before  a 
magi  11  rate,  and  Mr.  Chapman  was 
obliged  to  give  bail  to  anfwer  the 
complaint  ;  which  fo  affedted  him 
that  he  loft  all  memory  and  re- 
colledlion,  being  reduced  to  the 

condition 


2  o6]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


condition  of  an  ideot ;  and  dying 
fuddenly,  a  jury  fat  on  the  body, 
and  brought  in  their  verdxd  t(  died 
cf  a  fright  /  ’ 

.  This  day  the  feflions 
ended  at  the  Old  Bailey, 
'when  the  following  convids  re¬ 
ceived  fentence  of  death  : 

William  Holloway,  for  felo- 
siioufly  affaulting  William  Proffitt 
in  a  held  near  the  highway  on 
Chelfea  common,  and  robbing 
him  of  an  ink  cafe,  a  tobacco- 
box,  and  14s.  6d.  in  money; 
George  Graham,  for  felonioufly 
forging  and  uttering  a  certain  or¬ 
der,  purporting  to  be  the  order  of 
John  Miller,  Efq;  one  of  his  Ma- 
jefty’s  juftices  of  the  peace  for  the 
county  of  Middlefex,  for  the  pay¬ 
ment,  bv  the  treafurer  of  the  faid 
county,  of  a  certain  fum  of  money 
as  and  for  a  reward  for  appre¬ 
hending  a  vagrant;  Mary  Light- 
bourn  and  Mary  Grove,  alias  Pen- 
ticrofs,  for  felonioufly  aiTaulting 
i\nn  Rawlinfon,  an  infant  about 
nine  years  of  age,  in  a  field  lead¬ 
ing  from  Sadlers-wells  to  Bag- 
jsigge-welis,  and  robbing  her  of 
about  fifteen  ounces  of  filk,  the 
property  of  Samuel  Cluen,  and  a 
cloak,  the  property  of  Elizabeth 
Rawlinfon;  and  Michael  Swift,  late 
aconvidt  on  board  the  ballaftlighter. 

Edinburgh ,  Qci.  1 7.  On  Tuef- 
day  laft,  the  fynod  of  Glafgow  and 
Ayr  appointed  a  day  of  public  fail¬ 
ing  and  humiliation  to  be  held 
within  their  bounds  on  the  fecond 
Thurfday  of  December,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  various  evils  which 
at  prefent  much  abound,  but  par¬ 
ticularly  on  account  of  the  rapid 
progrefs  of  infidelity,  and  the  en¬ 
couragement  given  to  Popery.  The 
fynbd  likewife  appointed  a  com¬ 
mittee  to  wait  upon  the  Lord  Ad¬ 


vocate,  to  inform  him  of  the  fpb- 
rit  of  the  people  in  that  part  of 
the  country  refpedling  the  relaxa¬ 
tion  of  the  Popilh  penal  laws,  and 
requefling  his  lordfhip,  if  any  mo¬ 
tion  is  brought  into  parliament  for 
extending  that  relaxation  to  Scot¬ 
land,  to  give  it  all  the  oppofition  in 
his  power.  They  alfo  recom¬ 
mended  it  to  all  the  minifters  of 
the  fynod  to  revive  the  fludy  of  the 
Popifh  controverfy,  and  preach  fre¬ 
quently  again!!  it. 

An  odd  kind  of  robbery  n  , 
i  ,  ,v  t\t  "*  loin* 
was  committees  lait  Mon¬ 
day  night  in  Petty  France,  Well* 
minder.  One  woman  robbed  ano¬ 
ther  of  a  child.  She  took  it  for¬ 
cibly  away  from  her,  and  aim  oil 
in  an  inftant  was  out  of  both  fight 
and  reach.  In  about  an  hour  the 
child  was  found,  naked  as  when 
born. 

The  Britifh  channel  is  now  fo 
covered  with  our  men  of  war,  pri¬ 
vateers,  and  letters  of  marque  that 
it  is  fcarcely  poflible  for  any  of 
the  French  merchant  fnips  to 
efcape.  The  Liibon  packet  was 
fpoke  to  and  boarded  by  upwards 
of  forty  different  cruizers  in  com¬ 
ing  acrofs  the  channel. 

n  Holt  and  Andrew 
Carleton,  for  breaking  open 
the  warehoufe  belonging  to  the 
White  Hcrfe,  and  dealing  plate 
to  a  very  con  fide /able  value  5 
John  Meadows,  for  a  highway 
robbery  ;  John  Milbourn  and  Rob, 
Alien,  for  a  burglary  in  Holborn; 
Henry  Scott,  for  a  robbery  in  the 
Green  -  park  ;  and  Lyon  Lyons, 
for  burglary  ;  were  executed  at 
Tyburn,  purfuant  to  their  feveral 
fentences  at  the  Old  Bailey.  Lyon 
Lyons  was  attended  by  a  Jew 
Rabbi,  and  behaved  becoming  his 
melancholy  fituation. 


22 d.  It 


CHRONICLE. 


[2°7 


'  Tt  is  computed  that  up- 

2~  *  wards  of  forty  fail  of  French 
Weft  Indiamen  have  been  taken, 
lince  the  commencement  of  the 
prefent  difputes,  which,  at  an  ave¬ 
rage,  conftdering  each  fhip  at 
1 5.000 1.  Value,  amounts  to  the 
fum  of  600,0 30  1. 

The  diftemper  among  the  horn¬ 
ed  cattle  having  broke  out  on  the 
Ukraine,  the  importation  of  horned 
cattle,  and  every  article  relating 
to  them,  was  prohibited  from 
Ruflia. 

,  Sarah  Drake,  houfe- 
2~L  *  keeper  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Cayley,  at  Brompton-low  Hall, 
near  Leeds  in  Yorkfhire,  in  crof- 
fing  the  Derwent,  had  the  misfor¬ 
tune  to  fall  off  her  horfe  into  the 
river,  and  would  have  infallibly 
been  drowned,  but  for  the  faga- 
city  of  a  dog,  who  getting  hold 
of  her  cloaths,  brought  her  fo 
near  the  bank,  that  fhe  was  drawn 
out  by  the  butler,  who  was  in 
company  with  her,  and  foon  after  ; 
recovered. 

01  The  river  ifer,  which 
’  rifes  in  Dauphine,  fwelled 
to  fuch  a  height  by  an  almoit  in- 
ceflant  rain  of  feveral  days,  that  it 
overflowed  the  whole  low  country, 
from  Graftvordan  to  the  frontiers 
at  Savoy.  The  damage  is  im- 
menfe. 

Tne  Mofelle  in  Germany  rofe,  at 
the  fame  time,  two  feet  and  a 
half  higher  than  in  the  inundation 
in  1 774-. 

^  The  Jew  prieft  of  the 
'  Hamburgh  Synagogue,  in 
Fenchurch-Street,  was  divorced 
from  his  prieftefs.  The  ceremony 
obferved  on  this  occaiion  was 
very  folemn  ;  there  were  four 
Jew  Rabbins;  two  attended  each 
party.  After  the  parties  had  ftated 


their  complaints  and  obje&ions  to 
each  other,  they  alked  the  prieft¬ 
efs  if  fhe  was  willing  to  part  with 
her  hufband  ;  (lie  replied  “  Yes 
the  prieft  then  fpit  in  her  face, 
to  {hew  his  contempt  for  her;  {he 
in  return  did  the  fame  ;  the  prieft: 
threw  the  bill  of  divorcement  ac 
the  prieftefs  ;  {he  with  open  arms, 
and  hands  expanded,  received  it 
with  fuch  avidity  as  convinced  th© 
whole  a{fembly  with  what,  fatisfac- 
tion  ihe  was  willing  to  feparate 
from  her  hufband.  That  done, 
they  again  fpit  in  each  other’s  face, 
and  exclaimed,  t(  Curfed  be  they 
who  ever  wifh  to  bring  us  two  to¬ 
gether  again.” 

There  was  lately  buried  ^  , 

at  the  parifh-church  of  St. 

Giles  in  the  fields  a  publican  near  / 
Bloomflbury  fquare,  whofe  death 
w'as  occasioned  by  the  following 
deep-laid  fraud  pra&ifed  upon  his 
wife.  About  a  fortnight  ago  four 
men,  genteelly  drefied  (having  as 
iuppoled,  watched  the  hufband 
out)  went  to  the  wife,  and  en¬ 
quired  whether  they  could  have  a 
dinner  dreffed,  and  have  a  room 
to  themfelves  ?  being  told  they 
might,  they  ordered  a  handfome 
dinner,  and  were  {hewn  to  a  room 
lip  one  pair  of  flairs,  After  they 
had  dined,  they  drank  pretty  plen¬ 
tifully,  and  feemed  to  be  paffuig 
their  time  in  a  very  merry  and 
friendly  manner.  About  the  ufual 
time  for  tea,  one  of  them  came 
down,  and  begged  the  landlady 
to  favour  him  with  a  difh,  faying 
his  friends  above  flairs  were  men  for 
whom  he  had  the  fincereft  regard, 
but  that  they  were  very  hard 
drinkers,  and  were  continually 
jeering  him,  becaufe  he  could  not 
keep  up  with  them.  ’  The  land"1 
lady  and  he  then  fat  down  toge¬ 
ther. 


208]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i77g. 


ther,  and  when  it  was  over,  the 
reft  came  down  ;  and  after  ridi¬ 
culing  the  other  as  a  milk  fop, 
paid  the  reckoning  (which  amount¬ 
ed  to  near  thirty  fhillings),  and 
all  went  off  together  in  a  coach. 
But  the  landlady,  having  occafion 
food  after  to  go  up  flairs,  difco- 
vered  that,  while  one  of  the  pre¬ 
tended  gentlemen  was  amufing 
her  at  tea,  the  others  had  broke 
open  the  bed-chamber  and  a  bu¬ 
reau  in  it,  from  whence  they  had 
Itolen  near  200 1.  When  the  huf- 
band  returned,  and  was  informed 
of  what  had  happened,  it  had  fuch 
an  effeft  upon  him,  that  it  bereav¬ 
ed  him  of  his  fenfes,  and  he  re¬ 
mained  in  a  ftate  of  infanity  till 
Ms  death. 

Died,  Peter  Plympton,  Efq. 
aged  1 01,  at  his  houfe  near  Ux¬ 
bridge,  worth  20,000  h  in  cafh, 
befiaes  a  large  landed  eftate,  which 
defcends  to  two  maiden  fillers  ;  one 
of  whom  is  aged  99,  and  the  other 
and  at  their  deceafe  the  whole 
devolves  to  a  (bird  coufin,  who  is  a 
foldier  in  the  guards. 

/ 


N  O  V  E  M  B  E  R. 

£  The  greateft  feizure  was 

made  of  fmuggled  goods  be¬ 
tween  Lymington  and  Chrift- 
Church,  that  has  been  known  for 
many  years.  Twelve  loaded  wag¬ 
gons,  and  50  horfes  were  brought 
to  the  cuftom-houfe  at  Southamp¬ 
ton.  The  whole  are  valued  at 
5000  1. 

Dr.  Carpenter,  titular  Arch- 
bifhop  of  Dublin,  at  the  head  of 
70  of  his  clergy,  and  feveral  hun¬ 
dred  Roman  Catholic  laity,  at¬ 
tended  at  the  court  of  K.  B.  in 
that  city,  and  took  the  oaths  pre* 


fcribed  by  the  late  adt  for  the  re¬ 
lief  of  Roman  Catholics  in  that 
kingdom. 

On  Wednefday  a  model  of  , 
a  ftatue  to  be  eredled  to  the  2Ua 
memory  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham 
done  by  the  fame  artift  who  exe¬ 
cuted  that  of  Alderman  Beckford, 
now  placed  at  the  bottom  of  Guild¬ 
hall,  was  produced  before  the 
committee  appointed  by  the  city  to 
conlider  thereof,  when  the  com¬ 
mittee  approved  of  the  fame,  and 
ordered  it  to  be  prepared  with  all 
expedition,  and  to  be  ereCted,  when 
finilhed,  on  the  upper  hulling  in 
the  hall. 

Tuefday  laft  the  principal 
body  of  merchants,  trading 
to,  and  who  have  property  in  the 
Leeward  iflands,  waited  on  Lords 
North,  Germaine,  and  Sandwich, 
acquainting  them,  “  that,  fince 
the  laft  remonftrance  relative  to 
the  protection  of  their  properties 
in  the  Leeward  iflands,  they  had 
been  roofed  to  a  more  immediate 
fenfe  of  their  danger  by  the  capture 
of  Dominica  ;  a  capture,  the  fud- 
dennefs  of  which,  and  the  eafy 
manner  it  was  efFe&ed,  that  cannot 
but  give  them  the  ltrongeft  fears 
about  many  more  of  the  iflands, 
where  they  have  a  property  (in¬ 
cluding  Jamaica)  of  no  lefs  than, 
fifty  millions  of  money ;  they 
therefore  prayed  their  iordfhips, 
particularly  the  firft  lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  that  they  would  take 
fuch  meafures  as  to  them  feemed 
moft  fitting  for  the  further  fecurity 
and  protection  of  thofe  iflands.’ 

Lord  Sandwich  anfwered  them, 
e  that  the  board  of  Admiralty  no 
doubt,  had  the  general  protection 
of  commerce  much  at  heart,  but 
that  the  Compte  D'Eftaing’s  fleet 
had  fo  deranged  the  purpofes  of 

the 


CHRONICLE. 


the  board,  that  a  home  defence 
was  to  be  their  firft  object. ’ 

Upon  this  they  afked  his  lord- 
fhip,  ‘  whether  he  had  any  pofi- 
tive  information  that  the  Compte 
D’Eftaing  had  gone  again  to  the 
Welt-Indies.’  To  which  he  an- 
fwered,  ‘  he  did  not  at  prefent  po- 
fitively  know,  but  that,  if  he  had. 
Admiral  Byron  had  orders  to  pur- 
fue  him  whither  he  went,  and  he 
hoped  would  foon  be  able  to  give 
a  good  account  of  him.’  Here 
the  conference  ended  for  that  day. 
When 

On  Friday  laft  the  fame  body 
renewed  their  application  for  the 
protection  of  their  property  with 
greater  earneltnefs,  on  account  of 
iome  frefh  advices  they  had  re¬ 
ceived  in  the  interim,  but  re¬ 
ceived  the  fame  anfwer;  they 
then  called  upon  the  firft  lord  of 
the  Admiralty  to  take  notice,  that 
they  had  difcharged  the  duty  they 
owed  themfelves,  and  the  public, 
and  retired. 

Extra  ft  of  a  Letter  from  Bath , 
Nov.  3 . 

ft  Yefterday,  according  to  fep- 
tennial  cuftom,  the  tomb  of  Tho¬ 
mas  Fletcher,  who  was  lutenift  to 
Queen  Elizabeth,  was  opened  in 
the  Abbey  Church,  and  the  bodies 
of  him  and  his  wife  expofed  to 
fuch  as  had  tickets  to  enter  the 
church,  during  the  hours  of  one 
and  two.  The  bones  of  Mrs. 
Fletcher  are  all  in  their  pro¬ 
per  place,  and  {he  appears  a  com¬ 
plete  fkeleton,  in  the  form  fhe 
was  laid  out  at  the  time  of  her 
death.  The  body  of  Thomas  is 
inclofed  in  a  pafte,  not  unlike 
that  compofition  which  furrounds 
the  Egyptian  Mummies,  and  his 
Vol.  XXI. 


[209 

bones  would  be  quite  invifible  had 
not  a  little  bit  of  the  upper  cruft 
been  broken  in.  It  is  laid  that  he 
gave  dire&ions  in  his  will  to  be 
thus  expofed  at  certain  ftated 
times.  There  is  no  infcription  on. 
the  monument,  but  if  I  miftake 
not,  there  is  an  epitaph  on  this 
mufician,  in  Mufic’s  monument, 
by  Mace,  a  lutenift  of  Cambridge, 
who,  I  believe,  was  living  when 
Fletcher  died.” 

The  fynod  of  Dumfries, 
after  the  example  of  that  of 
Glafgow  and  Ayr,  met  on  the 
20th  ult.  and  appointed  a  folemn 
faft  on  the  firft  Thurfday  of  De¬ 
cember,  on  account  of  abounding 
fin,  and  prefent  melancholy  ftate 
of  public  affairs.  The  fynod  alfo 
appointed  their  moderator  to  write 
to  the  lord  advocate,  requefting 
him  to  oppofe  any  alteration  in 
the  Roman  Catholic  laws  in  Scot¬ 
land. 

A  queftion  of  importance  , 
to  the  mercantile  part  of  10 
this  country  was  argued  and  de¬ 
termined  by  the  Judges  of  the 
court  of  King’s  Bench.  An  ac¬ 
tion  was  brought  on  an  agreement 
entered  into  to  pay  a  fum  of  money 
at  a  period  exprefsly  mentioned  ; 
before  the  time  of  payment  came, 
the  defendant  took  the  benefit  of 
an  A<ft  of  Infolvency,  which  was 
pleaded  by  him  in  bar  to  the  ac-* 
tion.  This  being  a  queftion  of  law, 
and  of  great  confequence  to  the 
fubjeft,  it  was  left  on  trial  for  the 
judgment  of  the  court,  and  after 
a  very  folemn  argument,  it  was 
the  opinion  of  the  Judges,  that 
the  defendant  could  not  plead  the 
A£l  of  Inlblvency,  as  the  plaintiff 
at  that  time  could  not  claim  a  dif- 
tributive  fhare  of  his  affets,  his 
[O]  debt 


no]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


debt  not  being  legally  due  until 
the  expiration  of  the  time  fpecified 
in  the  agreement. 

,  Mr.  Recorder  made  his 
1  *  report  to  his  MajeHy  of  the 

convicls  under  fentence  of  death 
in  Newgate,  when  Michael  Swift 
was  ordered  for  execution  on  Wed- 
nefday  the  25th  inllant. 

The  following  were  refpited, 
viz.  William  Holloway ;  George 
Graham  ;  Mary  Lightbourne,  and 
Mary  Graves# 

This  afternoon  Mr.  Powell,  the 
noted  walker,  Harted  from  Lee- 
Bridge,  to  run  two  miles  in  ten 
minutes  for  a  wager,  which  he  loll 
by  only  half  a  minute. 

One  day  laH  week  a  gentleman 
who  was  pafienger  on  board  the 
Carnatic  French  EaH-Indiaman, 
lately  taken  by  the  Mentor,  Capt. 
Bawfon,  arrived  in  town,  and 
Went  in  a  hackney  coach  to  the 
chambers  of  an  attorney  to  enquire 
for  a  near  relation.  After  Haying 
a.  fhort  time  with  his  friend,  he 
came  down  Hairs ;  but  was  greatly 
chagrined  to  find  the  coach  gone, 
and  the  more  fo,  as  he  had  un- 
advifedly  left  a  trunk  in  it,  con¬ 
taining  near  3000 1. — 2300I.  in 
bills  of  exchange,  and  the  refi  in 
pagodas.  On  confulting  his  friend 
how  to  adl,  they  agreed  to  go  to 
the  flreet  where  the  coach  was 
taken,  and  there  fortunately  found 
a' watchman  who  remembered  the 
coachman,  and  directed  them  to 
the  inn  where  he  put  up.  They 
then  went  to  the  inn,  but  the  man 
was  not  to  be  heard  of ;  however, 
the  gentleman  found  all  his  pro¬ 
perty  within  50 1.  in  his  room. 

,  At  a  court  of  common 
I^t  *  council  held  at  Guildhall, 
it  was  moved,  that  the  thanks  of. 


the  court  be  given  to  the  Right 
Hon.  Sir  James  Efdaile,  late  lord 
mayor,  for  hisconfiant  attendance, 
and  impartial  adminifiration  of 
juHice,  during  his  continuance  in 
that  high  and  important  office  : 
after  warm  debates  it  pafied  in  the 
negative. 

A  motion  being  then  made,  and 
quedion  put,  that  the  iate  lord 
mayor  having  refufed  to  call  a 
common  council,  on  the  molt  im¬ 
portant  public  bufmefs,  at  the  re- 
quifition  of  the  four  reprefenta- 
tives  of  this  city  in  parliament, 
and  many  other  refpedtable  gen¬ 
tlemen,  members  of  this  court, 
and  having  refufed  to  put  a  qup- 
Hion  in  common  hall,  of  great  con- 
fequence  to  the  rights  and  privi¬ 
leges  of  this  city  ;  a  warm  alter¬ 
cation  took  place  on  the  reading 
this  motion  ;  bat,  after  the  fpirie 
of  debate  had  fubfided,  it  was  car¬ 
ried  in  the  affirmative,  nearly  two 
to  one. 

At  the  fame  time  it  was  refolved, 

“  That  the  thanks  of  this  court 
be  given  to  Frederick  Bull,  John 
Sawbridge,  Richard  Oliver,  and 
George  Hayley,  Efqrs.  our  pre- 
fent  worthy  reprefen tatives,  for 
their  upright  and  Heady  conduct 
in  parliament,  for  their  Hrenuous 
endeavours  to  prevent  the  lofs  oF 
our  colonies,  and  the  fhame  and 
diflrefs  of  this  unhappy  country.7’ 

Mr.  Wife,  of  Bilhopfgate  ward, 
moved  the  court,  that  in  confider- 
ation  of  the  recorder’s  bad  Hate  of 
health,  a  deputy  ffiould  be  ap¬ 
pointed  him  by  that  court,  to  tran- 
fafl  the  city  bufineis  at  thofe  times 
when  Serjeant  Glynn  fhould  be 
rendered  incapable  of  giving  his 
attendance.  The  recorder  thank¬ 
ed  the  gentleman  who  made  the 

motion 


C  H  R  O  N  I  C  L  E. 


motion  in  the,  tnbk  polite  terms, 
and  begged  the  court  at  large  to 
comply  with  his  requek,  as  it 
would  be  confdered  by  him  (the 
recorder)  as  a  very  great  favour 
conferred  on  him.  This  motion 
was  alfo  carried  in  the  affirma¬ 
tive. 

,  At  a  court  of  aldermen 
‘  held  at  Guildhall,  a  motion 
was  made,  that  the  thanks  of  this 
court  be  given  to  Sir  James 
Efdaile,  late  lord  mayor,  for  his 
careful,  prudent,  and  ^impartial 
difcharge  of  that  high  office  dur¬ 
ing  his  mayoralty  ;  which  after 
debate  was  carried  in  the  affirma¬ 
tive.  At  this  court  Mr.  Alderman 
Oliver  refjgned  his  gown*  and  re¬ 
ceived  the  thanks  of  the  court  una- 
nimoully. 

Bath,  Nov.  23.  “  On  Tuefday 
the  17th  inkant,  Count  Rice,  and 
Vifcount  du  Barry,  being  toge¬ 
ther  in  the  latter’s  houfe,  a  que- 
flion  arcfe  between  them,  about 
which  they  difagreed  ;  and  in  the 
heat  of  the  difpute,  upon  an  af- 
fertion  of  Count  Rice,  Vifcount 
du  Barry  faid,  Ce'a  V  ejl  pas  vrai  ; 
to  which  Count  Rice  immediately 
obferved,  You  do  not.  probably 
obferve  the  idea  that  expreffion 
conveys  in  the  language  you  fpeak 
in,  and  that  it  admits  but  of  one 
very  difagreeable  interpretation  ; 
upon  which  the  other  replied.  You 
may  interpret  it  as  you  pleafe. 
This  ungentlemanlike  treatment 
having  provoked  the  refentmCnt 
of  Count  Rice,  and  Vifcount  du 
Barry  offering  no  fatisfa&ion,  they 
immediately  lent  for  feconds,  who 
did  not  quit  them  till  they  got  to 
Claverton  Down,  where  they  re¬ 
mained  together,  with  a  furgeon, 
till  day  light,  when  they  took  the 


field,  each  armed  with  two  pikols 
and  a  fword.  The  ground  being 
marked  out  by  the  feconds,  the 
Vifcount  du  Barry  fired  hrll,  and 
lodged  a  ball  in  Count  Rice’s 
thigh,  which  penetrated  as  far  as 
the  bone:  Count  Rice  fired  his 
pikol,  and  wounded  the  Vifcount 
in  the  break.  He  went  back  two 
or  three  keps,  then  came  forward 
again,  and  both,  at  the  fame  time, 
prefented  their  pikols  to  each 
other  ;  the  piflols  kafhed  together 
in  the  pan,  though  one  only  was 
difcharged.  Then  they  threw 
away  their  pikols,  and  took  to 
their  iwords ;  when  Count  Rice 
had  advanced  within  a  few  yards 
of  the  Vifcount  he  faw  him  fall, 
and  heard  him  cry  out,  Je  vous 
demande  ma  Vis ;  to  which  Count 


Rice  anfwered,  Je  vous  la  donne ; 
but  in  a  few  feconds  the  Vifcount 
fell  back,  and  expired.  Count 
Rice  was  brought  with  difficulty  to 
Bath,  being  dangeroufly  wounded, 
though  now  he  is  in  a  fair  way  of 
recovery. 

The  coroner’s  inquek  fat  on  the 
Vifcount’s  body  laid  Saturday,  and 
after  a  mature  examination  of  the 
witneffes,  and  the  Vifcount’s  fer- 
vants,  brought  in  their  verdict 
manflaughter. 

At  three  o’clock  in  the  __  , 
afternoon,  the  poll  for  Al-  2”  ’  * 
derman  of  Billingfgate-ward  final¬ 
ly  clofed,  by  confent  of  both  the 
candidates.  Upon  caking  up  the 
books,  the  numbers  were*  for 
Thomas  Sainfbury,  Efq.  112,  and 
for  Jofiah  Dornford,  Efq.  70; 
upon  which  Mr.  Sainfbury  was  de¬ 
clared  duly  ele&ed. 

Being  St.  Andrew’s  day,  ^  , 

was  held  the  anniverfary  elec-  ^ 
tion  of  the  prefident,  council,  and 
[0]  2  officers 


2r a]  ANNUAL  RE 

officers  of  the  Royal  Society,  when 
Jofeph  Banks,  Efq.  was  eledted 
prefident.  Sir  John  Pringle  having 
refigned. 

Stockholm,  Nov.  3.  The  morn¬ 
ing  before  yefterday,  the  Queen 
was  happily  delivered  of  a  prince, 
which  agreeable  event  was  imme¬ 
diately  announced  to  the  public 
by  the  difcharge  of  256  guns 
four  times.  The  king  then  went 
in  date  to  the  cathedral  of  St.  Ni¬ 
cholas,  with  all  the  royal  family, 
to  return  thanks  to  heaven ;  after 
which  Te  Deum  was  fung  under 
the  difcharge  of  1024  guns.  The 
birth  of  this  prince  gives  the  more 
pleafure,  as  none  of  the  heirs  to 
the  crown  have  been  born  in  Swe¬ 
den  fmce  Charles  XII.  in  161  8, 

Died,  at  Stebbing,  in  Effex, 
Farmer  Beauchamp,  aged  105. 

At  a  lodging  -  houfe  in  St. 
Giles’s,  Jonathan  Williams,  aged 
1 1 3 ,  who  was  a  foldier  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Anne.  He  has  left,  in 
children,  grand-children,  and  great 
grand-children,  one  hundred  and 
thirty-feven. 


DECEMBER. 

z  ^  Yefterday  morning,  about 
"  *  three  o’clock,  a  terrible  fire 
broke  out  near  Pearce’s  lottery  of¬ 
fice,  Pope’s  Head  Alley,  Corn- 
hill,  and  foon  confumed  the  fame, 
with  feveral  other  offices,  and  Sey¬ 
mours  Coffee-houfe  over  them, 
and  all  the  houfes  on  that  fide  the 
way ;  it  alfo  confumed  the  Pope’s 
Head  Eating  -  houfe,  Johnfon’s 
lottery  office,  and  Mr.  Ogier’s  of¬ 
fice  ;  a  notary  public’s,  a  cabinet¬ 
maker’s,  the  corner  of  the  Alley, 
*nd  Mr,  Fourdrinitjr*  a  ftationer’s 


G-ISTER,  1778. 

adjoining,  in  Lombard-ftreet,  were 
entirely  confumed  ;  the  back  part 
of  MefT.  Lee  and  Co.  bankers, 
in  Lombard- free t,  was  much  da¬ 
maged  ;  it  burnt  through  into 
Change-alley,  confumed  the  houfe 
of  Mr.  Webfter,  watch  -  maker, 
Mr.  Aubury,  breeches-maker,  Mr. 
Wilkinfon,  cabinet-maker,  late 
Sam’s  Coffee-houfe,  with  all  the 
furniture,  and  flock  in  trade  of 
the  feveral  houfes.  The  flames 
reached  the  lottery  office,  late  Jo¬ 
nathan’s  Coffee-houfe,  which  was 
confumed,  and  part  of  the  houfe 
adjoining,  late  the  King’s  Arms 
Tavern.  It  likewife  damaged 
Baker’s  Ccffee-houfe,  and  the  houfe 
adjoining,  late  a  hatter’s ;  the 
back  parts  of  feveral  houfes  in 
CornhiU  were  much  damaged. 
The  aunt  and  maid-fervant  of  a 
gentleman,  and  his  wife,  perifhed 
in  the  flames,  and  others  narrowly 
efcaped.  Two  firemen  are  miffing. 
The  damage  done  is  very  confi- 
derable. — The  great  fire  which 
happened  on  the  25th  of  March, 
1748,  was  partly  on  the  fame 
fpot. 

One  William  Smithfon,  a  , 
hackney  coachman,  driver  of  2  * 
No,  253,  was  brought  before  Juf- 
tice  Addington  in  Bow-ftreet, 
charged  by  Mr.  M'Sween  with  the 
following  capital  offence :  On 
Monday  night  Mr.  M‘Sween  or¬ 
dered  the  boy  of  the  fhop  where 
he  lodged,  to  cal!  a  coach  (Mr. 
M'Sween  living  in  Warwick  court, 
Holborn)  and  put  his  trunks  and 
things  into  the  coach  :  Matthew 
Wilfon,  the  boy,  went  and  cal¬ 
led  a  coach  from  the  fland  at  Ful- 
wood’s  rents,  and  then  helped  the 
coachman  to  put  the  trunks  into 
the  coach,  Wilfon  then  called 

Mr. 


CHRONICLE. 


Mr.  M'Sween,  who  immediately 
came  out,  but  the  coachman  had 
driven  off  with  the  trunks.  The 
boy,  fortunately  knowing  the 
owner  of  the  number,  Thomas 
Earle,  of  Purpool  -  lane,  Mr. 
M‘Sween  ran  immediately  there, 
when  Earle  abufed  them  with  a 
number  of  oaths,  denied  his  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  man,  and  difbelieved 
Mr.  MfSween’s  lofs.  In  confe- 
quence  of  this  treatment,  Mr. 
M'Sween  came  to  Bow  -  dreet, 
when  proper  officers  were  difpatch- 
ed,  who  foon  found  out  the  pri- 
foner,  and  happily  the  trunks, 
broken  up  and  rummaged,  though 
all  the  property  was  fafe,  which 
was  to  a  large  amount,  with  a 
bank-note  of  50  1.  Smithfon  faid 
he  was  drunk  when  he  did  it.  He 
was  committed,  the  proper  parties 
bound  over  to  profecute  for  a  capi¬ 
tal  felony,  and  the  magidrates  re¬ 
commended  it  to  Mr.  M‘Sween  to 
complain  to  the  commiffioners  of 
hackney  coaches  of  the  conduct  of 
the  mailer. 

,  Yefterday  a  court  of  com- 
*  *  mon  -  council  was  held  at 
Guildhall,  when  the  court  agreed 
that  thanks  be  given  to  Richard 
Oliver,  Efq.  for  his  uniform  con- 
dud  in  the  adminiitration  of  juf- 
tice,  Si c. 

The  court  took  into  confidera- 
tion  the  report  of  the  committee 
to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the 
late  Lord  Chatham,  when  paint¬ 
ing  was  fixed  on  as  the  bed:  me¬ 
thod  to  perpetuate  his  memory, 
and  the  committee  were  defired  to 
meet  for  the  purpofe  of  receiving 
defigns  for  that  purpofe. 

,  ,  The  Lilbon  letters  are  full 
of  commendation  of  a  mod 
gallant  a&ion  which  happened  on 
the  20th  of  Odober,  between  his 


Pi  3 

Majedy’s  fliips  the  Jupiter,  of  50 
guns,  Capt.  Reynolds,  and  the 
Medea,  of'28,  Capt.  James  Mon¬ 
tagu,  with  a  French  So  gun  fliip, 
off  Cape  Finiderre  :  Capt.  Rey¬ 
nolds  and  Capt.  Montagu  con¬ 
ceiving  her  to  be  an  Indiaman, 
got  fo  clofe  to  her,  without  appre- 
henlions  of  danger,  that  it  was  too 
late  to  efcape  it  ;  they  therefore 
attacked  her  like  Engliffimen. 
Capt.  Reynolds  at  once  laid  ajong- 
fide  of  her  to  windward,  at  five 
o’clock  P.  M.  the  Medea  placed 
herfelfon  the  lee-quarter,  and  con¬ 
tinued  for  feme  time  giving  her 
broadfides,  but  from  the  inferio¬ 
rity  of  her  force  could  do  very 
little  execution,  and  was  foon  dri¬ 
ven  to  leeward  with  an  18  poun¬ 
der  between  wind  and  water,  and 
never  after  able  to  recover  her 
dation,  fo  as  to  be  of  any  fervice 
to  the  Jupiter.  Capt.  Reynolds 
continued  clofe  engaged  till  eight 
o’clock,  when  the  French  fhip 
gave  way,  took  the  advantage  of 
a  very  dark  night,  and  efcaped  to 
Ferrol,  with  the  lofs  of  her  Cap¬ 
tain,  and  about  200  men.  The 
Jupiter  is  arrived  at  Lifbon  in  a 
ihattered  condition  to  refit,  and 
found  the  Medea  thereon  the  fame 
bufmefs.  . 

His  Majedy  having  been  pleafed 
to  comply  with  the  requed  of  the 
King  of  Sweden,  to  inved  the 
Right  Honourable  Lord  Macleod 
with  the  enfigns  of  the  order  of 
the  Sword,  of  which  order  his 
Swedifh  Majedy  has  been  pleafed 
to  nominate  him  a  commander; 
his  lordfhip  had  accordingly  an 
audience  of  his  Majedy  this  day, 
to  which  he  was  introduced  by  the 
Earl  of  Suffolk,  one  of  his  Ma- 
jedy's  principal  lecretaries  ofitate; 
and  after  having  made  the  ufual 
[0]  3  reverences 


214]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


reverences  on  entering  the  royal 
prefence,  he  kneeled  down  before 
the  King ;  his  Majefty  then  cook  the 
fword  of  Hate,  and  performed  the 
ceremony  of  knighting  him  there¬ 
with  ;  after  which  his  Majeily  took 
the  ribbon  of  the  order,  and  in- 
veiled  him  with  it  ;  this  being 
done,  Lord  Macleod  rofe  up,  and 
his  Majeily  was  gracioufly  pleafed 
to  congratulate  him  on  this  diftin- 
guifhed  mark  of  his  Swedifh  Ma- 
jefty’s  approbation  :  Lord  Macleod 
then  returned  his  thanks  in  the 
moil  refpeftful  manner  to  his  Ma¬ 
jeily,  and  retired,  obferving  the 
fame  ceremony  as  on  entering  into 
his  Majeily’s  prefence. 

,  This  day  being  the  anni- 
IO  1  *  verfary  of  the  in  dilution  of 
the  Royal  Academy,  a  general  a f- 
fembly  of  the  academicians  was 
held  at  Somerfet-houfe,  when  the 
following  premiums  were  given  : 

A  gold  medal  to  Mr.  Charles 
Rubens  Ryley,  for  the  bell:  compo- 
ficicn  in  oil  colours;  the  fubjeft  of 
which  was  the  Sacrifice  of  Iphige- 
nia. 

A  gold  medal  was  given  to  Mr. 
John  Hickey,  for  the  beft  model  of 
a  bas-relief;  the  fubjeft  of  which 
was  the  Slaughter  of  the  Inno¬ 
cents. 

A  gold  medal  was  likewife  given 
to  Mr.  William  Mofs,  for  the  beil 
deiign  in  architecture,  being  the 
plan,  elevation,  and  feftion,  of  a 
church  of  the  Corinthian  order,  in 
form  of  a  Grecian  crofs,  f  nifhing 
with  a  dome. 

Three  filver  medals  were  given 
for  the  beft  drawings  of  academy 
figures  to  Me  firs.  A.  W.  Devis, 
James  Cook  and  John  Hoppner. 

A  filver  medal  was  given  to  Mr. 
Jofeph  Wright,  for  the  beft  model 
of  an  academy  figure. 


After  the  medals  were  given,  the 
Preiident,  as  ufual,  delivered  to 
the  ftudents  a  difcourfe  ;  the  fub¬ 
jeft  of  which  was,  an  inquiry  into 
the  connexion  between  the  rules  of 
art,  and  the  paflions  and  affections 
of  the  mind  ;  fuch  an  inquiry,  he 
obferved,  was  going  to  the  fountain 
head  of  criticifm.  He  gave  many 
inftances  of  difficulties  in  the  pain¬ 
ter’s  art,  from  which  this  know¬ 
ledge  alone  can  extricate  the  artilt* 
He  concluded,  making  fome  ob- 
fervations  on  the.conduft  pf  the 
ftudents  "in  the  prize  piftures :  he 
obferved,  that  every  candidate  had 
carefully  followed  the  invention  of 
Timanthes  in  hiding  the  face  of 
Agamemnon  in  hi?  mantle  ;  he  ex¬ 
amined  whether  this  artifice  (of 
leaving  to  the  imagination  a  grief 
fuppofed  to  be  too  great  to  be  ex- 
preffed)  was  within  the  province  of 
the  painter’s  art. 

After  the  Prefident  had  finifhed 
his  difcourfe,  the  aftembly  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  eleft  the  officers  for  the 
year  enfuing. 

The  following  aft  of  fe-  ^ 
male  heroifm  was  exercifed  * 

this  evening  :■ — A  milliner’s  ap¬ 
prentice,  with  a  box  of  lace,  going 
along  the  Strand,  a  fellow  fnatched 
it  from  her,  and  ran  up  South- 
ampton-ftreet,  but  by  fome  means 
or  other  fell  down.  The  girl  im¬ 
mediately  got  up  to  him,  laid  hold 
of  him,  and  taking  off  one  of  her 
pattens,  ftruck  him  over  the  face 
with  it  feveral  times ;  but  the  fel¬ 
low  being  too  powerful  for  her,  got 
off,  but  left  the  box,  the  contents 
of  which  weie  worth  at  leaft  forty 
pounds. 

This  day  the  feffions ended 
at  the  Old  Bailey,,  when  Sa-  12 
muel  Bonner  was  capitally  con- 
vifted  for  fending  an  incendiary 

letter 


CHRONICLE.  fa  1 5 


letter  to  Mrs.  Tefhmaker,  at 
Winchmore  hill,  threatening  to 
burn  her  eftate  to  allies,  and  mur¬ 
der  her,  unlefs  fhe  relieved  with 
one  guinea  and  a  half  three  poor 
people  in  her  neighbourhood  named 
in  the  letter,  of  whom  Bonner  was 
one.  At  the  time  of  his  receiving 
fentence  he  begged  for  mercy,  and 
faid  it  was  done  through  ignorance, 
and  not  knowing  the  fevere  pu- 
nifhment  allotted  for  fuch  an  of¬ 
fence. 

Rowland  Ridgiey  was  tried  on 
an  indictment  for  high  treafon,  in 
having  in  his  pofteflion  a  punch, 
on  which  was  made  and  impreffed 
the  figure,  fimilitude,  and  refem- 
blance  of  the  head  fide  of  a  Bul¬ 
ling  ;  and  after  a  long  trial,  and 
the  jury  being  out  fome  time,  a 
verdiCt  was  returned  that  they 
found  him  guilty,  having  the 
punches,  &c.  in  his  cuftody  ;  but 
from  fome  circumftances  fubinitted 
to  the  court,  whether  or  not  they 
were  proper  for  coining  :  his  judg¬ 
ment  was  refpited  for  the  opinion 
of  the  judges. 

Late  the  fame  night  judgment 
of  death  was  paffed  upon  nine  ca¬ 
pital  conviCts  :  fix  were  fentenced 
to  hard  labour  on  the  Thames ; 
nine  to  be  branded  and  impri- 
foned  in  Newgate ;  nine  to  be 
branded  and  kept  to  hard  labour 
in  the  houfe  of  correction  ;  five  to 
be  whipped,  and  twenty  four  dif- 
charged  by  proclamation. 

On  Thurfday  night  laft, 
I3t“*  as  Mr.  Sharp,  chymift, 
{topped  in  his  carriage  at  his  door 
in  Bifhopfgate-ftreet,  five  villains 
obferved  a  box  in  the  coach,  and 
whilft  Mr.  Sharp  was  getting  out, 
they  took  the  opportunity  on  the 
eppofite  fide  to  take  it  away,  with 


which  they  got  clear  off.  The 
contents  of  the  box  were  mercurial 
pills,  lozenges,  fugar  plumbs,  &c. 
of  which  the  thieves  had  fed  fo 
plentifully,  befides  feveral  otherg 
they  had  given  them  to,  that, 
finding  themfelves  ftrangely  affeCl- 
ed  by  the  pills,  and  apprehending 
they  were  all  poifoned,  they  yef- 
terday  fent  a  boy  to  Mr.  Williams, 
chymift,  in  Smock-alley,  Petti¬ 
coat-lane,  with  the  box,  pills,  &c„ 
Mr.  Williams,  being  acquainted 
with  the  affair  from  Mr.  Sharp, 
very  properly  detained  the  boy, 
who  impeached  his  companions  ; 
and  a  fufficient  number  of  confta- 
bles  being  obtained}  they  went  into 
Petticoat-lane,  and  fecured  as  def- 
perate  a  covey  of  thieves  as  per¬ 
haps  ever  herded  together,  who 
were,  from  the^  large  dofes  they 
had  fwallowed,  in  as  wretched  a 
condition  as  ever  were  a  neft  of 
poifoned  rats.  Seven  of  theiyi  were 
yellerday  committed  toprifon. 

Sir  Hugh  Pallifer  exhibited  on 
Wednefday  laft,  at  the  Admiralty- 
Board,  an  accufation,  confifting  of 
five  articles,  or  feparate  fpecific 
charges  againft  Admiral  Keppel  ; 
a  copy  of  which  was  fent  by  the 
faid  board  to  the  Admiral,  accom¬ 
panied  with  a  notice  to  prepare  for 
his  fpeedy  trial  by  a  court  martial, 
on  the  feveral  charges  of  negledft, 
incapacity,  &c. 

Ex  trad  of  a  Letter  from  Oxford , 
December  19. 

tl  About  two  o’clock  yefterday 
morning  a  fire  was  difeover’d  in  the 
attick  ftory  at  Queen’s  College,  in 
this  univerfity,  fuppofed  to  have 
beg'un  in  the  ftaircafe,  which  raged 
with  great  violence  till  about  feven 
o’clock,  when  the  whole  roof,  and 
moft  of  the  floors,  waiofeoting,  &c. 

[O]  4  Of 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


2i6] 

of  the  weft  wing  were  con  Turned  to 
the  ftrft  party  wall,  where  the  roof 
having  been  previoufty  cut  away  to 
flop  the  progrefs  of  the  flames  to¬ 
wards  the  hail  and  library,  toge¬ 
ther  with  the  affiftance  of  many 
iire-engines,  the  reft  of  the  college 
was  faved,  This  part  of  that  no- 
fcle  edifice  is  reduced  to  a  mere 
ihell,  nothing  remaining  except 
the  bare  walls.  No  lives  were 
loft. 

Briftoly  Dec .  26.  Tuefday,  about 
fix  o’clock  in  the  eieningpart  of 
a  cafk  of  gunpowder  being  brought 
into  the  houfe  of  Mb.  Deake,  in 
Queen- fquare,  and  letdown  in  the 
pailage,  the  fervant  girl  palling  by 
with  a  candle  in  her  hand,  and 
feeing  a  ftrange  calk,  ftooped  down 
the  candle  to  fee  what  it  was,  when 
it  unfortunately  dropped  into  the 
powder,  which  took  fire,  and  killed 
the  girl  on  the  fpet.  There  was  a 
3ittle  child  by  at  the  fame  time, 
which  had  her  cap  blown  off,  but 
providentially  received  no  harm, 
motwithftanding  the  fervant  was 
thrown  a  confiderable  diftance,  and 
the  grkateft  part  of  her  clothes  torn 
to  pieces.  The  poor  creature’s 
bead  and  face  were  burnt  to  a  cin¬ 
der,  and  the  fie fh  of  her  breaft  and 
arms  lacerated  in  a  manner  that 
inay  be  more  eafily  conceived  than 
defcribed.  The  adjacent  houfes 
were  fhaken  by  the  explofiqn,  and 
the  air  for  a  confiderable  diftance 
much  agitated. 

A  Spanifti  merchant  in  the  city 
lias  received  a  letter  from  Spain, 
which  gives  a  melancholy  account 
of  a  fire  breaking  out  in  the  play- 
bo  ufe  in  the  city  of  Saragofa,  in 
the  province  of  Arragpn,  whilft  the 


company  was  performing ;  that 
the  flames  were  fo  rapid  but  few  of 
the  audience  efcaped  ;  and  that  up¬ 
wards  of  400  of  the  principal  peo^ 
pie  of  that  city  had  periihed  in  the 
flames. 

Died,  at  his  houfe  in  Queen V 
fquare,  Ormond-ftreet,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  William  Hetfierington,  who 
a  few  years  fmce  veiled  20,000  1. 
in  the  South-Sea  Company,  for 
the  fupport  of  a  charity  which  he 
founded,  of  500  1.  to  be  diftributed 
annually,  in  the  month  of  Decem¬ 
ber,  in  fums  of  10  1.  each,  to  fifty 
blind  perfons,  under  the  direction 
of  the  Treafurerand  Committee  of 
the  Governors  of  Chriit’s  Hofpital, 
of  which  he  was  one. 

At  Bletchingley,  in  Surry,  in 
the  1 3 2d  year  of  his  age,  Thomas 
Cockey,  a  poor  labouring  man* 
He  conftantly  went  to  daily  labour 
till  within  three  months  of  his 
death. 

Mrs.  Goftling,  of  St.  George, 
Southelmham,  Suffolk,in  the  105th 
year  of  her  age. 

Mrs.  Prifcilla  Panxton,  at  Hack¬ 
ney,  whofe  death  was  occafioned  by 
excefsof  joy  and  furprize,  on  feeing 
a  brother,  who  had  been  in  flavery 
at  Algiers  feveral  years. 

At  Llancrwiffe,  in  South  Wales, 
Mr.  Rice  Morgan,  in  his  103d 
year. 

This  year,  the  literary  world  has 
fuftained  great  lofs  by  the  death 
of  two  of  its  firft  ornaments,  the 
illuftrious  Dr.  Linnaeus,  who  died 
aged  171,  at  Upfal  in  Sweden  5 
and  the  celebrated  Dr.  Haller, 
who  died,  aged  75,  at  Berne  in 
Switzerland. 


ac 

n 


General 


[217 


CHRONICLE. 


General  Bill  of  all  the  Chriftenings 
and  Burials  from  December  1 6, 
1 777,  to  December  15,  1 77 S - 


Chriftened. 

Buried 

• 

Males  8793  Males 

10235 

Females  8507  Females  10164 

In  all  173C0 

In  all 

20399 

Died  under  two  years 

of  age 

7355 

Between  2  and 

5 

1904 

5  and 

10 

789 

lo  and 

20 

702 

20  and 

3° 

1381 

30  and 

40 

1743 

40  and 

5° 

1965 

50  and 

60 

1616 

60  and 

70 

1416 

70  and 

80 

995 

80  and 

90 

3  9s 

90  and 
100 

100 

42 

I 

100  and 

1 

1 

100  and 

2 

O 

100  and 

3 

O 

100  and 

4 

O 

loo  and 

.  7  . 

I 

Decreafed  in  the  Burials  this  year 


2045. 

A  treatife  has  lately  been  pub- 
lifhed  in  France,  in  which  a  calcu¬ 
lation  is  made  of  the  population 
of  the  moil  remarkable  cities 
in  the  world,  the  inhabitants  of 
which  the  author  computes  to  be 
as  follow  : 


Paris  about  823,276  increafing 
Madrid  340,000  ditto 

London  930,000  decreafing 

Amfterdam  360,000  increafing 

Lifbon  200,000  ditto 

Conitantinpple  700,000  decreafing 
Venice  160,000  ditto 

Dantzic  240,000  ditto 

Petersburg  300,000  increafing 

Koninfburg  300,000  ditto 

Copenhagen  190,000  ditto 


Stockholm  93,000  ditto 

Naples  230,000  decreafing 

Pekin  in  China  900,000  ditto 
Rome  700,000  ditto 

Mofcow  400,000  increafing 

Babylon  540,000  decreafing 

Alexandria  67°, 000  ditto 


BIRTHS  for  the  Year  1778. 

Jan.  1.  Right  Hon.  Lady  Mary 
Hinchingbroke,  of  a 
fon. 

3.  Right  Hon.  the  Marchio- 
nefs  of  Granby,  of  a 
fon. 

16.  Right  Hon.  Lady  Grim- 
flon,  of  a  daughter. 

The  Lady  of  Sir  James 
Pennyman,  Bart,  of 
twins. 

The  Countefs  D’Artois, 
of  a  Prince,  to  whom  his 
molt  Chriftian  Majefty 
has  given  the  title  of  Due 
de  Berry. 

Lady  of  the  late  Sir  Grif¬ 
fith  Boyntun,  Bart,  of  a 
fon. 

Feb. —  The  Lady  of  the  Hon. 

and  Right  Rev.  Lord 
Bifhcp  of  Worcefter,  of 
a  fon. 

March  12.  Dutchefs  of  Portland, 
of  a  daughter. 

21.  Lady  Harriet  Ackland, 
filter  of  the  Earl  of  II- 
chefter,  of  a  fon  and  heir. 

30.  B.ight  Hon.  Countefs  of 
Carlide,  of  a  daughter, 

April  14.  Lady  of  Sir  James  Lake, 
of  a  daughter. 

Right  Hon.  Countefs  of 
Radnor,  of  a  daughter. 

Lady  of  Sir  M.  White 
Ridley,  of  a  fon. 

May*—.  Right  Hon.  Countefs 

Cowper* 


218]  ANNUAL  RE 

Cowper,  of  a  fecond  fon, 
at  Florence. 

Right  Hon.  Countefs  of 
Kinnaird,  of  a  fon. 

Right  Hon.  Countefs  of 
Bellamogt,  of  a  fon. 

Right  Hon.  Lady  Vifcoun- 
tefs  Weymouth,  of  a 
daughter. 

Jane — .  Right  Hon.  Lady  Cado- 
gan,  of  a  daughter. 

Right  Hon.  Lady  Wil¬ 
loughby  de  Broke,  of  a 
daughter. 

ju]y, — .Right  Hon.  Lady 'Alger¬ 
non  Percy,  of  a  fon. 

22.  The  Lady  of  Chaloner 
Arcedeckne,  Efq;  Hur¬ 
ley  Street,  of  a  daughter. 

Aug. —  The  Lady  of  Sir  Harry 
Goring,  Bart,  of  a  fon. 

Sep.  7.  Right  Hon  Lady  Townf- 
hend,  of  a  fon. 

Her  Grace  the  Duchefs  of 
Chandos,  of  a  daughter. 

Right  Hon.  the  Countefs 
of  Suffolk,  of  a  fon. 

8.  Lady  of  Sir  Thomas  Clar- 
ges,  Bart,  of  a  daugh¬ 
ter: 

G£L  2.  Lady  of  the  Hon.  Sir  Wil¬ 
liam  Henry  Afhurff,  one 
of  the  judges  of  the 
King’s-bench,  of  a  fon. 

Right  Hon.  Lady  Mary 
Fitzm au rice,  of  a  fon, 
who  is  heir  to  the  tide  of 
Earl  of  Orkney. 

Lady  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Ba¬ 
ron  Hotham,  of  a  daugh¬ 
ter. 

Nov.  1  •  Her  Majefty  the  Queen  of 
Sweden,  of  a  Prince. 

Right  Hon.  Lady  Paget,  of 
a  fon. 

Hon.  Lady  Bridget  Bouve- 
rie,  of  a  fon. 


IS  TER,  1778. 

;c.  1.  Right  Hon.  Lady  Mcunt* 
ftewart,  of  a  fon  and 
heir. 

Right  Hon,  the  Countefs 
of  Tankerville,  of  a  fon. 

Right  Hon.  Lady  de  Fer¬ 
rers,  of  a  fon. 

19.  The  Queen  of  Fi  ance,  of  a 
Princefs,  baptized  thp 
fame  day,and  named  Ma¬ 
ria  Therefa-Charlotta. 

Right  Hon,  Countefs  of 
Dumfries  and  Stair,  of  a 
daughter. 


MARRIAGES.  1778. 

Jan.  8.  Sir  George  Smyth,  Bart. 

to  Mifs  Curzon,  neice  to 
Lord  Scarfdale. 

12.  Hon  Mr.  Fane,  to  Mifs 
Batfon,  of  Dalilh,  in 
Dorfetfhire. 

Sir  Edmund  Bacon,  Bart, 
to  Mifs  Beauchamp;  and 
at  the  fame  time,  John 
Cuftance,  Efq.  to  Mifs 
F.  Beauchamp,  both 
daughters  of  the  late  Sir 
William  Beauchamp,  Bt. 

20.  Henry  John  Kearney,  Efq. 
to  Lady  Augufta  Bryd- 
ges,  lifter  to  the  Duke  of 
Chandos. 

29.  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of 

Suffex,  to  Mifs  Vaughan, 
of  Briftol. 

30.  Right  Hon,  Earl  Winter- 

ton,  to  Mifs  EHz.  Arm- 
ftrong,  of  Godalmin, 
Surry 

Feb,  2.  James  Fenton  Efq.  of 
Leeds,  to  Mifs  Tho- 
mafine  Ibbetfon,  daugh¬ 
ter 


2 1 


CHRONICLE. 


ter  of  the  late  Sir  Harry 
Ibbetfon,  Bart. 

6.  Lieut.  Gen.  Sir  Robert  Ha¬ 
milton,  Bart,  to  Mifs 
Heathcote,  filler  of  Sir 
Gilbert  Heathcote,  Bart. 

17.  William  Drake  Junior, 
Efq.  member  for  Amer- 
fham,  to  Mifs  Hufifey, 
only  daughter  of  Willi¬ 
am  Huffey,  Efq.  member 
fo-  Salifbury. 

22.  Philip,  eldeft  fon  of  Sir 
John  Anfiruther,  Bart, 
to  Mifs  Paterfon,-daugh- 
ter  of  Sir  John  Paterfon, 
Bart. 

March  1.  Lately  Thomas  Hooper, 
Efq.  to  Mifs  Newton, 
daughter  of  Sir  Gilbert 
Newton,  Bart. 

5.  Sir  Thomas  Beauchamp 

Prodlor,  Bart,  to  the  fe- 
cond  daughter  of  Robert 
Palmer,  Efq. 

6.  The  Lord  Chief  Baron  of 

the  Exchequer,  to  lyl ifs 
Burn. 

24.  John  Lewis,  Efq.  of  Harp- 
ton  Court,  Radnorfhire, 
to  Mifs  Ann  Frankland, 
one  of  rhe  daughters  of 
Admiral  Sir  Thomas 
Frankland,  Bart. 

April  4.  Duke  of  Hamilton  and 
Brandon,  to  Mifs  Eliz. 
Ann  Burrel,  youngeft 
daughter  to  the  late  Peter 
Burrel,  Efq. 

16.  Hon.  Lionel  Damer,  Efq.  to 
Mifs  Willinza  Janften. 

Robert  Pope  Blackford, 
Efq.  of  the  ifle  of  Wight, 
to  the  daughter  of  Sir 
Fitzwilliams  Barrington, 
Bart,  of  the  fame  ifiand. 

Sir  Arch.  Edmonftone,  Bt. 
to  Mifs  Eleathcote. 


[219 

Sir  Harry  Trelawney,  Bart, 
to  Mifs  Ann  Brown. 

Hon.  Charles  Sutton,  to 
Mifs  Thorfton,  of  Bel- 
vour. 

17.  William  Strickland,  Efq. 
eldeft  fon  to  Sir  Wil¬ 
liam  Strickland,  Bart,  to 
Mifs  Cholmley,  of  How- 
(ham. 

19.  Hon.  Mr.  Stuart,  fecond 
fon  to  the  Earl  of  Bute, 
to  the  Hon.  Mifs  Ber¬ 
tie. 

26.  Hon.  Hugh  Somerville,  to 

Mifs  Mary  Dig  by. 

27.  Hon  Temple  Luttrelf, 

member  for  Milbourn- 
Port,  and  fecond  fon  to 
Lord  Irnham,  to  Mifs 
Gould,  daughter  of  Sir- 
Henry  Gould* -one  of  the 
Judges  of  the  Common- 
Pleas. 

May — .  Robert  Nicholes,  Efq. 

to  Mifs  Charlotte  Frank¬ 
land,  daughter  of  Admi¬ 
ral  Sir  Thomas  Frank¬ 
land,  Bart. 

Nich.  Loftus  Tottenham, 
Efq.  a  member  in  the 
Irilh  parliament,  to  Mifs 
May,  daughter  of  Sir 
James  May,  Bart. 

June  3.  Sir  Watts  Horton,  Bart,  to 
the  Hon.  Mifs  Harriet 
Stanley,  filler  to  the  Earl 
of  Derby. 

4.  - — Smith,  Efq.  of  Heath, 
near  Wakefield,  to  Lady 
GeorgianaFitzroy,  eldeft: 
daughter  to  the  Duke 
of  Grafton. 

27.  At  Dublin,  Sir  Cornwallis 
Maude,  Bart,  to  Mil's  Ifa» 
bella  Monk. 

J«»j  2.  William  Bacon  Forfter, 
Efq.  to  Lady  Catherine 
Tourner, 


220]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Tourner,  fecond  daughter 
to  Lord  Winterton. 

22.  Sir  George  Oiborne,  Bart, 
to  Lady  Heneage  Finch, 
daughter  to  the  late  Earl 
of  Winchelfea. 

Hugh  Montgomery,  Efq. 
of  the  County  of  Fer¬ 
managh,  in  Ireland,  to 
the  Hon.  Mifs  Achefon, 
daughter  to  Lord  Gof- 
ford. 

Sir  He&or  Mackenzie,  of 
Gairlock,  Bart,  to  Mifs 
Chalmers. 

Sept.  16.  John  Stuart,  Efq.  eldeft 
fon  of  Sir  John  Stuart, 
Bart,  to  Mifs  Coutts. 

21.  The  Hon.  Col.  Harcourt, 
only  brother  of  Earl 
Harcourt,  to  Mrs,  Lock¬ 
hart,  relift  of  Thomas 
Lockhart,  Efq.  of  Craig- 
Houfe,  in  Scotland,  and 
eldeft  daughter  of  Wil¬ 
liam  Danby,  Efq.  of 
Brompton. 

Rev.  Mr.  Harrington,  of 
Norwich,  to  the  Hon. 
Mifs  Louifa  Fortefcue. 

Oct.  20.  Edward  Foley,  Efq.  bro¬ 
ther  to  Lord  Foley,  to 
Lady  Ann  Margaret  Co¬ 
ventry,  youngeft  daugh¬ 
ter  of  the  Earl  of  Coven¬ 
try. 

Nov. — .  Hon.  Capt.  James  Rofs, 
fon  of  the  Earl  of  Rofs, 
to  Mifs  Rhoda  Tradgold, 
of  Warwickfhire. 

John  Milnes,  Efq.  of 
.Wakefield,  to  Lady  Ra¬ 
chel  Bruce  daughter  to 
the  late  Lord  Elgin. 

George  Powell,  Efq.  to  the 
Right  Hon.  Lady  Ann 
Stratford,  daughter  of 
the  late  Earl  of  Aldbo- 
rough. 


Lieut.  Col.  Woodford,  of 
the  firil  regiment  of  foot 
guards,  to  the  Counted 
Dowager  of  We  it  more - 
land. 

Dec.  3.  The  Right  Hon.  George 
Vifcount  Middleton,  of 
Ireland,  to  the  Hon  Fran¬ 
ces  Pelham,  daughter  of 
the  Right  Hon.  i  homas 
Lord  Pelham,  of  Stan- 
mer,  in  Suifex. 

17.  The  Hon.  Mr.'  Finch,  bro¬ 
ther  to  the  Earl  of  Ayles- 
fo  rd,  to  Mifs  jane  Wynne, 
of  Voylafs,  in  Den  big h- 
fhire. 

Sir  John  Tayler,  Bart,  of 
St.  George’s  Hanover- 
fquare,  to  Mifs  Eliz. 
Goodin  Haughton,  of 
Mary- le -bone. 


Principal  Promotions  for  the 
Tear  1778. 

Jan.  6.  The  King  has  been 
pleafed  to  order  his  Conge  d’Eiire 
to  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Exeter, 
for  the  election  of  a  bifhop  for  that 
fee,  the  fame  being  void  by  the 
death  of  Dr.  Frederick  Keppel, 
late  bifhop  thereof,  and  to  recom¬ 
mend  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Rofs  to 
be  by  them  elefted. — Rev.  Robert 
Foley,  D.  D.  Dean  of  Worcefter, 
void  by  the  promotion  of  the  Lion, 
and  Rev.  William  Digby,  to  the 
Deanery  of  Durham. — Hon.  and 
Rev.  John  Harley,  D.  D.  Dean 
of  Windfor,  with  the  Deanery  of 
Wolverhampton  and  regiftryof  the 
Garter  annexed ;  void  by  the  death 
of  the  late  Bifhop  of  Exeter. — Mr. 
Arch.  Campbell,  one  of  the  clerks 
of  feffion,  appointed  foie  clerk  of 
the  regifters,  &c,  in  room  of  Mr. 

William 


CHRONICLE.  [22r 


William  Kirkpatrick,  deceafed. — 
His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Hamilton, 
keeper  of  Linlithgow-palace,  and 
Blacknefs'Caftle,  in  Scotland,  with 
the  power  of  appointing  deputies. 
— George  Heathcote,  Efq.  acorn- 
miffioner  of  taxes,  vice  Thomas 
Wyndham,  Efq.  deceafed. 

Admiralty  Office,  Jan .  23.  His 
Majefty  was  this  day  pleafed  to  or¬ 
der  the  following  promotions  of 
flag  officers  of  his  Majefty’s  fleet. 
John  Reynolds,  Efq.  Sir  Hugh 
Pallifer,  Bart.  Hon.  John  Byron, 
and  the  Right  Hon.  Auguftus  John 
Earl  of  Briftol,  Rear  Admirals  of 
the  White,  to  be  Rear  Admirals 
of  the  Red. — George  Mackenzie, 
Efq.  Matthew  Barton,  Efq.  and 
Sir  Peter  Parker,  Knt.  Rear  Ad¬ 
mirals  of  the  Blue,  to  be  Rear 
Admirals  of  the  White. — And  the 
following  Captains  were  alfo  ap¬ 
pointed  Flag  Officers  of  his  Ma¬ 
jefty’s  fleet,  viz.  Hon.  Samuel 
Barrington,  Marriot  Arbuthnot, 
Efq.  Robert  Roddam,  Efq.  and 
George  Darby,  Efq.  to  be  Rear 
Admirals  of  the  White. —John 
Campbell,  Efq.  Chriftopher  Hill, 
Efq.  James  Gambier,  Efq.  Wil¬ 
liam  Lloyd,  Efq.  Francis  William 
Drake,  fifq.  Sir  Edward  Hughes, 
Knt.  and  Hyde  Parker,  fen.  Efq. 
to  be  Rear  Admirals  of  the  Blue. 

Admiralty  Office,  Jan.  29.  His 
Majelly  was  this  day  pleafed  to 
order  the  following  promotion  of 
Flag  Officers  of  his  Majefty’s 
fleet,  viz. —  Sir  Charles  Hardy, 
Knt.  Right  Hon.  George  Earl  of 
Northefk,  Sir  Thomas  Pye,  Knt. 
Francis  Geary,  Efq.  Admirals  of 
the  Blue,  to  be  Admirals  of  the 
White. — Sir  George  Bridges  Rod¬ 
ney,  Bart.  James  Young,  Efq. 
Vice  Admirals  of  the  Red,  to  be 
Admirals  of  the  White. — SirPiercy 


Brett,  Knt.  Sir  John  Moore,  Bart* 
and  K.  B.  Sir  James  Douglafs, 
Knt.  Right  Hon.  George  Lord 
Edgecumbe,  Samuel  Graves,  Efq. 
William  Parry,  Efq.  Hon.  Au¬ 
guftus  Keppel,  John  Amherft,  Efq* 
his  Royal  Highnefs  Henry  Frede¬ 
rick  Duke  of  Cumberland,  Vice 
Admirals  of  the  Red,  to  be  Ad¬ 
mirals  of  the  Blue  — Sir  Peter 
Dennis,  Bart.  Matthew  Buckle, 
Efq.  Robert  Man,  Efq.  Clark 
Gayton,  Efq.  John  Montagu,  Efq. 
Vice  Admirals  of  the  White,  to  be 
Vice  Admirals  of  the  Red. — Right 
Hon.  Waffiington  Earl  Ferrers, 
Hugh  Pigot,  Efq.  Right  Hon. 
Molineaux  Lord  Shuldam,  Vice 
Admirals  of  the  Blue,  to  be  Vice 
Admirals  of  the  White. — John 
Vaughan,  Efq.  Rear  Admiral  of 
the  Red,  to  be  Vice  Admiral  of 
the  White.  —  John  Lloyd,  Efq. 
Robert  Duff,  Efq.  Rear  Admirals 
of  the  Red,  to  be  Vice  Admirals 
of  the  Blue. — John  Reynolds,  Efq. 
Sir  Hugh  Pallifer,  Bart.  Hon. 
John  Byron,  Right  Hon.  Auguftus 
John  Earl  of  Briftol,  Rear  Admi¬ 
rals  of  the  Red,  to  be  Vice  Admi¬ 
rals  of  the  Blue. — George  Mac¬ 
kenzie,  Efq.  Matthew  Barton^ 
Efq.  Sir  Peter  Parker,  Knt.  Hon. 
Samuel  Barrington,  Rear  Admi¬ 
rals  of  the  White,  to  be  Rear  Ad-* 
mirals  of  the  Red. — John  Camp¬ 
bell,  Efq.  Chriftopher  Hill,  Efq. 
Rear  Admirals  of  the  Blue,  to  be 
Rear  Admirals  of  the  WThite. 

Feb.  —  John  Durbin,  Efq. 
Mayor  of  BriftoL  to  the  honour 
of  Knighthood. — Thomas  Dam- 
pier,  clerk,  to  the  twelfth  prebend 
in  the  cathedral  church  of  Chrift 
and  the  bleffed  Virgin  Mary  in 
Durham.-— John  Charles  Brooke, 
Efq.  to  be  Somerfet-herald. — Sa¬ 
muel  Hood,  Efq.  to  be  one  of  the 

Com- 


222]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177  S. 


Commiffioners  of  Kis  Majedy’s 
yard  at  Portsmouth. 

April  5.  Frederick  Earl  of  Car- 
lifle,  Knight  of  the  Thiftle, 
Richard  Lord  Vifcount  Howe,  Sir 
William  Howe,  Knight  of  the 
Bath,  Lieut.  Gen.  of  his  Majedy’s 
forces  in  North  America  only, 
William  Eden,  Efq.  one  of  the 
Commiffioners  for  trade  and  plan¬ 
tations,  and  George  Johndone, 
Efq.  Captain  in  the  royal  navy,  to 
be  his  Majedy’s  Commiffioners  to 
treat,  confult,  and  agree  upon  the 
means  of  quieting  the  diforders 
now  fubfiding  in  certain  of  his 
Majefty’s  colonies,  plantations,  and 
provinces  in  North  America, 

—  20.  Sir  John  Griffin  Griffin, 
K.  B.  appointed  Adjut.  Gen.  of 
his  Majefty’s  forces,  in  the  room  of 
Gen.  Hervey,- — Lord  Adam  Gor¬ 
don,  Governor  of  Tin  mouth.— 
Sir  John  Williams,  Knt.  and  Edw. 
Hunt,  Efq.  Surveyors  of  the 
navy.— Lieut.  Gen.  Rt.  Monck- 
ton.  Governor  of  Portfmouth.— 
Lieut.  Gen.  Alexander  Mackay, 
Governor  of  Landguard  -  fort, — 
Francis  Fuller,  Efq.  to  be  one 
of  the  Judges  in  the  court  of 
King’s-bench,— Samuel  Hood,  of 
Catherington,  in  the  county  of 
Southampton,  Efq.  to  the  dignity 
of  a  Baronet  of  the  kingdom  of 
Great  Britain.  —  Sir  Richard 
Bickerton,  Knt.  Captain  in  his 
Majedy’s  navy,  to  the  dignity  of 
a  Baronet  of  the  kingdom  of  Great 
Britain.- — Hon.  Daines  Barring¬ 
ton,  to  be  fecond  Judice  of  Che f- 
ter.-— James  Hayes,  Efq.  to  be  hrd 
Judice  of  Anglefey,  Caernarvon, 
and  Merionethihire. --Thomas  Pot¬ 
ter,  Efq.  to  be  fecond  Judice  of  the 
aforefaid  counties. 

JVar-Ojfice,  April  21,  Lieut, 
Gen,  Frederick  Haldimand,  is  ap¬ 


pointed  Lieut.  Gov.  of  Quebec, 
vice  Sir  Guy  Carleton. — Captain 
William  Browne,  of  the  Invalids, 
to  be  Governor  of  Upnor,  vice 
James  Murray, — Gen.  Sir  John 
Mordaunt,  to  be  Governor  of  Ber¬ 
wick,  vice  Sir  John  Clavering. — 
Lieut.  Gen.  Francis  Craig  to  be 
Governor  at  Sheernefs,  vice  Sir 
John  Mordaunt, 

May  28.  The  following  officers 
were  appointed  to  the  Staff, 
viz.  Gen.  Amherd,  Lieut.  Ge¬ 
nerals  Pierfon  and  James  Johnfon  ; 
with  Major  Generals  Sir  David 
Lind  fey,  Amherd,  Sloper,  Ward, 
and  Calcraft. — -Lieut.  Gen.  Sir 
James  Adolphus  Oughton,  to  be 
commander  of  the  forces  in  North 
Britain,  and  alfo  of  the  cattles, 
forts,  and  barracks  there, 

June  1.  Rev,  William  Courte¬ 
nay,  of  Ken,  in  Devonfhire,  and 
William  Courtenay  the  younger, 
Efq.  to  the  office  of  making,  writ¬ 
ing,  and  engrodng,  all  writs  of 
fubpcena  iffuing  out  of  the  high 
court  of  Chancery,  commonly 
called  the  fubpcena  office  in  Chan¬ 
cery.— Edward  Thurlow,  Efq.  to 
the  dignity  of  a.  Baron  of  the 
kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  by  the 
name,  dile,  and  title  of  Baroii 
Thurlow,  of  Alhfield,  in  the  county 
of  Suffolk. — Right  Hon.  Edward 
Lord  Thurlow,  to  be  one  of  his 
Majedy’s  mod  honourable  Privy 
council,  and  Lord  High  Chan¬ 
cellor  of  Great  Britain. 

4.  Yederday  a  chapter  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Garter,  was  held  at 
St.  James’s,  to  fill  up  the  vacancies 
therein  by  the  death  of  the  Duke 
of  Kingdon,  Lord  Albemarle,  and 
Lord  Chederheld,  when  the  Earls 
of  Suffolk  and  Rochford,  and 
Lord  Vifcount  Weymouth,  were 
appointed. 


Lord 


C  H  R  O  N  I  C  L  E.  [223 


Lord  North  to  the  office  of  Con- 
ftable  of  his  Majefty’s  caftle  of  Do¬ 
ver  ;  and  alfo  the  office  of  warden 
and  keeper  of  his  Majefty’s  Cinque 
Ports  ;  and  the  office  of  admiralty 
within  the  faid  Cinque  Ports,  and 
their  Members ;  and  likewife  all 
wrecks  of  fea  whatfoever. 

—  io.  Aiex. Wedderburne,  Efq. 
to  be  his  Majefty’s  Attorney- 
general. —  James  Wallace,  Efq. 
to  be  his  Majefty’s  Solicitor- 
general. — Walter  Pye,  and  Wil¬ 
liam  Buller,  Efqrs.  to  the  office 
of  Chafe  Wax  in  Chancery. — 
Daniel  de  Laval,  Efq.  to  be  his 
Majefty’s  Envoy  Extraordinary  at 
thecourt  of  Copenhagen. --Thomas 
Wroughton,  Efq.  to  be  his  Ma¬ 
jefty’s  Envoy  Extraordinary  at  the 
court  of  Stockholm.  —  Richard 
Oakes,  Efq.  to  be  his  Majefty’s 
Minifter  Plenipotentiary  at  the 
court  of  Warfaw. — Benjamin  Lan- 
glois,  Efq.  to  be  Keeper  of  his 
Majefty’s.  ftores,  ordnance,  and 
ammunition  of  war. — Henry  Stra- 
chey,  Efq.  to  be  clerk  of  the  de¬ 
livery  and  deliverance  of  all  man¬ 
ner  of  artillery,  ammunition,  and 
other  neceftaries  whatfoever  apper¬ 
taining  to  his  .Majefty’s  office  of 
ordnance. 

July  7.  Martin  Whiffi,  Efq.  to 
be  Commiffioner  of  the  Stamp  Of¬ 
fice,  vice  -  Blair,  Efq  re- 

figned. — Marquiisof  Carmarthen, 
to  be  Lord  Lieutenant  and  Cullos 
Rotulorum  of  the  Baft  Riding  of 
Yorklhire. — Dr.  Colman,  Matter 
of  Bennet  -  college.,  Cambridge, 
vice  Dr.  Barnardilton,  deceafed  — - 
Dr.  Farmer,  Mailer  of  Emanuel- 
college,  Principal  Librarian  of 
the  Univerfity  of  Cambridge,  vice 
Dr.  Barnardillon,  deceafed. 

—  2  ,.  1  he  dignity  of  a  Baro¬ 
net  of  Great  Britain,  unto  the 


following  gentlemen,  and  to  their 
heirs-male,  viz.  the  Right  Lion. 
Richard  Heron,  youngeit  fon .  of 
Robert  Heron,  of  Newark  upon 
Trent,  in  the  county  of  Notting¬ 
ham,  Efq.  and  in  default  of  iftue, 
to  Thomas  Heron,  of  Chilhain- 
Caftle,  in  the  county  of  Kent, 
Efq.  eldeft  furviving  fon  and  heir- 
male  of  the  faid  Robert  Heron, 
and  to  his  heirs  male.  Georgs 
Wombwell,  ofWombvvell,  in  the 
county  of  York,  Efq.  William 
James,  of  Park  Farm  Place,  EL 
tham,  in  the  county  of  Kent,  Efq, 
Edward  Lloyd,  of  Pengwern,  in 
the  county  of  Flint,  Efq.  and  in. 
default  of  iftue  to  Bell  Lloyd,  of 
Bodfack,  in  the  county  of  Montgo¬ 
mery,  Efq.  and  to  his  heirs  male.- 
John  Coghill,  of  Coghill-hall, 
in  the  Weft-Riding  of  the  county 
of  York,  Efq.  John  Taylor,  of 
Lyfton  Hall,  in  the  iftand  of  Ja¬ 
maica,  Efq.  James  Riddell,  of 
Ardnamorchan  and  Sunark,  in  the 
fhire  of  Argyll,  Doctor  of  Laws. 
Csefar  Hawkins,  of  Kelfton,  in 
the  county  of  Sornerfet,  Efq. 
Richard  Jebb,  of  Trent  Place, 
near  Eaft  Barnet,  in  the  county  of 
Middlefex,  Dodlor  of  Phyfick. 
Sir  john  f^lliott,  of  Peebles,  Knt. 
Doctor  of  Phyfick.  Henry  Lip- 
pencot,  of  Stoke  Riihop,  Glcu- 
cefterfhire,  Efq. — Rev.  Mr.  Faw- 
cet,  to  be  a  Prebend  of  Durham. 
Rev.  Mr.  Fotheringham,  to  be 
Archdeacon  of  Coventry.  Rev. 
Mr.  Arnold,  to  be  Precentor  of 
Litchfield.  Rev.  Mr.  Heflop,  to 
be  a  Prebend  of  Lincoln. 

Aug.  18.  Charles  Middleton, 
Efq.  to  be  Comptroller  of  his  Ma¬ 
jelty’s  Navy,  in  the  room  of  Maurice 
Suckling,  Efq.  deceafed. — -Charles 
Winftone,  Efq.  to  be  Attorney 
General  of  and  in  his  Majefty’s 

iftand 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


224] 

ifland  of  Dominica.  —  Thomas 
Yeo,  Efq.  to  be  Solicitor  General 
of  and  in  the  faid  ifland  of  Domi¬ 
nica. — The  dignity  of  a  Baronet 
of  Great  Britain  unto  Jofeph  Cop¬ 
ley,  of  Sprotbrough,  in  the  county 
of  York,  Efq.  grandfon  and  heir 
of  the  late  Sir  Godfrey  Copley, 
Bart,  and  to  his  heirs  male. 

•  Oft.  3.  William  John,  Marquifs 
of  Lothian,  elefted  one  of  the  fix- 
teen  peers  to  vote  in  the  Britilh  par¬ 
liament  for  Scotland,  in  the  room 
of  Charles,  Lord  Vifcount  Irwine. 
- — Thomas  Allan,  Efq.  to  be  a 
Commiflioner  of  the  Cuftoms,  in 
the  room  of  Corbyn  Morris,  Efq. 

—  17.  James  Marriott,  D.  L. 
Official  Principal  Commiffary  Ge¬ 
neral,  and  Special  Lieutenant, 
Prefident and  judge,  of  the  High 
Court  of  Admiralty,  vice  Sir 
George  Hay,  deceafed.  He  was 
at  the  fame  time  knighted. — -Peter 
Calvert,  LL.  D.  Dean  of  the 
Arches,  and  Judge  of  the  Prero¬ 
gative  Court  of  Canterbury,  vice 
Dr.  Hay.  —  William  Wynne, 
LL.  D.  Vicar  General  of  the  Pro¬ 
vince  of  Canterbury,  vice  Dr. 
Calvert.  He  is  likewife  appoint¬ 
ed  his  Majefty’s  Advocate  General 
in  all  matters  ecclefiailical  and 
marine.  —  Rev.  Robert  Clive, 
M.  A.  Prebendary  of  St.  Peter’s, 
Weftminfter,  vice  Dr.  Thomas 
Patrick  Young,  deceafed. 

—  27.  Dignity  of  a  Baronet  of 
Great  Britain,  to  Sir  Robert  Gun¬ 
ning,  K.  B.  of  Eltham,  in  Kent, 
and  to  his  iffue. 

Nov.  20.  Laurence  Hill,  Efq. 
deputy  to  the  Clerk  of  his  Ma- 
jefty’s  Rolls,  and  Regitter  of  Sea- 
iines,  & c.  within  the  regalities  of 
Glafgow  and  Paifly.  William 
Frazer,  Efq.  Commifiary  of  the 
CoromilTaiiot  of  Invernefs.-- Lord 


Vifc.  Stormont,  Juftice  General  of 
Scotland,  vice  D.  of  Queenfberry. 
——John  Flockart,  Efq.  Keeper  of 
the  General  Regifter  of  the  Horn¬ 
ings,  vice  Sir  Archibald  Grant,  de¬ 
ceafed. — William  Fawkener,  one 
of  the  Clerks  of  the  Privy-council, 
vice  W.  Blair,  Efq.  refigned.— 
Thomas  Percy,  D.  D.  Dean  of 
Carlifle,  vice  Dr.  Thomas  Wilfon, 
deceafed.-— John  Larpent,  Junior, 
Efq.  Examiner  of  all  Plays,  & c. 
vice  William  Chetwynd,  Efq.  de¬ 
ceafed. 

—  29.  The  Right  Hon.  Lord 
Vifc.  Stormont,  and  John  Way, 
of  Lincoln’s-inn-fields,  Efq.  t6  the 
office  of  Chief  Clerk  of  the  King’s 
bench,  &c.  in  the  room  of  William 
Lee,  Efq.  and  Jonn  Antonie,  Efq. 
both  deceafed. 

Dec. — -.  Duke  of  Northumber¬ 
land,  Mailer  of  the  Horfe,  vice 

Duke  of  Ancaller,  deceafed. _ 

Right  Hon.  Charles  Jenkinfon, 
to  be  his  Majefty’s  Secretary  at 
war. — James  Crauford,  Efq.  to 
be  his  Majefly’s  Agent  for^Rot- 
terdam,  Dordrecht,  &c.  in  Hol¬ 
land. — Right  Rev.  Robert,  Bifhop 
ot  Kill  aloe,  to  the  Archbi/Iioprick 
of  Dublin.  —  Rev.  Dr.  George 
Chinnery,  to  the  Bilhopricks  of 
Killaloe  and  ICiifenora.— Duke  of 
Ancafter,  Lieutenant  of  thecounty 
and  cicv  or  Lincoln,  in  room  of  the 
late  Duke. — -Rear  Adm.  Sir  Edw. 
Hughes,  in  veiled  with  the  Order 
of  the  Bath. 


DEATHS,  1778. 

Jan.  1.  Lad  month.  His  Serene 
Highnefs  Maximilian  Jofeph,  elec¬ 
tor  of  Bavaria,  of  the  fmall  pox,  in 
the  5111  year  of  his  age. 


12.  Laft 


CHRONICLE.  [ 


12.  Lad  week  the  Hon.  Lady 
Catherine  Lowther,  relift  of  the 
late  Sir  William  Lowther,  Bart. 

Sir  Griffith  Boyntun,  Bart. 

15.  Right  Hon.  Lady  George 
Germaine. 

27.  Hon.  Mr.  Filzmaurice, 
voungeft  fon  of  the  Earl  of  Shel- 
Iburne. 

At  Tunis,  the  Confort  of  Side 
Mullapha  Coggia,  and  daughter 
of  the  Bey. 

Right  Hon.  the  Countefs  of 
Eglir.gton. 

Sir  Hanfon  Berney,  of  Norfolk, 
Bart. 

Feb.  — ,  Lately,  Hon.  Richard 
Dawfon,  elded  fen  of  Lord  Dar- 
trey,  at  Cambridge. 

5.  Lady  Auguda  Corbet,  daugh¬ 
ter  of  the  Earl  of  Bute. 

RightHon.  Dowager  Lady  Aber¬ 
gavenny. 

6.  Lady  of  Sir  Walden  Han- 
mer,  Bart. 

7.  Lieut  Gen  Vernon,  Lieut. 
Governor  of  the  Tower. 

12.  Admiral  Arnherd,  brother 
of  Lord  Arnherd. 

In  Italy,  Lady  Louifa  Mann. 

Lord  Mexborough. 

25  Right  Hon.  Andrew,  Lord 
Archer,  recorder  of  Coventry. 
His  Lordfhip  married  Sarah,  elded 
daughter  of  the  late  James  Weil* 
Efq;  of  Alfcott,  and  has  left  four 
daughters. — Dying  without  male 
iffue,  the  title  is  extinft. 

March  1.  Sir  Richard  Adon, 
Knt.  one  of  the  Judges  of  the 
KingVbench. 

Right  Hon.  the  Countefs  of 
Wemys. 

Sir  John  Elvvyll,  Bart. 

4..  Sir  Thomas  Hefketh,  Bart, 

II.  Sir  Charles  Mordaunt,  Bt. 

27.  Hon.  Lieut.  Gen.  Hervey, 
Governor  of  Portfmouth,  and  mem¬ 
ber  for  Harwich. 

Vol.  XXL 


Right  Hon.  Lady  Vifcountefs 
Mountgarret,  at  Paris, 

April  c,  Marmaduke  Jpord  Langa 
dale,  the  fifth  of  that  title,  who 
having  nd  .ale  iffue,  the  title  be¬ 
comes  extinft. 

Right  Hon.  Charles  Ingram, 
Vifcount  Irwin,  Lord  Ingram,  of 
Irvine,  one  of  the  fixteen  peers  of 
Scotland.  ' 

Sir  William  Fownes,  Bart,  of 
the  kingdom  of  Ireland. 

The  Right  Hon.  Thomas  Coch¬ 
ran;,  Earl  of  Dundonald  and  Lord 
Cochran,  at  Lamancha  in  Scot¬ 
land. 

10.  Sir  John  Clavering,  K.  B„ 
Lieut.  General  of  his  MajedyT 
forces,  Colonel  of  the  5  2d  regi¬ 
ment  of  foot,  fecond  in  council, 
and  commander  in  chief  of  the 
forces  in  Bengal. 

30.  Hon.  Mrs.  Wrottefley, 
mother  to  the  Duchefs  of  Graf¬ 
ton: 

May  i o.  The  Right  Hon.  "Wil¬ 
liam  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham,  Vifc. 
Pitt,  of  Burton  Pynfent,  in  Som- 
merfetfhire,  at  his  feat  at  Hayes,  iri 
Kent.  I  See  the  Appendix.  ] 

12.  Right  Hon  the  Countefs 
Dowager  of  Traquair. 

13.  Right  Hon.  the  Countefs 
Dowager  of  Strathmore. 

16,  Right  Hon.  Robert  D’Arcy* 
Earl  of  Holderneife,  Lord  B*ArcyP 
Lord  Warden  and  Admiral  of  the 
Cinque  Ports,  Governor  of  Dover- 
cadle.  Lord  Lieutenant  of  ths 
North  Riding  of  York Oi ire,  and 
Vice  Admiral  of  the  fame,  Keeper 
of  the  Liberty  and  Fdreft  of  Rich¬ 
mond,  Conftabie  of  Middleham- 
cattle  in  Yorkshire,  and  a  Gover¬ 
nor  of  the  Charterhoufe. 

24.  Sir  Conyers  Jocelyh,  Bart. 

At  Florence,  the  Archduke 
Maximilian,  the  fifth  of  the  Princes 
of  the  houfe  of  Tufcany. 

t  n  Rig** 


226]  ANNUAL  RE 

Right  Hon  Countefs  Dowager 
of  Granard. 

June  3.  Right  Hon.  James  Earl 
of  Errol,  hereditary  Lord  High 
Condable  of  Scotland.  He  was 
the  elded  fon  of  Lord  Kilmar¬ 
nock,  beheaded  in  1746  for  high 
treafon,  and  fucceeded  to  the  Earl¬ 
dom  of  Errol  in  right  of  his  mother. 

6.  Mr.  Lowth,  elded  fon  to  the 
Bifhop  of  London. 

Right  Hon.  Lady  Dowager 
Waltham.  . 

1  .  Sir  Peter  Dennis,  Bart. 
Vice  Admiral  of  the  Red. 

15.  Sir  Cecil  Bidiop,  Bart. 

17.  Mifs  Maria  Catherine  Wil¬ 
liams  Wynne,  youngeft  daughter 
of  Sir  Watkin  Williams  Wynne, 
Bart, 

George  Earl  Mar  dial,  Governor 
cf  Neufchatel,  and  elder  brother 
of  Field  Mardial  Keith,  who  fell 
in  the  Pruffian  fervice,  October  14, 
17^8. 

July — .  Her  Serene  Highnels 
the  Dutchefs  of  Brunfwick Lunen¬ 
burg. 

Princefs  Amelia  D’Ede,  dder  to 
the  Duke  of  Modena. 

Franc  ifco  Salvities  de  Conti 
Guido,  Archbifhop  of  Pifa,  Pri¬ 
mate  of  Sardinia,  Corfica,  &c. 
aged  85  years. 

29.  Right  Hon.  William  Lord 
Crandon. 

Lewis  Charles  Otto,  reigning 
Prince  of  Salm  Salm.  Pie  is  fuc- 
eeeded  by  his  nephew. 

Aug  3.  Right  Hon.  Patrick 
Lord  Elibank. 

7  ,  Sir  T  homas  Flay,  Bart. 

Sir  Lionel  Pilkington,  Bart. 

Right  Hon.  Dowager  Countefs 
of  Wedmoreiand, 

Right  Hon.  Dowager  Vifcoun- 
tsfs  Grimeilone. 


GISTER,  1778. 

Sir  Thomas  Cave,  Bart. 

Lord  Maxwell,  fon  of  the  Right 
Hon.  Earl  Farnham. 

Hon.  Thomas  Chambers  Cecil, 
brother  to  the  Earl  of  Exeter. 

12.  The  mod  noble  Peregrine 
Bertie,  Duke  of  Ancader  and 
Kedeven,  Marquis  and  Earl  of 
Lindfay,  Baron  Willoughby  of 
Erefhy,  and  Hereditary  Lord  Great 
Chamberlain  of  England,  in  the 
65th  year  of  his  age.  His  fiid 
wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  and 
foie  heirefs  of  William  Blundell, 
of  Bafingftoke,  Efq;  and  widow 
of  Sir  Charles  Gunter  Nicol,  with 
whom  he  had  an  immenfe  fortune; 
but  by  her  had  no  ilfue.  By  his 
fecond  wife  Mary,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Panton,  Efq.  he  had  fix 
children,  three  of  whom  are  now 
alive,  namely,  Robert  (now  Duke 
of  Ancader),  Aid-de-camp  to 
Gen  Clinton,  now  in  America, 
Lady  Prifcilla  Barbara  Eliza¬ 
beth,  and  Lady  Georgina  Char¬ 
lotte. 

13.  Sir  George  Lockhart,  Bart, 
at  Bomington,  Scotland. 

22.  At  Bath,  Sir  Charles  Whit¬ 
worth,  Knc.  Lieut.  Gov.  of  Til¬ 
bury-fort,  and  member  for  Saltafh, 
chairman  of  the  committee  of  ways 
and  means,  &c. 

23.  Sir  Charles  Sedley,  Bart. 

Sept.  16.  Lady  Dowager  Chef- 

terdeld. 

Lady  Downing. 

17.  Sir  Francis  Mannock,  Bait. 

The  Hon.  Lieut.  Francis  An- 
druther,  at  Madrafs. 

The  Right  Hon.  Lady  Holland, 
at  Old-Windfor. 

Lady  Wolfeley,  at  Dublin,  re- 
lift  of  the  late  Sir  Richard  Wolfe¬ 
ley  Bart,  filter  of  the  Right  Hon, 
Sir  Capel  Molyneux,  Ban, 

The 


C  H  R  O 

/ 

The  Countefs  of  Thanet,  at  her 
feat  near  Canterbury. 

Lord  William  Campbell,  third 
brother  to  his  Grace  the  Duke  of 
Argyle. 

Prince  Lewis  of  Mecklenburgh 
Schwerin,  brother  to  the  reigning 
duke. 

Sir  Archibald  Grant,  Bart,  at 
his  feat  at  Monymufk,  in  A’ber- 
deenfhire. 

24.  The  Right  Hon  the  Coun¬ 
tefs  of  Lauderdale. 

Lady  of  Sir  William  Draper, 
K.  B. 

Lady  of  Sir  Charlton  Leigh,  Bt. 

Sir  William  Elwes,  Bam 

Lady  of  Sir  William  Codring- 
ton,  Bart. 

Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Cavan, 
Lieut.  General  of  his  Majefly’s 
forces. 

The  only  fon  of  the  Earl  of 
Buckinghamfhire. 

Oft.  1.  The  Hon.  Ann  Arun¬ 
del,  at  Rawden-hill,  near  Chip¬ 
penham,  relift  of  the  Hon.  Thomas 
Arundel,  count  of  the  facred  Ro¬ 
man  Empire,  and  great  aunt  to 
the  prefent  Henry  Lord  Arundel, 
of  Wardour-caftle. 

2.  The  Right  Hon.  Wafhington 
Shirley,  Earl  Ferrers,  Vifcounc 
Tam  worth,  vice  admiral  of  the 
blue  fquadron,  and  F.  R.  S. 

Hon.  Mifs  Amelia  Wilhelmina 
Malefina  Sparre,  only  daughter  of 
the  late  Baron  Sparre,  who  was 
AmbafTador  from  the  Court  of 
Sweden  to  that  of  Great  Bri¬ 
tain. 

6.  Sir  George  Hay,  Judge  of 
the  High  Court  of  Admiralty, 
Dean  of  the  Arches,  Judge  of  the 
Prerogative  Court  of  Canterbury, 
and  Prelident  of  the  College  of 
DoftoLs  of  Law,  exercent  in  the 


N  I  C  L  E.  [227 

Ecclefiaflical  and  Admiralty  :  he 
was  likewife  member  for  the  bo¬ 
rough  of  Newcaille  under  Line, 
in  Staffordshire. 

22.  The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl 
of  Lincoln,  eldell  fon  to  his  Grace 
the  Duke  of  Newcaille.  . 

The  moll  noble  Charles  Doug¬ 
las,  Duke  of  Queenlberry,  in 
Scotland,  alfo  Duke  of  Dover, 
and  Marquis  of  Beverley,  in  Eng¬ 
land,  and  Lord  Juflice  General  111 
Scotland. 

30.  Hon.  Mrs.  Burgefs,  daugh¬ 
ter  to  Lord  Wentworth. 

Right  Hon.  the  Countefs  cf 
Thanet. 

Right  Hon.  Sir  Sydney  Stafford 
Smythe,  late  Baron  of  the  Court 
of  Exchequer.  _ 

The  only  daughter  of  his  Ex¬ 
cellency  Count  Almadovar,  the 
Spam fii  AmbafTador  at  this  court. 

31.  The  Hon.  Lieut.  Col.  John. 
Gordon,  of  the  8 ill  regiment  of 
foot,  at  Kinfale  in  Ireland. 

Colonel  Ackland,  eldeft  fon  of 
Sir  Thomas  Ackland,  Bart,  bro- 
ther-in  law  to  the  Earl  of  il- 
chefler.  Major  of  the  20th  regi¬ 
ment  of  foot,  Colonel  of  the  hrfl 
battalion  of  the  Devonfhire  militia, 
and  Member  of  Parliament  for 
Callington,  in  Cornwall. 

Nov—.  Right  Hon.  the  March!- 
onefs  of  Lothian. 

Sir  John  Douglas,  of  Bullhead, 

Bart. 

Hon.  Mifs  Mary  Eliz.  Napier, 
third  daughter  of  the  late  Lord. 

Rev.  Sir  John  Pefhel,  Bart. 

The  Hon.  Mrs.  Charlotte  Dig* 
by,  at  Thames  Ditton,  Surry,  re¬ 
lift  of  the  Hon.  Edward  Digby, 
Efq;  mother  to  the  prefent  Lord 
Digby,  Baron  of  Sherborne,  1  alt 
furviving  child  cf  Sir  Stephen  Fox, 

1 p )  *  *«• 


228]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


&c.  filler  to  the  late  Earl  of  Ilchef- 
ter  and  Lord  Holland. 

The  Right.  Rev.  Dr.  JohnCrad- 
dock,  Archbifhop  of  Dublin,  and 
Primate  of  Ireland. 

Dec.  6.  Sir  Francis  Skipwith,  Bt. 

Her  Grace  the  Duchefs  of  St. 
Albans. 

The  infant  Charles  Francis, 
Prince  of  Naples,  and  of  the  Two 
Sicilies,  and  heir  of  that  crown,  in 
his  4th  year,  at  Naples. 


The  reigning  Landgrave  of 
Hefife  Rhinfels  Rothemboarg,  at 
Caffe  1,  field  marlhal  in  the  fer- 
vice  of  their  Imperial  Majef- 
ties. 

The  Sultan  Mehmet,  fecond  fon 
of  the  Grand  Signior,  at  Conllan- 
tinople. 

The  lady  of  Lord  Deerhurft,  at 
Ledbury,  in  Herefordlhire,  in  child¬ 
birth. 


A  P  F  E  N- 


[  229  1 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE. 


Abfradl  of  the  ASl  for  granting  to 
his  Majefly  certain  Duties  upon  all 
inhabited  Houfes  within  the  King¬ 
dom  of  Great  Britain . 

THIS  Adi  fets  forth,  that, 
from  and  after  the  j;th  day 
of  July,  1778,  the  feveral  duties 
upon  houfes  fhall  be  charged  and 
paid  unto  his  Majelly  by  the  occu¬ 
piers  thereof  refpedlively ;  (that 
is  to  fay)  upon  and  for  every 
dwelling-houfe  inhabited,  together 
with  the  houfhoid  offices  therewith 
occupied,  which  now  are,  or  fhall 
hereafter  be,  eredled  within  the 
kingdom  of  Great  Eritain,  and 
which  are,  or  for  the  time  being 
fhall  be,  worth  the  yearly  rent  of 
five  pounds  and  upwards,  and 
under  the  yearly  rent  of  fifty 
pounds,  the  yearly  fum  of  fixpence 
in  the  pound  ;  and  upon  and  for 
every  dwelling  houfe  inhabited, 
together  with  the  houfhoid  offices 
therewith  occupied,  which  now 
are,  or  hereafter  (hall  be,  eredled 
within  the  kingdom  of  Great  Bri¬ 
tain,  and  which  are,  or  for  the 
time  being  fhall  be,  worth  the 
yearly  rent  of  fifty  pounds  and  up¬ 
wards,  the  yearly  fum  of  one  lhil- 
ling  in  the  pound,  to  be  eilimated 
and  ascertained  in  manner  herein¬ 
after  exprefi'etf. 


The  duties  in  England  and 
Wales  to  be  paid  quarterly;  and  in 
Scotland  half  yearly. 

And  be  it  further  enadled,  that 
the  duties  granted  by  this  a 61  fhall 
be  charged  only  upon  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  or  occupiers  for  the  time  be¬ 
ing  of  the  houfes  or  tenements,  and 
not  on  the  landlord  or  landlords 
who  let  or  demife  the  fame. 

Warehoufes,  &c.  not  liable  to  the 
new  duty  ;  nor  perfons  who  are  not 
rated  to  church  and  poor. 

It  is  further  enadted,  that  no 
farm -houfe  (hall  be  afieffed  or  rated 
for  the  purpofe  of  railing  the  duty 
herein  mentioned. 

And,  for  the  better  undemand¬ 
ing  what  is  hereby  meant  as  a 
farm-houfe,  it  is  further  declared, 
that  all  houfes  bona  fide  ufed  or 
occupied,  for  the  purpofes  of  huf- 
bandry  only,  fhall  be  deemed  and 
taken  to  be  farm-houfes,  and  no 
other. 

Provided  always,  that  no  fuch 
farm-houfe,  which  fhall  be  occu¬ 
pied  by  the  owner  thereof,  fhall 
be  intitled  to  fuch  exemption, 
which  fhall  be  valued  under  this 
adl  at  more  than  ten  pounds  per 
annum,  dillindl  from  the  land 
therewith  occupied. 

Provided  always,  that  nothing 
herein  contained  fhall  extend,  or 

[p]  3  b? 


» 


2  3  o”]  ANNUAL  R: 

be  conftrued  to  extend,  to  charge 
or  m  ike  liable  any  hofpital,  or 
houle  provided  for  the  reception, 
and  relief  of  poor  perfons  to  the 
payment  of  the  rate  or  duty  to  be 
laid  by  virtue  of  this  act. 


Abflraff  of  an  Adi  of  Parliament  for 
the  better  recruiting  his  Majefy’s 
Land  Forces . 

THE  Juftices  of  Peace,  and 
L'ommiffioners  of  the  land 
tax,  are  appointed  to  put  this  aft 
an  execution,  and  are  impowered, 
within  their  feveral  jurisdictions, 
to  raife  and  levy  all  able-bodied, 
idle,  and  diforderly  perfons,  who 
cannot,  upon  examination,  prove 
themfelves  to  exeryife  and  induliri- 
oufly  follow  fome  lawful  trade  and 
employment,  for  their  Support  and 
maintenance,  to  Serve  his  Ma- 
jeity  as  Soldiers,  and  they  are  to 
order  a  general  Search  within  their 
parifhes  for  all  perfons  anfwering 
jfuch  descriptions  ;  and  all  perfons 
convicted  of  Smuggling,  to  the 
value  not  exceeding  forty  pounds, 
may  be  raifed  and  levied  in  like 
manner  for  Soldiers,  in  lieu  of  the 
prefent  punifhments  they  are  lia¬ 
ble  to.  Able-bodied  men  only  to 
be  inli  led,  and  none  under  17,  or 
above  45  years  of  age.  It  is  drift- 
3y  injoihed,  that  the  inhabitants 
of  the  different  parifhes  Shall  be 
a  Aiding  to  the  Commiflioners,  in 
putting  in  force  this  aft.  And,  as 
an  encouragement  to  the  inha¬ 
bitants,  they  are  to  receive  a  pre¬ 
mium  of  19  s.  for  giving  informa¬ 
tion  of  any  able-bodied  man, 
who  Shall  be  in  con  Sequence  there¬ 
of  apprehended  and  inli  lied.  The 
chief  magnates  ot  cities  to,  in  Spree 


>  G  I  S  T  E  R,  1778. 

this  aft  upon  notice  from  the  Se¬ 
cretary  at  war. 


Amendments  of  the  Lauus  relating  to 
Forgeries . 

IN  confequence  of  the  opinion 
of  the  Judges  in  the  cafe  of 
Mr.  Harrifon,  lately  difeharged 
from  Newgate,  after  conviftion 
for  forgery,  the  legiflature  have 
thought  it  neceffary  to  pafs  an  aft 
this  prefent  feifions,  to  explain  the 
former  law's  on  the  fubjeft  of  for¬ 
geries.  The  new  aft;  declares, 
“  that  if  any  perfon,  from  and  af* 
ter  the  29th  day  of  March,  1778, 
Shall  falfely  make,  alter,  forge, 
or  counterfeit,  or  caufe  or  pro¬ 
cure  to  be  falfely  made,  altered, 
forged  or  counterfeited,  or  wil¬ 
lingly  aid  or  aiiift  in  the  falfe 
making,  altering,  forging,  or 
counterfeiting,  any  acceptance  of 
any  bill  of  exchange,  or  the  num¬ 
ber  or  principal  Turn  of  any  ac-, 
countable  receipt  for  any  note, 
bill,  or  other  fecurity  for  payment 
of  money,  or  any  warrant  or  or¬ 
der  for  payment  of  money  or  de¬ 
livery  of  goods,  with  intention  to 
defraud  any  corporation  whatfoever  | 
or  Shall  utter  or  publilh  as  true 
any  falfe,  altered,  forged,  or  coun¬ 
terfeited  acceptance  of  any  bill  of 
exchange,  or  accountable  receipt 
for  any  note,  bill,  or  other  fecu¬ 
rity  for  payment  of  money,  or  war¬ 
rant  or  order  for  payment  of  mo* 
ney  or  delivery  of  goods,  with  in¬ 
tention  to  detraud  any  corporation 
whatfoever,  knowing  the  fame  to 
be  falfe,  altered,  forged,  or  coun¬ 
terfeited  ;  every  Such  perfon,  being 
thereof  lawfully  convifted.  Shall 
he  deemed  guilty  of  felony,  and 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [23 


fhall  fuffer  death  as  a  felon,  with¬ 
out  benefit  of  clergy. 


Abfradi  of  an  Aft  for  regulating 
Lottery  -Offices . 

TH  E  new  aft  for  regulating 
the  conduft  of  the  lottery, 
and  the  lottery-ofiice-keepers,  re- 
ftrains  any  perfons  from  keeping 
an  office  for  the  fale  of  tickets, 
fhares,  or  chances,  or  for  buying, 
felling,  infuring,  or  regiftering, 
without  a  licence ;  for  which  li¬ 
cence  each  office-keeper  muit  pay 
50 1.  to  continue  in  force  for  one 
year,  and  the  produce  to  be  ap¬ 
plied  towards  defraying  the  ex- 
pences  of  the  lottery.  And  no 
perfon  is  to  be  allowed  to  fell  any 
fhare  or  chance  lefs  than  a  fix- 
teenth,  on  the  penalty  of  50  k 
All  tickets  divided  into  fhares  or 
chances,  are  to  be  depofited  in  an 
office  to  be  eftablifhed  in  London 
by  the  commiffioners  of  the  trea- 
fury,  who  are  to  appoint  a  perfon 
to  conduft  the  bufinefs  thereof ; 
and  all  fhares  are  to  be  ftamped  by 
the  faid  officer,  who  is  to  give  a 
receipt  for  every  ticket  depofited 
with  him.  The  numbers  of  all 
tickets  fo  depofited  are  to  be  en¬ 
tered  in  a  book  with  the  names  of 
the  owners,  and  the  number  of 
fhares  into  which  they  are  divided, 
and  two-pence  for  each  fhare  is  to 
be  paid  to  the  officer  on  depofiting 
fuch  tickets,  who  is  therewith  to 
pay  all  expences  incident  to  the 
office.  All  tickets  depofited  in  the 
office  to  remain  there  three  days  after 
drawing.  And  any  perfon  keep¬ 
ing  an  office,  or  felling  fhares,  or 
who  fhall  publifh  any  fcheme  for 
receiving  monies  in  confideration 
of  any  intereit  ;o  be  granted  in 


any  ticket  in  the  faid  lottery.  Sec. 
without  being  in  poffeffion  of  fuch 
ticket,  fhall  forfeit  500  1.  and  fuf¬ 
fer  three  months  imprifonment. 
And  no  bufinefs  is  to  be  tran- 
fafted  at  any  of  the  offices  after 
eight  in  the  evening,  except  on 
the  evening  of  the  Saturday  pre¬ 
ceding  the  drawing  No  perfon 
to  keep  any  office  for  the  fale  of 
tickets.  See.  in  Oxford  or  Cam¬ 
bridge,  on  penalty  of  20 1. 


Account  of  the  Gold  Coin  brought  into 
the  Mint  from  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  by  the  Proclamations  in 

1773>  *774>  *nd  1776. 

FIRST  proclamation  brought 
in  3,806,435  1.  7  s.  2d.  de¬ 
ficient  more  than  fix  grains  in  a 
guinea. 

Second  proclamation  brought  in 
4,876,171k  18  s.  3d.  deficient 

between  three  and  fix  grains. 

Third  proclamation  brought  in 
6,880,986k  5s.  3d.  deficient  be¬ 
tween  one  and  three  grains. 

Total  15*563,5931.  10s.  8  d. 

Account  of  the  Expence  of  calling  in 
and  recoining  all  the  Gold  Coin 
deficient  more  than  a  Grain  in  a. 
Guinea . 

1.  s.  d. 

EXPENCE  to 
the  Bank  for  melt¬ 
ing  j-  16,786  14  6 

Deficiency  in 

melting  -  3*  1 7,3 1 4  6  II 

Intereft  of  money 
advanced  to  the 
holders  of  gold  coin  23  1,982  17  7 

To  maker  of  the 
mint, for  the  charge 
of  recoining  and 
other  charges  -  115,459  1?  <3 

L'”i  i  '  '  To 


232]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778.’ 


To  fever al  per- 
fops  who  were  ap¬ 
pointed  in  the  fieve- 
ral  c<  a nties  to'tak6 
in  and  exchange 

o 

the  gold  coin,  and 
for  other  charges 
and  expences  — -  72,476  8  o 

Total  754,019  19  9 


N.  B.  The  ]ofs  from  the  defi¬ 
ciency  in  the  coin  brought  in  by 
the  firft  proclamation  (amounting 
nearly  to  500  000  b)  was  tnrown 
era  the  holders  of  the  coin  ;  and 
therefore  could  not  be  included  in 
this  account. 


Account  of  the  King's  <vifts  to  Chat¬ 
ham,  Tortlrnouth,  Winchester, 
Saliloury,  Warley,  and  Cox- 
lieath.  Extracted  from  the  Lon* 
don  Gazettes . 

C  H  A  T  H  A  Ivl . 

/T  N  the  24th  of  April,  his  Ma- 
\  J  jelly,  attended  by  the  Earl 
of  Sandwich,  &c,  embarked  on 
board  the  Auguila  Yacht  at 
Greenwich,  and  arrived  at  Chat¬ 
ham  on  he  25th,  amidft  a  full  cho¬ 
rus  of  il  lipwrights,  who  welcomed 
his  Majefty  with  the  fong  of  ‘  God 
fave  the  King/’  After  taking  a 
lurv  /'of  the  works  as  far  as  time 
would  permit  he  returned  to  his 
yacht  to  dinner,  afterwards  pro¬ 
ceeded  son  his  furvey  till  near 
dark.  Next  day  he  reviewed  the 
fil'd  regiment  of  royals;  held  a 
public  lev  e  at  the  com  mi  Toner’s 
ho,u  ie,  where  he  received  the  officers 
and  neighbouring  gentry ;  and 


where  the  Mayor  and  corporation 
of  Rochefter,  in  their  formalities, 
made  their  compliments  in  a  iliort 
fpeech. 

His  Majeily  the  fame  evening 
went  in  his  barge  on  board  the  Vic¬ 
tory;  upon  his  entering  the  fhip, 
the  royal  ftandard  was  honied,  and 
his  Majeily,  after  having  fpent  up-* 
wards  of  two  hours  in  examining 
the  fame,  returned  to  the  yacht 
about  feven  o’clock,  being  faluted, 
upon  his  leaving  the  Tip,  with  a 
royal  falute  of  twenty-one  guns. 

Monday ,  April  27.  At  nine 
o’clock  his  Majefty  went  again  on 
board  the  Victory,  where  he  had 
a  levee,  when  the  captains  and 
officers  of  his  (hips  at  Sheernefs 
and  the  Nore,  were  preferred  to 
him.  His  Majefty,  after  conti¬ 
nuing  on  board  about  three  quar¬ 
ters  of  an  hour,  went  into  his 
barge,  preceded  by  Rear  Admiral 
Campbell  as  before,  rowed  down, 
to  Sheernefs,  and  landed  in  the 
dock-yard  at  ten  o’clock,  where 
he  was  received  by  Lord  A  inherit* 
the  Commiffioners  of  the  navy,  and 
officers  of  the  yard. 

His  Majefty  afterwards  examin¬ 
ed  the  Tips  fitting  in  the  docks, 
the  batreries^  and  the  naval  and 
ordnance  ftore- houfes.  At  twelve 
o’clock  his  Majefty  left  the  yard, 
and  rowed  to  the  yacht  at  Black- 
ftakes ;  and  as  loon  as  the  tide  was 
made,  at  half-pad  one  o’clock 
weighed  and  failed,  being  faluted 
by  the  Victory,  the  garrifon  of 
Sheernefs,  the  Tips  at  the  Nore, 
and  the  forts,  as  hepaffed.  The 
wind  being  fair  from  the  Nore, 
his  Majefty  landed  at  Greenwich 
at  twelve  at  night,  where  his  car¬ 
riages  and  effort  were  ready  to 
receive  him  ;  and  arrived  in  about 

three 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE. 


three  quarters  of  an  hour  at  St. 
James’s. 

Portsmouth. 

Saturday y  May  2.  His  Majefty 
and  the  Queen  fet  out  at  fix  in  the 
morning  from  the  Queen’s  houfe, 
and  arrived  at  Portfmouth  about 
three  quarters  pall  twelve,  when 
they  were  faluted  by  all  the  guns 
round  the  works  and  the  garrifon. 

Their  Majefties  got  to  the  Com- 
miftioner’s  houfe  about  one  o’clock, 
efcorted  by  a  party  of  the  third  or 
Queen’s  regiment  of  dragoon 
guards.  His  Majefty  was  attended 
by  the  Marquis  of  Lothian,  Gold 
Stick  in  waiting  ;  the  Honourable 
Colonels  St.  John  and  Harcourt, 
two  of  his  Aid  de  Camps;  and 
Lieut.  Gen.  Carpenter,  his  Equer¬ 
ry  in  waiting;  and  her  Majefty  by 
the  Marquis  of  Caermarthen,  Lord 
Chamberlain  of  her  Majefty’s 
houfehold  ;  and  the  Countefs  of 
Egremont,  one  of  the  ladies  of  her 
bed-chamber.  The  ftandard  was 
immediately  hoifted  in  the  dock¬ 
yard,  and  the  workmen  aflembled, 
and  gave  their  Majefties  feveral 
cheers  as  they  paffed.  Their  Ma- 
jefties  were  received  at  the  door  of 
the  Commiflioner’s  houfe  by  the 
Earl  of  Sandwich,  Lord  Am  her  ft, 
Lieut.  Gen.  Monckton,  the  Com- 
miftioners  of  the  navy,  and  the 
Commiffioners  and  Officers  of  the 
yard.  His  Majefty  left  the  houfe 
at  half  paft  five  o’clock  in  the  af¬ 
ternoon,  to  vifit  the  yard  ;  and 
after  viewing  the  fhips  in  docks, 
the  fmith’s-fhop  and  boat-houfe, 
returned  to  the  Commiflioner’s 
houfe  about  feven  o’clock. 

Sunday ,  May  3.  At  ten  o’clock 
their  Majefties  went  to  the  Garri¬ 
fon  Chapel,  where  they  heard  di¬ 
vine  feryice.  After  which  their 


[233 

Majefties  had  a  public  levee  at  the 
Governor’s  houfe,  and  were  waited 
on  by  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and 
Corporation  of  Portfmouth,  with 
their  Addreffes. 

Monday ,  May  4.  The  King  left 
the  yard  at  feven  this  morning, 
and  went  to  the  gun-wharf;  viewed 
the  ordnance  -  itores,  and  ftore- 
houfes  ;  and  returned  to  the  yard 
about  eight  o’clock.  At  a  quar¬ 
ter  paft  nine,  the  Queen  went  in 
the  barge  to  the  yacht,  which  lay 
half  way  to  Spithead.  The  barge 
was  preceded  by  Admiral  Pye,with 
his  flag  flying,  and  followed  by 
the  other  Admirals  and  Captains 
in  their  boats,  drawn  up  in  four 
regular  lines,  and  amounting  to 
flfty  beats.  The  fhips  in  the  har¬ 
bour  were  manned,  and  on  get¬ 
ting  out  of  the  harbour,  the  guns 
of  the  platform,  the  Blockhoufe 
Fort,  and  South  -  fea  Caftle,  fa- 
luted  her  Majefty  as  fhe  paffed. 
Her  Majefty  got  on  board  the 
yacht  at  half  paft  nine.  All  the 
fhips  at  Spithead  were  manned, 
and  the  fleet  faluted  her  Majefty 
with  twenty-one  guns  each.  At  a 
quarter  paft  ten  the  barge  returned 
to  the  dock  yard,  and  his  Ma¬ 
jefty  embarked  on  board  her,  at¬ 
tended  by  the  Admirals  and  Cap¬ 
tains  in  their  boats,  in  the  fame 
manner  as  her  Majefty. 

On  the  King’s  arrival  at  Spit¬ 
head,  all  the  fhips  were  manned, 
and  faluted  his  Majefty.  His  Ma¬ 
jefty  was  rowed  through  the  fleet, 
and  received  three  cheers  as  he 
paffed  each  fhip.  At  half  paft 
eleven,  the  King  went  on  board 
the  Prince  George  of  90  guns, 
(Admiral  Keppel)  where  the  ftan¬ 
dard  was  immediately  hoifted,  the 
fleet  falutingwith  twenty-oneguns 
each. 

The 


2j4]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


The  yacht  with  her  MajeHy  on 
board,  failed  round  the  fleet;  the 
fhips  were  all  manned,  and  gave 
three  cheers  as  the  yacht  palled. 

At  half  paft  twelve  the  fleet 
fainted  the  Queen  with  twenty- 
one  guns  each  fhip,  as  her  Ma- 
jefty  palled  by  the  Prince  George. 
H  is  Majefty,  during  his  hay  on 
board,  faw  the  men  at  their  quar¬ 
ters,  when  they  performed  their 
feveral  exercifes  of  the  great  guns 
and  fmall  arms  ;  after  which  his 
Majefty  received  all  the  Captains 
of  the  fleet  upon  the  quarter  deck. 
At  one  o’clock  the  King  left  the 
Pi  ince  George,  and  went  into  the 
barge,  receiving  three  cheers.  The 
‘barge  was  preceded  by  Admiral 
Pye  in  his  barge,  and  followed  by 
the  Admirals  and  Captains  in  the 
fleet  in  their  barges,  and  went  on 
board  the  yacht,  which  lay  at  an¬ 
chor  to  windward  of  the  fleet,  at 
half  pall:  one,  where  their  Ma¬ 
jesties  dined,  the  King  under  an 
awning  on  the  quarter-deck,  the 
Flag-officers,  Generals,  and  thofe 
of  his  Majefty’s  fuite,  having  the 
honour  to  dine  at  his  table. 

At  half  pail  four  the  Queen’s 
health  was  drank,  followed  by  a 
general  falute  from  the  fleet  of 
twenty-one  guns  each.  The  fame 
falute  was  repeated  a  few  minutes 
after,  when  his  Majefty  drank  to 
the  profperity  of  the  navy,  and  to 
all  his  good  fubjeCts  by  fea  and 
land. 


The  King  went  into  his  barge 
at  fix  o’clock,  and  rowed  round 
the  fleet;  and  afterwards  returned 
in  his  yacht  into  the  harbour, 
being  diluted  by  the  whole  fleet, 
and  the  feveral  forts  as  before, 
and  by  a  number  of  cannon  from 
the  jfhores  of  Portfmouth  and  Gof- 
port.  Their  Majefties  left  the 


yacht  at  half  paft  eight,  landed 
at  the  dock-yard,  and  went  to  the 
Commiffioner’s  houfe 

The  day  being  very  fine,  an  in¬ 
credible  number  of  veftels,  pleafure 
yachts  and  boats,  attended  their 
Majefties  ;  and,  on  their  return  in 
the  evening,  all  the  houfes  of 
Portfmouth  and  Gofport  were  illu¬ 
minated,  as  they  had  been  the 
preceding  evening. 

Tuefday,  May  5.  At  nine  o’clock 
their  Majefties  left  the  yard,  and 
went  to  the  glacis  near  South- 
fea  Common,  where  his  Majefty 
reviewed  the  2$th  regiment  of 
foot,  commanded  by  Lieut.  Gen. 
Lord  George  Lenox. 

His  Majefty  went  from  the  re¬ 
view  to  fee  the  new  fortifications 
eredled  round  the  common,  for  the 
better  protection,  of  the  dock¬ 
yard,  and  returned  about  half  paft 
one. 

At  fix  o’clock  his  Majefty  faw 
the  rope  houfes,  and  feveral  other 
ftore- houfes,  and  the  academy.  He 
afterwards  walked  through  the 
yard  to  the  new  ground,  went 
into  the  St.  George  of  90  guns, 
vvhofe  frame  is  nearly  completed, 
and  returned  to  the  Commiffioner’s 
houfe  at  a  quarter  paft  eight  o’clock, 

IV ednej  day ,  May  6.  Their  Ma¬ 
jefties,  at  half  paft  nine  this  morn¬ 
ing,  went  into  the  rope -houfe, 
and  faw  every  branch  of  that  ma¬ 
nufacture.  Her  Majefty  returned 
immediately,  and  the  King  went 
in  the  barge  to  the  victualling 
brew-houfe  at  Weevill,  viewed  the 
whole  carrying  on  there,  and  re¬ 
turned  to  the  yard  at  half  paft 
twelve. 

His  Majefty  then  walked  into 
the  town  of  Portfmouth,  to  in- 
fpedt  the  victualling  -  office  and 
(tqjre-hoyfes  •  which  having  tho¬ 
roughly 


5 


APPENDIX  to  the 

roughly  examined,  he  proceeded 
to  the  marine  barracks,  and  then 
came  back  to  the  yard  ;  went  into 
the  rigging-houfe,  and  returned 
to  the  Commiflioner’s  houfe  at 
half  pafl  one  o’clock. 

Tbur/day,  May  7.  Their  Ma¬ 
kefiles  fet  out  at  half  pall  eleven 
this  morning  for  the  feat  of  the 
late  Earl  of  Idallifax,  at  Stanflead, 
in  Sufl'ex,  about  twelve  miles  off, 
and  returned  at  a  quarter  pafl  three 
to  dinner. 

His  Majefly  went  about  fix  in 
the  evening,  in  his  barge  up  the 
harbour,  on  board  the  Britannia, 
of  100  guns,  and  the  Royal  Wil¬ 
liam  of  84,  looked  into  every  part 
of  thefe  (hips,  and  returned  to  the 
yard  about  eight  o’clock. 

Friday ,  May  8.  His  Majefly 
went  about  half  pafl  fix  this  morn¬ 
ing  under  the  bottom  of  a  frigate 
of  28  guns,  to  fee  the  workmen 
fheathe  her  with  copper,  where 
his  Majefly  flaid  near  half  an 
hour. 

At  ten  o’clock  their  Majeflies 
went  in  the  barge  on  board  the 
Princefs  Augufla  yacht,  and  failed 
in  her  through  the  fleet  at  Spit- 
head  to  St.  Helen’s,  and  returned 
to  the  Mother  -  bank,  where  fhe 
came  to  an  anchor. 

About  fix  in  the  evening  the 
yacht,  with  their  Majeflies  on 
board,  failed  through  the  mer- 
chant-fhips  in  Stokes-bay,  and  left 
Spithead  about  half  pail  feven  to 
go  into  the  harbour  ;  then  parting 
with  the  fleet,  they  received  a 
royal  falute  from  every  (hip,  of 
twenty-one  guns,  and  the  fame 
from  South  fea  CalUe,  Blockhoufe- 
fort,  and  the  faluting  battery  of 
the  town,  as  they  palled  them  in 
their  way  into  the  harbour.  Their 
Majeflies  landed  at  eight  o’clock. 


CHRONICLE.  [235 

and  went  to  the  Com miffi oner’s 
houfe,  before  which  the  workmen 
were  affembled,  who  gave  three 
cheers,  and  then  difperfed. 

St.  James’s ,  May  9.  This  morn¬ 
ing,  about  half  pafl  eight  o’clock, 
their  Majeflies  got  into  their  pofl- 
chaife  at  Portfmouth,  and  arrived 
at  the  Queen’s  houfe  at  half  an 
hour  pafl  four  o’clock. 

His  Majefly  has  created  the 
Commiffioner,  and  Sir  Richard 
Bickerton,  who  fleered  their  Ma¬ 
jeflies  the  laffc  and  the  prefent 
time.  Baronets ;  and  Digby  Dent, 
Captain  to  the  fenior  Flag,  Knt. 
Edward  Linzee,  Efq.  the  Mayor, 
defired  to  be  excufed  the  honour. 

Winchester,  and  Salisbury. 

^  rAHE  King  and  Queen  fet  out 

i  on  Monday  the  28th  of  Sep¬ 
tember,  at  one  in  the  afternoon, 
from  Windfor  Caflle,  and  arrived 
at  Winchefler  about  half  pafl  five 
in  the  afternoon,  and  alighted  at 
Mr.  Penton’s  houfe,  where  they 
were  waited  on  by  the  Mayor  and 
Corporation,  who  addreffed  the 
King  in  a  loyal  fpeech,  as  did  the 
mailer  and  fellows  of  the  college, 
and  received  mod  gracious  an- 
fwers. 

Their  Majeflies  fupped  and 
flept  at  Eafl  -  gate- houfe  during 
their  flay.  Her  Majefly  held  her 
levees  there,  and  the  King  at  St, 
John’s  houfe. 

The  next  morning  his  Majefly 
reviewed  the  troops,  and  after  the 
review  ended,  the  King  went  tq 
the  tent  prepared  for  his  recep¬ 
tion,  where  he  afterwards  dined, 
as  did  the  Queen  in  another  tent 
prepared  for  her  Majefly.  On  the 
30th  their  Majeflies  were  piealed 

£?  v\ 


236]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


to  take  a  view  of  the  cathedral, 
its  antiquities,  architeRure,  Sec. 
and  afterwards  to  vifit  the  college, 
where  their  Majefties  were  addref¬ 
fed  in  a  Latin  fpeech  *  by  Mr. 
Chamberlayne,  Ion  of  William 
Chamberlayne,  E  fq ;  Solid  tor  of  the 
Treafury,  the  fenior  fcholar  on  the 
foundation,  and  fellow  eledt  of 
New  College,  Oxford ;  and  in 
Englifh  by  the  Earl  of  Shaftef- 
bury  f .  As  foon  as  they  returned, 
they  fet  off  inftantly  for  Salifbury. 
They  ordered  fums  of  money  to  be 
left  for  the  poor,  at  the  difpofal  of 
the  Mayor ;  for  the  three  fenior 
boys  on  the  foundation,  for  the 
debtors  in  the  prifons,  and  for  other 
charitable  purpofes. 


-  They  arrived  at  Salifbury  a 
quarter  before  three  in  the  after¬ 
noon.  They  were  here  addreffed 
by  the  Bifhop  and  Clergy,  by  the 
Dean  and  Chapter,  and  by  the 
Mayor  and  commonalty  of  the  city 
ofNewSarum;  and  after  vifiting 
the  cathedral,  and  flopping  a  fhort 
time  at  the  Deanry-houie,  they 
continued  their  rout  to  Wilton- 
houfe,  where  they  were  received 
by  the  Earl  and  Countefs  of  Pem¬ 
broke,  and  addreffed  by  the  Mayor, 
Recorder,  and  burgeffes  of  the 
borough  of  Wilton.  On  Thurf- 
day  their  Majefties  left  Lord  Pem¬ 
broke’s  houfe  a  little  before  nine 
in  the  morning,  and  the  review 
ended  about  two  in  the  afternoon. 


*  Mr.  Chamber!  ay  ne’s  fpeech.  a  Regum  antiquorum  (Rex  auguftiffime) 
morem  revocas,  qui  literatorum  fodalitiis  intereffe,  oculifque  et  afpeflu  dodlri- 
nartmi  ftudia  comprobare  non.  indrgnum  puta-bant  amplitudine  fua.  Et  pro- 
fe<5io,  compfures  regios  hofpites,  Henricos,  Edvardos,  Carol  os,  olim  excepit 
yetus  hoc  inclytumque  Mufarum  domiciiium  :  nullum,  qui  bonas  literas  to 
(Pater  illuffriffime)  vel  magis  amaverit,  vei  auxerit,  ve]  ornaverit.  Quin  et 
animura  tuum  propenfamque  in  literas  voluntatem  vel  hoc  ahunde  teftari  poffit, 
quod  vicina  caflra  tot  tantifque  procerum  Britannicorum  pro  patria  militantium 
praefidiis  inflruftiiTima  bellicis  fpeFtaculis  te  non  penitus  occupatum  tenuere, 
quo  minus  ut  togatam  juventutem  refpiceres,  et  ex  armorum  ftrepitu  remiff o- 
nem  quandam  literati  hujus  otii  captafes.  Ut  diu  vivas  et  valeas,  in  utriufque 
Minervae  perennem  gloriam,  tibi  faufta  et  felicia  comprecantur  omnia,  vovent- 
que  Wiccamici  tui.” 

-j-  Lord  Shaftefbury’s  verfes. 

Forgive  th’  officious  Mufe,  that  with  weak  voice* 

And  trembling  accents  rude,  attempts  to  hail 
Her  Royal  Gueft!  who,  from  yon  tented  field, 

Britain’s  defence  and  boafl,  has  deign'd  to  fmile 
On  Wickham’s  Ions  $  the  gentler  arts  of  peace 
And  ftience,  ever  prompt  to  ptaiie,  and  Mars 
To  join  with  Pallas  !  Tisthe  Mule’s  talk 
And  office  heft  to  confecrate  to  Fame, 

Heroes  and  virtuous  Kings  :  the  generous  youths. 

My  lov’d  compeers,  hence  with  redoubled  toil?. 

Shall  drive  to  merit  Such  aufpicious  fmiles  j 
And  through  life’s  various  walks,  in  arts  or  arms, 

Or  tuneful  numbers,  with  their  country’s  love, 

And  with  true  loyalty  enfiam’d  t’  adorn 
This  happy  realm  ;  while  thy  paternal  care 
To  time  remote,  and  diftant  lands,  fhall  fpreacl 
Peace,  juftice^  riches,  fcience,  freedom,  fame.” 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [237 


His  Majeity  was  pleafed  to  exprefs 
his  entire  approbation  of  the  ap¬ 
pearance,  difcipline,  and  good  or¬ 
der  of  the  regiments,  and  about 
four  returned  with  the  Queen  to 
Wilton-houfe. 

At  half  pall  nine  o’clock  on 
Friday  morning  their  Majefties, 
attended  by  their  fuites,  and  the 
Earl  and  Countefs  of  Pembroke, 
left  Wilton-houfe  on  their  way  to 
Stonehenge,  which  their  Majefties 
examined  very  attentively.  Their 
Majefties  arrived  at  the  Duke  of 
Queenlberry’s  houfe  at  Ambrefbury 
at  eleven  o’clock,  where  they  ftaid 
a  little  more  than  an  hour,  and 
then  proceeded  on  their  return  to 
Windfor,  where  their  Majefties  ar¬ 
rived  at  ftx  o’clock  in  the  evening. 

Camp  at  War  LEY. 

N  Monday  the  19th  inftant, 
at  half  paft  twelve  o’clock, 
their  Majefties  fet  out  from  the 
Queen’s  houfe,  and  arrived  at 
Thornden  Place,  in  EiTex,  the 
feat  of  the  Right  Honourable  the 
Lord  Petre,  at  three  o’clock. 

On  Tuefday  morning,  at  three 
quarters  paft  nine  o’clock,  his  Ma- 
jefty  on  horfeback,  attended  by 
his  fuite,  and  alfo  by  General 
Lord  Amherft,  reviewed  the  troops. 
He  beheld  the  whole  from  a  ftand 
erected  by  Lord  Petre  in  the  cen¬ 
tre  of  thefcene.  The  feveral  ma¬ 
noeuvres  being  over  a  little  before 
three  o’clock,  the  King  went  to¬ 
wards  the  ftand,  where  a  circle 
being  formed  by  the  horfe  and 
grenadier  guards,  the  feveral  offi¬ 
cers  of  the  regiments  were  intro¬ 
duced,  regimentally,  to  his  Ma- 
jefty,  and  had  the  honour  of  kif- 
ftng  his  Majefty’s  hand.  The 
King  v/as  gracioufly  pleafed  to 


exprefs  great  fatisfa&iori  at  the 
appearance,  difcipline,  and  good 
order  of  the  feveral  regiments, 
and  the  royal  artillery  ;  and  like- 
wife  his  aoprobation  of  the  ma¬ 
noeuvres  which  were  performed  : 
and  mounting  his  horfe  again,  a 

roval  falute  was  fired  on  his  Ma- 

/ 

jelly’s  leaving  the  field. 

The  King  returned  to  Lord  Pe- 
tre’s  houfe,  where'  his  Majefty, 
and  likewife  the  Queen,  arrived 
a  little  after  four  o’clock. 

After  ten  o’clock  on  Wednefday 
morning,  the  avenue  from  Lord 
Petre’s  Park,  and  the  road  and 
ftreets  of  Brentwood,  being  lined 
by  the  light  infantry,  the  6th  and 
Liverpool  regiments  of  foot,  the 
North  Gloucefter  and  North  Lin- 
colnftiire  regiments  of  militia,  un¬ 
der  the  command  of  Major  Gene¬ 
ral  Hall,  their  Majefties,  attended 
by  their  fuites,  and  Lord  and  Lady 
Petre,  left  Thornden  Place,  on 
their  way  to  Naveftock,  the  feat  gF 
the  Earl  Waldegrave,  where  their 
Majefties  arrived  a  little  before 
eleven  ;  and  having  continued 
there  till  near  three,  their  Ma¬ 
jefties  fet  out  on  their  return  to  the 
Queen’s  houfe,  where  their  Ma* 
jetties  arrived  at  about  a  quarter 
paft  five.  * 

The  King  and  Queen  and  their 
fuite,  during  their  ftay  at  Thorn¬ 
den,  were  molt  magnificently  en¬ 
tertained  by  my  Lord  Petre,  at 
an  expence  it  is  faid  of  upwards 
of  12,  god  1. 

Camp  at  Cox  heath. 

/T"*HE.  King  and  Queen,  attend- 
ed  as  before,  fet  out  on 
Monday  the  22d  of  November,  at 
eleven  o’clock,  from  Kew,  and  ar¬ 
rived  at  Montreal  ir*  Kent,  the 

feat 


> 


238]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


feat  of  Lord  Amherft,  a  little  after 
two. 

On  Tuefday  morning;,  at  nine 
o’clock,  the  King  and  Queen  left 
Lord  Amherll’s  houfe  in  their 
cbaife,  attended  by  their  fuites, 
and  alfo  by  Lord  and  Lady  Am, 
herd,  on  their  way  to  the  camp  at 
Coxheath  ;  and,  palling  through 
the  town  of  Sevenoaks,  their  Ma- 
jeflies  were  pleafed  to  flop  their 
carriage  at  the  door  of  the  fchool 
there,  which  is  of  royal  inflitution, 
and  were  addrefled  in  a  fhort 
fpeech  by  the  Mailer  thereof. 

His  Majeily  then  proceeded  to 
the  camp,  where,  having  review¬ 
ed  the  troops,  he  remained  till  the 
evening  gun  had  fired,  when  his 
Majeily,  mounting  his  horfe,  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  Leeds  Caille,  the  feat 
of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Fairfax,  where 
bis  Majeily  arrived,  as  did  alfo  the 
Queen,  at  feven  o’clock.  The 
caflle  and  the  approaches  to  it 
were  elegantly  illuminated  in  ho¬ 
nour  of  their  Majefties :  and  the 
feverai  General  Officers  and  Colo¬ 
nels  in  camp  had  the  honour  of 
dining  with  his  Majefly. 

At  nine  o’clock  on  Wednefday 
morning,  the  Mayor  and  Corpo¬ 
ration  of  the  town  of  Maidflone 
waited  on  his  Majefly  with  an  ad- 
>  drefs,  which  was  very  gracioufly 
received  by  his  Majeily ;  and  the 
Mayor,  deputy  Recorder,  Jurats, 
and  Common  Council,  had  the 
honour  of  killing  his  Majeliy’s 
hand. 

His  Majefly  was  at  the  fame  time 
pleafed  to  confer  the  honour  of 
knighthood  on  William  Bifhop 
Efq.  the  Mayor  of  the  town  of 
Maid  Hone. 

The  corporation  alfo  waited  with 
an  addrefs  to  the  Queen. 


During  the  whole  of  thefe  ex- 
cur  lions  the  King  was  pleafed  to 
leave  fums  of  money  for  the  poor  of 
the  feverai  parifhes  through  which 
their  Majellies  paffed  ;  and  to  di¬ 
rect  a  return  and  flate  of  all  the 
perfons  confined  for  debt  in  the 
prifons  at  Maiddone,  in  order  that 
fuch  of  them  as  fhall  appear  proper 
objects  may  receive  his  Majefly’s 
royal  bounty  for  their  enlargement. 

At  eleven  o’clock  their  Majef- 
ties,  attended  by  their  fuites,  left 
Leeds  Caille  on  their  return  to  the 
Queen’s  houfe,  where  their  Ma- 
jellies  arrived  at  four  o’clock. 


Account  of  the  Death  of  the  Earl  of 
Chatham,  with  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Ploufe  of  Commons ,  and  of  the 
City  of  London,  thereon. 

ON  Mon  day  May  the  nth,  died 
the  Right  Honourable  Wil¬ 
liam  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham,  Vif- 
count  Pitt,  of  Burton  Pynfent,  in 
the  county  of  Somerfet.  He  was 
bom  November  15, 1708.  He  mar¬ 
ried  Lady  Heller,  only  daughter 
of  Richard  Grenville,  Efq;  by  the 
late  Countefs  Temple,  and  filler 
to  the  prefent  Richard  Earl  Tem¬ 
ple,  who  was  created  a  Baronefs, 
Dec.  4,  1761.  By  her  he  has  left 
iffiue,  1.  John,  Lord  Vifcount  Pitt, 
now  Earl  of  Chatham,  born  Qdh 
9,  1756.  2.  William,  born  May 

28,  1759.  3.  James-Charles,  born 
April  24,  1761.  4.  Lady  Heller, 

born  Oft.  18,  1755.  5*  Lady  Har¬ 
riot,  born  April  14,  1758. 

The  news  of  his  death  having 
reached  the  Houfe  of  Commons, 
whillt  it  was  fitting.  Col.  Barre 
rofe,  and  made  a  motion  that  an 
addrefs  fhould  be  prefented  to  his 

Majeily, 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [239 


Majefty,  to  requeft  he  would  give 
orders  that  the  remains  of  the  Karl 
of  Chatham  fhould  be  buried  at 
the  public  expence,  as  a  teitimony 
of  the  juft  fenfe  of  the  nation  upon 
the  lofs  of  fo  great  a  map,  and  fo 
able  a  ftatefman.  An  alteration 
was  propofed  by  Mr.  Rigby,  that, 
in  order  to  perpetuate  his  memory, 
a  monument  would  be  a  more  eli¬ 
gible,  as  well  as  a  more  lading  tef- 
timony,  than  the  defraying  his  fu¬ 
neral  expences. 

Mr.  Dunning  faid  he  fuppofed 
there  could  not  be  two  opinions  in 
the  houfe  on  fuch  a  motion,  and 
therefore  thought  the  two  propolT 
tions  were  in  no  degree  oppofite, 
and  that  as  an  amendment,  the  mo¬ 
nument  fhould  be  included  as  an 
object  of  the  addrels  to  his  Ma- 
jefty  :  the  motion  was  then  put, 
and  carried  unanimoufly. 

The  words  of  it  were  as  follow  : 

“  That  an  humble  addrefs  be 
prefented  to  his  Majefty,  requeft. 
ing  that  his  Majefty  will  be  graci- 
oully  pleafed  to  give  directions  that 
the  remains  of  William  Pitt,  Earl 
of  Chatham,  be  interred  at  the 
public  expence ;  and  that  a  monu¬ 
ment  be  erefted  in  the  collegiate 
church  of  St.  Peter,  Weftminfter, 
to  the  memory  of  that  great  and 
excellent  ftatefman,  with  an  in¬ 
scription  expreflive  of  the  fend 
ments  of  the  people  on  fo  great 
and  irreparable  a  lofs,  and  to  al- 
-fure  his  Majefty  that  this  houfe 
would  make  good  the  expence  at¬ 
tending  the  fame.” 

On  the  13th  of  May  the  follow¬ 
ing  motion  was  made  by  Lord  John 
Cavendifh,  and  the  queltion  being 
put,  was  carried  unanimoufly. 

“  Thatan  humble  addrefs  fhould 
be  prefented  to  his  Majefty,  to  re¬ 
turn  him  thanks  for  his  gracious 


meftage  to  their  addrefs  ;  and  to 
requeft  chat  his  Majefty  would  be 
gracioufly  pleafed  to  make  fuch 
a  lading  provifion  for  the  family 
of  the  late  William  Pitt,  Earl  of 
Chatham,  as  his  Majefty  in  his 
wifdom  and  liberality  fhould  think 
fit,  as  a  mark  ot  the  fenfe  the  na¬ 
tion  entertains  of  the  fervices  done 
to  the  kingdom  by  that  able  ftatef¬ 
man;  and  to  aflure  his  Majefty  that 
the  houfe  would  make  good  the 
fame.” 

Wednefday,May  20,  Lord  North 
prefented  to  the  Houfe  of  Com¬ 
mons  the  following  meflage  from 
his  Majefty: 

‘  GEORGE  R. 

f  His  Majefty  having  conftdered 
the  addrefs  of  this  Houfe,  that  he 
will  be  gracioufly  pleafed  to  confer 
fome  fignal  and  lading  mark  of 
his  royal  favour  on  the  family  of  the 
late  William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chat¬ 
ham,  and  being  deftrous  to  com¬ 
ply  as  fpeedily  as  poffible  with  the 
requeft  of  his  faithful  Commons, 
has  given  directions  for  granting 
to  the  prefent  Earl  of  Chatham, 
and  to  the  heirs  of  the  body  of  the 
late  William  Pitt,  to  whom  the 
earldom  of  Chatham  maydefeend, 
an  annuity  of  4.C00I.  per  annum, 
payable  out  of  the  civil  lift  reve¬ 
nue;  but  his  Majefty,  not  having 
ft  in  his  power  to  extend  the  ei- 
fects  of  the  faid  grant  beyond  the 
term  of  his  own  life,  recommends 
it  to  the  Houfe  to  confider  of  a 
proper  method  of  extending  fe~ 
curing,  and  annexing  the  fame  to 
the  earldom  of  Chatham,  in  fuch 
a  manner  as  fhall  be  thought  inoft 
effectual  for  the  benefit  of  the  fa¬ 
mily  of  the  faid  William  Pitt,  Eaii 
of  Chatham. 

George  RP 
Friday, 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


240] 

Friday,  May  22.  Sir  George  Sa- 
ville  made  a  report  of  the  proceed¬ 
ings  of  the  Committee  on  his  Ma- 
jelly’s  meffage  ;  and  the  Houfe 
agreed  unanimoufly  to  the  refolu- 
tion  of  the  Committee,  that  the 
fum  of  4000 1.  per  annum  be  grant¬ 
ed  to  his  Majefty  out  of  the  aggre¬ 
gate  fund,  to  enable  him  to  make 
a  permanent  fetdement  on  the 
prefent  Lord  Chatham,  and  the 
defendants  of  the  late  William 
Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham,  to  whom 
the  earldom  fhail  defcend. 

In  a  Committee  voted  an  addrefs 
to  his  Majefty,  *  that  he  will  be 
gracioufly  pieafed  to  give  orders 
that  20.000  I.  beiffued  for  the  pay¬ 
ment  of  the  debts  or  the  late  Wil¬ 
liam  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham,  and 
toaffure  his  Majefty  that  this  Houfe 
will  make  good  the  famed 

The  city  of  London  were  not  lefs 
forward  in  teftifying  their  regard 
to  the  memory  of  their  once  favou¬ 
rite  minifter. 

May  20th,  a  court  of  common 
council  was  held  at  Guildhall, 
when  the  firft  bofinefs  that  came  on 
was  a  motion  that  a  Committee  be 
appointed  to  draw  up  a  petition  to 
the  Houfe  of  Commons,  praying 
that  the  remains  of  the  late  Earl 
of  Chatham,  may  be  depofited  in 
the  cathedral  church  of  St.  Paul  ; 
and  the  Committee  being  appoint¬ 
ed,  withdrew,  and  returning  pro¬ 
duced  a  petition,  which  being  read 
was  approved,  and  ordered  to  be 
figned  by  the  Town -clerk,  and  pre- 
fented  to  the  honourable  Houle  of 
•  Commons. 

Refolded,  That  this  court  is  de- 
/irous  of  attending  the  funeral  of 
Lord  Chatham  in  their  gowns. 

Refolved,  That  a  committee  be 
appointed  to  draw  up  a  letter  to 
the  proper  officer  of  the  crown. 


requefting  that  their  defire  of  at- 
tending  Lord  Chatham’s  funeral, 
may  be  humbly  made  known  to 
his  Majefty,  and  praying  that  his 
Majefty  will  order  the  proper  offi¬ 
cer  to  give  them  timely  notice  and 
inftruftions  for  regulating  their  at¬ 
tendance  (if  his  Majefty  fhoald  be 
gracioufly  pieafed  to  acquiefce)  ; 
which  letter  being  drawn  up,  was 
read  and  agreed  to.  and  ordered  to 
be  forwarded  by  Mr.  Remembran¬ 
cer. 

The  humble  Petition  of  the  city 
of  London,  in  common-council 
affembled, 

Sheweth, 

<e  That  your  petitioners  humbly 
beg  leave  to  return  their  grateful 
thanks  to  this  honourable  houfe, 
for  the  noble  and  generous  tefti- 
rnony  which  it  has  borne  to  the 
fervices  and  merits  of  the  late  Wil¬ 
liam  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham. 

((  And  your  petitioners,  with  all 
humility,  defire  that  their  zeal  may 
not  feem  unpleafing  to  this  ho¬ 
nourable  houfe,  or  be  interpreted 
as  a  wiffi  in  your  petitioners  to 
vary  from  the  general  fenfe  of 
their  country,  as  expreffed  in  the 
late  votes  of  this  honourable  houfe, 
by  their  requefting  that  the  remains 
of  the  Earl  of  Chatham  be  depa¬ 
rted  in  the  cathedral  church  of  St. 
Paul,  in  the  city  of  London. 

e<  Your  petitioners  farther  re- 
prefent  to  this  honourable  houfe, 
that  they  entirely  feel  the  delicacy 
of  their  fituation,  in  confequence 
of  the  feveral  meafures  taken  by 
this  honourable  houfe  ;  but  hope 
that  a  favourable  interpretation 
will  be  put  upon  any  particular 
marks  of  gratitude  and  veneration 
which  the  fir  ft  commercial  city  in 
the  empire,  is  earned  to  exprefs  to¬ 
wards  the  ftatefman,  whole  vigour 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE. 


and  counfels  had  fo  much  contri¬ 
buted  to  the  proteftion  and  exten- 
fion  of  its  commerce. 

By  order  of  the  court, 

RIX.” 

The  faid  petition  was  ordered 
by  the  Houfe  to  lie  on  the  table. 

May  2 6.  A  motion  was  made, 
feconded,  and  it  was  unanimoufly 
refolved. 

That  the  Court  do  prefent  an 
humble  addrefs  to  his  Majelly,  re¬ 
turning  thanks  for  his  ready  and 
moll  gracious  acquiescence  in  the 
willies  of  the  Commons  of  Great 
Britain  in  parliament  aflembled, 
to  (hew  gratitude  to  the  memory  of 
the  late  William  Pitt,  Earl  of 
Chatham,  and  humbly  injreating 
that  his  Majelly  would  graciously 
condefcend  to  grant  permilfion  that 
the  remains  of  the  laid  Earl  be  in¬ 
terred  in  the  cathedral  church  of 
St.  Paul. 

The  following  petition  was  pre- 
fented  to  his  Majelly  by  the  Cor¬ 
poration  of  London,  in  their  for¬ 
malities  : 

Mod  gracious  Sovereign, 

“  We,  the  Lord  Mayor,  Alder¬ 
men,  and  Commons,  of  the  city 
of  London,  in  common  council 
aflembled,  beg  leave  to  return  your 
Majelly  our  moll  humble  and  du¬ 
tiful  thanks  for  the  repeated  and 
fignal  marks  of  your  royal  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  public  fenfe  of  gratitude 
due  to  the  memory  of  the  late  Wil¬ 
liam  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham,  as 
truly  expreffed  by  the  refolutions 
of  the  Commons  of  Great  Britain 
in  parliament  affembled. 

“  And  we  humbly  hope  for  your 
Majefly’s  mod  gracious  indulgence 
when  the  tefti monies  thus  paid  to 
the  public  virtues  of  this  iiludri- 
ous  datefman,  encourage  your  mod 
faithful  corporation  to  intreat  that 
Vol.  XXI. 


[Hi 

the  metropolis  of  your  empire  may 
be  admitted  to  a  fliare  in  the  ex- 
preilions  of  public  veneration  to  a 
minider  fo  exemplary  for  his  inte¬ 
grity,  ability,  and  virtue. 

For  this  purpofe  we  humbly 
befeech  that  your  Majelly,  in  your 
royal  condelcenlion,  would  give 
permidion  that  the  remains  of  the 
faid  Earl  of  Chatham  be  depofited 
in  the  cathedral  church  of  bt.  Paul, 
in  the  city  of  London. 

“  We  hope  that  we  are  not 
guilty  of  unwarrantable  prefump- 
tion  in  conceiving  that  our  willies 
on  this  fubjehl  are  not  inconfident 
with  thofe  of  the  Hon.  Houfe  of 
Commons.  And  we  flatter  our- 
felves  that,  if  your  Majedy  fhould 
gracioufly  acquiefce  in  this  our 
humble  prayer,  it  cannot  fail  to  be 
agreeable  to  the  family  of  the  de- 
ceafed,  whofe  attention  to  us  ,on 
all  proper  occafions,  it  is  our  pride 
to  remember,  who  condefcended  to 
become  our  fellow-citizen,  and  to 
whom,  could  he  have  forefeen  it, 
we  are  convinced  this  attempt  to 
cherilh  his  memory  would  not  have 
been  unacceptable. 

**  And  we  beg  leave  farther  hum¬ 
bly  to  reprefent  to  your  Majedy, 
that  we  feel  ourfelves  Angularly 
happy  in  thinking,  that  in  this, 
our  humble  petition,  we  fhew  our 
duty  and  attachment  to  our  mod 
gracious  Sovereign,  and  the  illuf- 
trious  Houfe  of  Brunfwick,  by  our 
refpeft  to  one  of  their  mod  zealous 
and  faithful  fervants  ;  at  the  fame 
time  that  we  exprefs  our  gratitude 
as  a  commercial  body,  to  a  man 
who  fo  fignally  fupported  its  inte- 
reds ;  and  humbly  pray  that  the 
nobled  edifice  in  your  Majefiy’s 
dominions,  may  become  the  depofi- 
tary  of  the  remains  of  one  among 
the  nobled  of  your  fubjefts.” 

L.3J  H« 


1 


242]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


His  Majefty’s  anfwer  was  in  fub- 
ftance,  That,  as  the  parliament 
had  ordered  a  monument  to  be 
ere&ed  to  the  memory  of  the  de- 
ceafed  Earl  in  Weftminfter  Abbey, 
his  Lordfhip’s  remains  are  to  be 
interred  there. 

June  6,  At  a  court  of  Common- 
Council,  held  at  Guildhall,  after 
the  Lord  Mayor  had  acquainted 
the  court  with  the  King’s  anfwer 
to  their  addrefs  and  petition,  pre- 
fented  on  Friday  laft,  a  warm  de¬ 
bate  enfued,  in  confequence  of 
Lord  Hertford’s  letter  to  the  Re¬ 
membrancer,  in  anfwer  to  a  mef- 
fage  from  the  court ;  the  copies  of 
which  are  as  follow: 

“  My  Lord, 

His  Majefty’s  faithful  Corpo¬ 
ration  of  London,  wifbing  to  fhew 
every  proper  refpedl  in  their  power 
to  the  memory  of  his  Maj city’s 
late  zealous  and  moft  difmterefted 
fervant  and  fubjedl,  William  Pitt, 
Earl  of  Chatham,  and  wifhing  to 
exprefs  their  own  particular  grati¬ 
tude  to  the  memory  of  that  illuftri- 
ous  ftatefman,  who  fo  glorioully 
prote&ed  the  commerce  of  this 
country,  defire  your  Lordlhip  hum¬ 
bly  to  requeft  his  Majefty,  that  his 
faithful  Corporation  may  receive 
timely  notice  from  the  proper  offi¬ 
cers  of  fuch  his  Majefty’s  gracious 
acquiefcence,  together  with  the  ne- 
ceftary  inftru&ions  for  regulating 
their  attendance. 

I  am,  my  Lord,  &c. 

Feter  Roberts.” 

Lord  Hertford’s  Letter . 

<<r  Sir, 

ce  Having,  through  your  hands, 
received  the  requell  of  the  Corpo¬ 
ration  of  London,  praying  his  Ma- 
ielty  to  permit  them  to  attend  the 


funeral  of  the  late  Earl  of  Chat¬ 
ham,  I  am  to  acquaint  you,  that! 
have  laid  the  fame  before  his  Ma- 
jefty,  who  is  pleafed  to  comply 
with  the  faid  requell,  and  has  di¬ 
rected  me  to  give  public  and  timely 
notice  of  the  faid  funeral,  that  all 
fuch  gentlemen  of  the  corporation 
who  purpofe  it,  may  have  an  op¬ 
portunity  of  attending,  as  they  de- 
fired.  I  am.  Sir,  &c. 

Hertford.’8 
Grofijenor-ftreet ,  May  25. 

ESDAILE,  Mayor, 

A  Common-council  holden  in  the 
Chamber  of  the  Guildhall  of  the 
city  of  London,  on  Saturday  the 
6th  day  of  June,  1 778. 

This  court  not  having  yet  re¬ 
ceived  any  anfwer  to  their  deiirc  of 
having  timely  notice  to  attend  the 
funeral  of  the  late  Earl  of  Chat¬ 
ham,  and  information  having  been 
given  by  a  member  of  this  court, 
that  that  folemnity  is  ordered  for 
Tuefday  next,  it  is  therefore  now 
refolved,  that  the  former  resolu¬ 
tion  for  attending  the  funeral  of 
the  faid  Earl  be  refcinded. 

His  Majelly  having  refufed  to 
comply  with  the  requeft  of  this 
court,  on  their  humble  defire  to 
have  the  remains  of  the  late  Earl 
of  Chatham  buried  in  the  cathe¬ 
dral  church  of  St.  Paul,  Re¬ 
folved  unanimoully,  neverthelefs, 
that  a  committee  be  now  ap¬ 
pointed  to  conlider  what  further 
mark  of  refpett  is  moft  fit  to 
perpetuate  the  memory  of  that 
excellent  and  difinterefted  ftatef- 
man,  in  the  time  of  whofe  admini- 
ftrationthe  citizens  ofiLondon  never 
returnedfrom  the  thronedjUTatisfied. 

When  Mr.  Sheriff  Qlarke  waited 
on  his  Majefty,  to  know  his  royal 
i  pleafure 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [243 


plfeafilre  when  he  would  receive  the 
petition  of  the  Common-council* 
refpefting  Lord  Chatham’s  fune¬ 
ral,  his  Majefty  alked,  **  What  is 
the  fubjed  matter  of  the  petition  ?” 
— This  unexpe&ed  circumftance 
difconcerted  the  Sheriff ;  but  after 
a  momentary  paufe,  he  recollected 
himfelf,  and  with  great  prefence 
of  mind  informed  the  Great  Per- 
fonage,  “  That  he  himfelf  was 
only  an  official  agent,  to  know 
when  the  Lord  Mayor,  Aldermen, 
and  Common-council  may  have  the 
honour  of  prefenting  a  petition  to 
his  Majefty  ;  the  contents  he  had 
nothing  at  all  to  do  with.”  Upon 
which  the  anfwer  given  was, 
<f  Well,  then,  let  it  be  Friday 
fe’nnight.” 

The  fame  court  came  to  the  fol¬ 
lowing  refolution : 

tc  In  confequence  of  the  Remem¬ 
brancer  having  been  called  upon 
by  this  court  to  ftate  what  paffed 
in  the  King’s  clofetwhen  the  She¬ 
riff  laft  attended  at  St.  James’s  $ 
and  it  appearing  that  an  unufual 
quefticn  had  been  afked,  to  which 
the  Sheriff  declined  giving  an  an¬ 
fwer:  Refolved  unanimoufty,  That 
the  thanks  cf  this  court  be  given 
to  Mr.  Sheriff  Clarke,  for  his  very 
prudent  conduct  on  this  occaffon.” 

In  confequence  of  the  addrefs  of 
the  Houfe  of  Commons  of  the  1  ith 
of  May,  the  body  lay  in  ftate  in 
the  painted  Chamber  the  7th  and 
8th  of  June. 

Tuefday,  June  9,  at  two  o’clock, 
the  funeral  proceffion  began  from 
the  Painted  Chamber,  through 
Weftminfter  -  hall,  New  Palace- 
yard,  part  of  Parliament-;  reet, 
Bridge-ftreet,  and  King-ftreet,  the 
Broad  Sanduary,  to  the  Weft  door 
of  Weftnainlier-abbey, 


High  Conftable  of  Weftminfter. 
Meffengdr  to  the  College  of  Arms* 
with  a  badge  of  the  College  on 
his  fhoulder,  his  ftaff  ti pc 
with  filver,  and  furred 
with  farfnet. 

Six  men  conductors,  with  black 
ftaves,  headed  with  Earls 
coronets. 

Seventy  poor  men  with  Badges  of 
the  Creft  of  PITT  on  the 
fhoulders,  and  black  ftaves 
in  their  hands,  all  in 
black  cloaks. 

The  Standard  of  the  Family. 
Twelve  Servants  to  the  deceafed,  in; 
clofe  mourning. 

Phyffcians  and  Divines,  in  clofe 
mourning. 

A  Banner  of  the  Barony  of  Chatham 
Supported  by 

Colonel  Barre,  the  Dukes  of  Nor¬ 
thumberland,  Richmond,  and 
Manchefter,  and  the  Marquis 
of  Rockingham,  in  clofe 
mourning. 

The  Great  Banner. 

The  Helmet  and  Creft,  borne  by 
a  Herald. 

The  Sword  and  Target,  by  a 
Herald. 

The  Surcoat,  by  a  Herald. 

The  Coronet,  oil  a  black  velvet 
Cuftiion,  by  a  King  of  Arms, 
between  two  Gentlemen 
Ufhers  with  half  ftaves. 

THE  BODY, 

Carried  by  eight  men,  covered  with 
a  black  velvet  pall,  adorned 
with  eight  efcutcneons  of  the 
arms  of  the  deceafed,  and  tinder 
a  canopy  of  black  velvet,  borne 
by  eight  Gentlemen. 

The  Pall  fupported  by  Sir  George 
Saviile,  Mr.  Dunning*  Mr. 
Burke,  Mr.  T.  Townffiefid. 
[Cl  2  The 


244]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


The  Figure  of  Britannia  weeping 
over  the  arms  of  Chatham, 
painted  on  farfnet. 

A  Gentleman  Garter  Black  Rod 

Ufher  with  a  King  of  with  a 
halt  ftaff.  Arms.  half  ftafF. 

Chief  Mourner, 

The  Honourable  Mr.  Pitt. 

H  is  Train  borne  by 
Eight  Affifcant  Mourners,  Earls, 
Yifcounts,  or  Barons. 

Lord  Vil'count  Mahon. 
Banner  of  the  Crefts  of  Pitt. 
Banner  of  the  Arms  of  Pitt. 

The  proceffion  clofed  by  fervants  of 
the  family,  in  clofe  mourning. 

The  fix  condu&ors,  and  feventy 
poor  men,  divide  and  range  them- 
felves  on  each  fide  without  the 
church  door,  and  the  red  of  the 
proceflion  within  the  church. 

During  the  fervice  in  the  church, 
the  coronet  and  culhion  were  laid 
on  the  body,  and  the  canopy  and 
bannerols  held  over  it. 

The  fervice  being  over.  Garter 
proclaimed  the  liyle,  titles,  &c. 
and  the  Earl’s  officers,  breaking 
their  Haves,  gave  the  pieces  to  Gar¬ 
ter,  who  threw  them  into  the  grave. 

The  proceffion  then  returned  to 
the  Painted  Chamber  in  the  fame 
order. 

The  fervice  was  read  by  the 
Bifiiop  of  Rocheiler. 

The  Duke  and  Du  chefs  of  Glou- 
cefier  attended  the  funeral  fer¬ 
vice. 

Upon  the  coffin  was  a  filver 
plate,  on  which  was  the  following 
infcription  : — ‘  The  moft  noble  and 
puifi'ant  William  Pitt,  Earl  of 
Chatham,  Vifcount  Pittof  Burton- 
Pynfent,  in  the  county  of  Somer- 
fet.  Born  the  15th  of  November, 


1708.  Died  at  Hayes,  in  Kent, 
the  1 1  th  of  May,  l778.’ 

His  Lordfhip  lies  interred  about 
twenty  yards  from  the  North  en¬ 
trance  of  Weftminfter-abbey. 

Several  Irilh  Earls  and  Vifcounts 
attended,  as  did  Sir  William  Dra¬ 
per,  Sir  William  Meredith,  Ge¬ 
neral  Burgoyne,  Sir  Watkin  Wil¬ 
liams  Wynne,  and  a  great  number 
of  Lords,  moftly  in  the  minority. 


An  authentic  Account  of  the  Part  ta~ 
ken  by  the  late  Earl  of  Chatham, 
in  a  Tranfaciion  which  puffed  in 
the  Beginning  of  the  Tear  1778. 

%  J  ARIOUS  falfe  reports  having 
V  been  induHrioufiy  propagated 
concerning  a  negcciation,  (if  it  may 
be  fo  called)  faid  to  have  been  car¬ 
ried  on  between  the  Earl  of  Bute 
and  the  late  Earl  of  Chatham,  it 
has  been  thought  indifpenfably  ne- 
cefiary  to  draw  up  a  diftind  and 
authentic  account,  from  papers  now 
in  pofieffion  of  the  Earl  of  Chat¬ 
ham’s  family,  of  what  did  pafs  re¬ 
lative  to  that  affair,  that  it  may 
appear,  whether  the  tranfadion 
did,  or  did  not,  originate  from 
Lord  Chatham  ;  and  that  it  may 
be  clearly  afcertained,  what  were 
his  fentiments  and  diipofition  with 
regard  to  it.  It  appears  that  vari¬ 
ous  converfations  had  palled  be¬ 
tween  Sir  James  Wright  and  Dr. 
Addington,  relative  to  Lord  Bute 
and  Lord  Chatham,  previous  to  the 
third  of  February,  1778,  but  that 
Lord  Chatham  was  in  no  wife  ap¬ 
prized  of  this,,  till  the  abovemen- 
tiooed  day,  on  which  Dr.  Adding¬ 
ton  went  to  Hayes,  and  read  to- 
Lord  Chatham  the  following  ex¬ 
tract  of  a  letter,  which,  the  Do&or 

informed 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE. 


informed  him,  he  had  that  morning 
received  from  Sir  James  Wright. 

No.  I. — ExtraSi  of  a  letter  from  Sir 
James  Wright  to  Dr.  Addington. 

AS  I  immediately,  on  my  re- 
turn  from  Lord  Bute’s, took 
down  in  fhnrt-hand  the  principal 
heads  of  it,  i  think  l  (hall  not  de¬ 
viate  materially  from  the  very  words 
of  the  converfation  ;  at  Ieail  if  the 
fpirit  of  his  Lordlhip’s  language  is 
debilitated,  the  elfential  matter  of 
it  is  the  fame. 

“  I  told  Lord  Bute  that  a  friend 
of  mine,  whofe  honour  and  fince- 
rity  I  could  rely  upon,  had  hinted 
to  me  (#that  he  thought  Lord  Chat¬ 
ham  had  a  high  opinion  of  his 
Lordfhip’s  honour,  as  well  as  his 
fin  cere  good  wifhes  for  the  public 
fafety).  He  enquired  who  my  friend 
was?  I  told  him  it  was  you.  He 
replied,  I  know  he  is  much  Lord 
Chatham’s  friend;  I  know  alfo  that 
he  is  an  honeit  man,  and  a  man  of 
fen fe.  I  related  to  him  the  con¬ 
verfation  that  had  paffed  between 
yourfelf  and  meat  our  lad  meeting. 
He  faid,  Lord  Chatham  was  one  of 
the  very  few  he  had  ever  ailed  with 
in  adminidration,  who  had  (hewn 
great  hooeftyand  generofity  of  fen- 
timent,  with  a  fmcere  conduit,  and 
intention  for  the  King’s  and  the 
public  welfare. 

That  a>  for  himfelf,  he  faid, 
he  had  no  connection  with  any  one 
in  ad m migration  ;  that  he  had  not 
tne  lead  diftant  friendfhip  with  Lord 
North,  or  he  Ihould  certainly  advife 
him,  by  all  means,  to  aim  at  gaining 
Lord  Chatham  over  to  the  King’s 
fervice  and  confidence  :  And,  faid 


[245 

he,  you  may  tell  your  friend,  Dr. 
Addington,  to  allure  Lord  Chat¬ 
ham,  that  if  he  fhould  think  proper 
to  take  an  aitive  part  in  aamini- 
llration,he  fhallhave  my  mod  hearty 
concurrence  and  finceregoodwifhes; 
and  you  have  my  full  leave  to  com¬ 
municate  all  my  fentiments  on  this 
fubjeit  to  your  friend.  He  conti¬ 
nued  faying  many  very  refpedtful 
things  of  Lord  Chatham,  adding. 
Had  we  not  unfortunately  difagreed 
about  theladpeace,I  am  lure  he  and 
I  fhould  have  continued  fuch  fteady 
friends,  that  this  country  never 
would  have  experienced  her  prefent 
fevere  misfortunes.  He  alfo  faid, 
the  prior  part  of  Lord  Chatham’s 
lad  fpeech  was  manly  and  conftitu- 
tional,  and  could  not  but  induce 
every  one,  &  well-wifher  to  his  cou  11- 
try,  to  with  to  fee  him  again  take 
a  part  in  the  government  of  the 
King’s  affairs,  which  would  be  a 
happin efs  for  the  whole  empire. 
He  continued  faying,.  Perhaps  we 
have  men  of  abilities  in  the  H  <ufe 
of  Lords  ;  but  thofe  in  adminiftra- 
tion  (except  Lord  Suffolk,  who  is 
u.fually  ill  half  the  year)  are  none 
of  them  fufdeiently  ferious  or  at¬ 
tentive  enough  to  the  budnefs  of 
the  nation,  which  is  now  of  fo  much 
confequence,  as  not  to  be  neglect¬ 
ed  in  the  lead  degree.  He  there¬ 
fore  could  not  fay  he  had  a  good 
opinion  of  their  conduit.  He  alfo 
faid,  in  the  courfe  of  their  conver¬ 
fation,  that  nothing  but  the  mod 
imminent  danger  to  this  country, 
fhould  ind  uce  him  to  take  a  part  in 
the  government  of  it,  unlefs  in 
conjunction  with  an  upright  and 
able  adminiitration. 


*  The  truth  of  this  part  is  exprefsly  denied  by  Dr.  Addington  in  his  Narrative, 
in  which  the  Doitor  declares,  that,  to  the  bed  of  his  remembrance.  Lord  Chat¬ 
ham  had  never  once  named  Lord  Bute  to  him. 

[C  3 


“  Much 


2463  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


te  Much  more  was  faid,  but  of 
lefs  moment ;  however,  all  tended 
tc  convince  me,  that  there  are  not 
two  other  men  in  the  kingdom, 
more  faithfully  inclined  to  the 
good  and  fafety  of  our  prefent  dif- 
trafted  nation,  than  our  two  noble 
friends.  ” 

[This  letter  was  dated  January 
2,  it  fhould  have  been  February  2, 
Jiaving  been  received  by  Dr.  Ad-? 
dington  on  Feb,  3.] 

Lord  Chatham  dictated  the  fol¬ 
lowing  meffage  in  anfwer,  which 
was  taken  down  in  writing  by  Dr. 
Addington,  a  copy  of  which  was 
delivered  by  him  to  Sir  James 
Wright. 

No.  ll.-vCepy  of  Note gi%>en  by  Dr. 

Addington  to  Sir  James  Wright. 

€t  LORD  Chatham  heard  with 
particular  fatisfadlion,  the  favour¬ 
able  fentiments  on  the  fubjedi  of 
the  noble  Lord,  with  whom  you 
had  talked  with  regard  to  the  im¬ 
pending  ruin  of  the  kingdom.  He 
fears  all  hope  is  precluded ;  but 
adds,  that  zeal,  duty,  and  obedi¬ 
ence,  may  outlive  hope  ;  that  if 
any  thing  can  prevent  the  confum- 
mation  of  public  ruin,  it  can  only 
be  new  Counfels ,  and  new  XSounfel- 
krsj  without  farther  lofs  of  time  ; 
a  real  change  from  a  fincere  convic¬ 
tion  of  pa  ft  errors,  and  not  a  mere 
palliation,  which  muft  prove  fruit- 
iefs. 

It  appears  farther  from  Dr.  Ad¬ 
dington’s  narrative,  that  the  Doc¬ 
tor  then  proceeded  to  inform  Lord 
Chatham  of  the  fubftance  of  thofe 
parts  of  the  converfation  which  had 
pa.ffed  between  him  and  Sir  James 
Wright,  which  are  not  recited  in 
Sir  James’s  letter  ofFeb.  2d,  No.  I. 

The  account  of  this,  as  well  as 
pf  what  palled  at  this  time,  in  con¬ 


verfation  between  Lord  Chatham 
and  Dr.  Addington,  and  particu- 
lari y  Lord  Chatham’s  declaration, 
ts  That  it  was  impoffible  for  him 
to  ferve  the  King  and  country  with 
either  Lord  Bute  or  Lord  North,’51 
is  contained  in  Dr.  Addington’s 
narrative. 

On  the  7th  of  February,  Dr. 
Addington  lent  the  following  let-* 
ter  to  Hayes : 

No.  Ill  .-"-Copy  of  a  Letter  from  Dr. 

Addington  to  the  Earl  of  Chat-? 

ham,  dated  Wigmore-ftreet,  Sa¬ 
turday  two  o’clock. 

My  good  Lord, 

e<  S  I  R  James  Wright  took  a 
correct  copy  of  the  valuable  writ¬ 
ing  entrufted  to  my  care,  between 
twelve  and  one  yefterday.  At  one 
he  waited  on  his  friend,  and  I 
was  to  call  in  Brook-ftreet  for  his 
anfwer.  at  half  paft  two,  I  was 
punctual  to  the  time  ;  Sir  James 
had  been  at  home;  but  a  few  mi¬ 
nutes  before  my  arrival,  had  been 
called  back  again  to  his  friend.  I 
waited  half  an  hour,  and  then 
left  the  letter,  requeftingthe  favour 
of  a  line  from  Sir  James,  before 
he  went  out  of  town.  At  five,  I 
received  a  fhort  note,  faying,  that 
his  ftay  in  town  could  be  of  no  fer- 
vice,  and  that  he  would  give  me 
an  account  by  the  poll;  this  day,  of 
his  converfation  with  - — — .  Per¬ 
haps  more  perfons  than  one  were 
to  be  confuked,  before  an  account 
could  be  given.  As  far  as  I  could 
karn,  all  parties  would  be  pleafed 
with  your  Lordfhipand  Lord  Cam¬ 
den,  and  that  no  objedlion  was 
likely  to  be  made  to  more  than 
cm  of  your  Lordftiip’s  friends.  Sir 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE. 


James  Wright  afked  what  was 
meant  by  the  words  “  real  change.’, 
I  thought  they  wanted  no  explana¬ 
tion.  He  thought  they  included 
his  friend,  as  well  as  the  miniilry, 
and  wifhed  that  your  lordfhip  and 
his  friend  could  have  an  inter¬ 
view,  but  gave  me  no  commiffion 
to  mention  his  wifhes.  He  only 
added,  that  he  really  believed  it 
was  in  the  power  of  your  Lordfhip 
and  his  friend  tofave  the  nation  ;  I 
only  added,  that  I  believed  the 
King  and  your  Lordfhip  could  fave 
the  nation,  and  that  his  friend 
might  be  indrumental  to  its  falva- 
tion,  by  turning  the  royal  mind 
from  pail  errors.  I  hope  your 
Lordfhip  and  Lady  Chatham  go 
on  well,  and  that  I  fhall  have  the 
happinefs  of  paying  my  refpe&s  to 
you  both  in  Harley-ftreet,  on 
Monday.  I  moft  heartily  congra¬ 
tulate  my  Lady  and  your  Lordfhip 
on  the  fafe  arrival  of  Mr.  James 
Pitt.  I  am  ever,  my  dear  and  good 
Lord, 

Your  moft  faithful  and 
obliged  humble  fervant, 

A.  Addington.” 

JVigmore-jlreet ,  z'o  clock,  Saturday. 

The  fame  night  Lord  Chatham 
wrote  with  his  own  hand  the  fol¬ 
lowing  note,  in  anfwer  to  Dr. 
Addington,  which  was  received  by 
the  do3or  the  next  morning. 

No.  IV. — Copy  of  a  Note  from  the 
Earl  of  Chatham  to  Dr.  Ad¬ 
dington. 

Hayes,  Feb .  7. 

ft  THE  converfations  which  a 
certain  gentleman  has  found  means 


[247 

to  have  with  you,  are  on  his  part 
of  a  nature  too  infidious,  and  to 
my  feeling  too  offenfive,  to  be 
continued,  or  unrejefted .  What 
can  this  officious  emiflary  mean, 
by  all  thenonfenfe  he  has  at  times 
thrown  out  to  you  ?  The  next  at¬ 
tempt  he  makes  tofurprife  friendly 
integrity  by  courtly  infinuation, 
let  him  know  that  his  great  patron 
and  your  village  friend  differ  in 
this  *,  one  has  brought  the  King 
and  kingdom  to  ruin,  the  other 
would  fincerely  endeavour  to  fave 
it. 

Dr.  Addington,  on  the  8th  of 
February,  fent  to  Lord  Chatham, 
at  Hayes,  the  following  letter  (in- 
clofmg  one  which  he  had  received 
that  day  from  Sir  James  Wright, 
foon  after  the  receipt  of  the  above 
note  from  Lord  Chatham). 

No  V. — Copy  of  a  Letter  from  Dr . 

Addington,  to  the  Earl  of  Chat¬ 
ham. 

“  I  AM  infinitely  obliged  to 
you,  my  dear  Lord,  for  your  very 
kind  and  friendly  caution  againft 
furprife  and  infinuation.  It  fhall 
never  be  forgotten  j  and  when  I 
fee  the  gentleman  next  (which, 
perhaps,  may  be  to-morrow),  your 
Lordfhip’s  wife  and  noble  com¬ 
mands  fhall  be  literally  obeyed. 
The  inclofed  letter,  which  was 
promifed  to  come  yefterday  by  the 
poil,  arrived  this  morning  by  a 
fpecial  meffenger.  It  needs  no 
comment  of  mine  ;  I  am  fure  your 
Lordfhip  will  understand  the  lan¬ 
guage  and  drift  of  it,  much  bet- 


*  Sir  James  had  told  the  Do&or,  and  the  Doftor  had  told  Lord  Chatham, 
that  Lord  Chatham  and  Lord  Bute  did  not  differ  in  political  fentiments,  which 
the  Doctor  thinks  might  occaiion  the  laft  fentence  in  Lord  Chatham's  note. 

KJ  4 


ter 


248.]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


ter  than  I  can,  or  any  body  elfe. 
I  am  impatient  to  fee  your  Lord- 
fhip  in  town,  and  pray  for  a  few 
minutes  with  you  to-morrow.  The 
time  is  come  for  you,  and  you 
only,  to  fave  a  King  and  kingdom. 
Your  Lordfhip  knows  that  I  am 
ever 

Your  mod  faithful,  and  mod 
affectionate  humble  fervant, 
A.  Addington. 

Feb.  8,  1773. 

No.  VI, — Copy  of  a  Letter  from  Sir 
James  Wright  to  Dr.  Addington. 

Ray  Houfe ,  Feb .  7,  1778. 

et  My  dear  Dottor, 

«  I  COMMUNICATED  our 
converfation  of  yederday  to  my 
friend,  foon  after  I  left  you,  and 
then  Ihewed  him  a  copy  of  the 
paper  you  allowed  me  to  tran¬ 
scribe.  You  will  eafily  recoiled! 
on  my  firft  reading  it  over  with 
you,  the  obfervation  I  made  on 
that  particular  expreffion  in  it, 
<s  A  real  change,  and  not  a  mere 
palliation;”  namely,  that  your 
noble  friend  dill  thought  that 
Lord  Bute  had  influence  in  the 
jneafures  of  Adminidration.  In 
the  very  fame  light  he  alfo  con- 
drued  this  expredion;  he  there¬ 
fore-  deflred  me  to  inform  you, 
for  the  indruCtion  of  your  friend, 
that  the  ill  health  he  had  long 
been  fubjeCt  to,  united  with  the 
didreffes  of  his  family,  had  ac- 
cu domed  him  to  a  perfect  retired 
life,  which  he  hoped,  as  long  as 
lie  lived,  deadily  to  adhere  to  ;  he 
added,  that  his  long  abfence  from 
all  fort  of  public  bulinefs,  and  the 
many  years  which  had  intervened 
fince  he  faw  the  Kiri g,  precluded 
him  from  forming  any  idea  of  mea¬ 


fures  pad  or  to  come,  but  what  he 
gathers  from  very  general  conver¬ 
fation  or  the  News-papers  ;  and 
this  total  ignorance,  he  faid,  ren¬ 
ders  the  opinion  given  of  the  pre« 
fent  dangerous  crifls  more  alarm¬ 
ing  to  him  than  it  would  otherwife 
be,  and  much  more  painful,  as, 
notwi.thftanding  his  zeal  for  the 
country,  love  for  the  King,  and 
yery  high  opinion,  of  Lord  Chat*, 
ham,  he  has  it  not  in  bis  power  to. 
be  of  the  lead  ufe  in  this  danger¬ 
ous  emergency  ;  and  that  from  his 
heart  he  wiihed  Lord  Chatham 
every  imaginable  fuccefs  in  the  fe¬ 
deration  of  the  public  welfare. 

**  I  think,  my  dear  doctor,  this 
was  aimed  verbatim  my  friend’s 
converfation  ;  at  lead  I  am  confi¬ 
dent  it  is  a  fac  fimile  of  his  real 
fentiments ;  and  you  fee  how  very 
drdant  they  are  from  the  lead  in¬ 
clination  ever  to  interfere  in  the 
prefent  or  any  future  Admini- 
dration,  which  your  noble  friend 
fee  rued  to  apprehench  May  he 
extend  the  powers  of  his  own  great 
and  honed  abilities,  to  heal  the 
dreadful  wounds  which  this  poor 
country  has  received  from  what  he 
very  wifely  calls  pafi  errors  /  With¬ 
out  his  head,  as  well  as  heart,  J 
fear  all  is  lod.  I  remember  poor 
Lord  Northington  faying  to  me 
more  than  OE.ce,  not  long  before 
his  death,  that  ^  as  I  was  a  young 
man,  I  fhould  probably  live  to  fee 
(if  I  furvfvecT  Lord  Chatham  and 
a  few  other  great  men),  that  this 
country  would  not  only  want  abili¬ 
ties  bpt  hearts,  and  that  our  date 
would  then  be  really  piteous,  where 
both  knowledge  and  integrity  were 
wanting  to  protedl  us.  Pray  God 
your  noble  friend  may  dep  forth 
before  this  forrowful  epocha  ar¬ 
rives,  and  dem  the  dreadful  tide 

8  of 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE. 

Dlc 


of  profligacy,  inattention  to  burt- 
nefs,  and  barefaced  immorality, 
which  daily  increafe  in  every  de¬ 
partment  of  life,  and  mull:  bring 
down  ruin,  and  the  difiolution  of 
our  country. 

**  That  firrt  quality  of  knowledge, 
which  Lord  Northington  lamented 
the  extinction  of  in  this  country, 
I  (hall  never  prefume  to  be  en¬ 
titled  to;  but  that  of  integrity  I 
dare  aflert  my  claim  to  ;  and  in 
that  particular  I  hold  myfelf  infe¬ 
rior  to  no  man  ;  1  only  wifhit  was 
in  my  power  to  give  your  great 
and  invaluable  friend  the  molt  con¬ 
vincing  proofs  of  this  aflertion,  as 
well  as  of  ir.y  profound  veneration 
for  him.  You  have  known  me 
long  enough  to  be  perluaded  that 
nothing  can  divert  me  from  the 
love  of  my  country,  and  the  paths 
of  an  honeft  conduft ;  therefore 
ever  command,  with  the  utmolt 
freedom,  my  dear  Doctor, 

Your  mort  faithful 
and  fincere  friend* 
James  Wright.5' 

P.  S.  I  (hall  be  in  town  on 
Tuefday  about  three  o’clock,  and 
flay  till  the  following  day.” 

The  next  day  the  following  an- 
fwer,  written  by  the  Countels  of 
Chatham,  was  fent  to  Dr,  Ad¬ 
dington  : 

No.  VII.  Copy  of  a  Letter  from 
Lady  Chatham  to  Dr.  Adding¬ 
ton,  dated  Feb.  9. 

“  I  WRITE,  my  dear  Sir, 
from  my  Lord’s  bed-lide,  who  has 
had  much  pain  all  laft  night  from 
the  gout  in  his  left  hand  and 
wrirt.  The  pulfe  indicates  more 
pain  to  come.  He  defires  me  to 


exprefs  for  him  the  true  fenfe 
has  of  all  your  very  friendly  atten-? 
tion  in  this  very  deiicateand  critical 
fituation.  The  gentleman’s  letter 
which  you  tranlmit  is  handfomely 
written,  and  fufficiently  explicit. 
At  the  fame  time,  it  is  impolfible 
not  to  remark,  how  widely  it  dif¬ 
fers  from  the  tenor  of  lome  of  the 
intimations  conveyed  in  former 
rtrange  converlations  to  you.  The 
letter  now  before  him  is  written 
alfo  with  much  fenfe  and  candour, 
as  coming  from  a  heart  touched 
with  the  extreme  dangers  im- 
pending  over  the  King  and  king¬ 
dom.  Thofe  dangers  are  indeed 
extreme ,  and  feem  to  preclude  all 
ho  pi.” 

Bayes,  quarter  before  one , 

Feb.  2,  1778. 

From  this  unambiguous  and  au¬ 
thentic  account,  founded  on  in- 
difputable  evidence,  every  impar¬ 
tial  perfon  will  determine  whether 
the  following  propofition  is  not 
fully  eftablifhed,  viz.  “  That  the 
late  Earl  of  Chatham  not  only  did 
not  court  a  political  negociaticn 
with  the  Earl  of  Bute,  but  with¬ 
out  hefitation  peremptorily  rejected 
every  idea  ofaSing  with  his  Lord- 
(hip  in  Adminirtration.” 

Dr.  Addington ’j  Narrative ,  con~ 
taining  his  Account  of  what  pajfed 
relative  to  the  fran/aSiion  between 
him  and  Sir  James  Wright. 

TH  E  firrt  time  Sir  James 
Wright  talked  with  Dr.  Ad¬ 
dington  respecting  Lord  Bute  and 
Lord, Chatham  was  about  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  January,  1778.  Sir 
James  began  with  lamenting  the 
fituation  of  this  country,  and  gave 
it  as  his  opinion,  that  the  only  me¬ 
thod 


REGISTER,  1778. 


250  ANNUA  L 

thod  of  faving  it  was  for  Lord  Bate 
and  Lord  Chatham  to  unite  firmly 
together  5  but  remarking,  that  they 
were  two  of  the  men  the  King 
hated  mod.  After  various  con¬ 
versations  on  this  matter.  Sir  James 
faid.  Lord  Bute  thought  Lord 
Chatham  had  a  difrefpedt  for  him. 
Dr.  Addington  replied,  that  to  the 
bed  of  his  remembrance.  Lord 
Chatham  had  never  once  named 
Lord  Bute  to  him  ;  but  that  he 
thought  Lord  Chatham  had  no  dif¬ 
refpedt  for  Lord  Bute :  adding, 
that  though  they  might  differ  in 
politics.  Lord  Chatham  was  not 
the  kind  of  man  to  have  difre- 
fpedl,  or  bear  ill-will  to  any  man. 
Sir  James  added,  he  was  fure 
Lord  Bute  had  the  highed  refpedt 
for  Lord  Chatham  ;  that  he  had 
beard  Lord  Butebedow  great  com¬ 
mendations  on  his  whole  fpeech  at 
the  beginning  of  the  feflion,  ex¬ 
cept  that  part  which  regarded  the 
recall  of  the  troops,  and  that  the 
Podtor  might  tell  Lord  Chatham 
fo  if  he  pleafed  ;  but  he  never 
mentioned  it  till  the  3d  of  Fe¬ 
bruary. 

Nothing  more  paffed  till  the  id. 
of  February,  when  Sir  James  afked 
the  Dodlor,  whether  he  had  men¬ 
tioned  their  former  converfation  to 
Lord  Cha:ham.  He  faid  he  had 
not.  Sir  James  then  faid,  that 
fince  that  converfation  he  had  feen 
Lord  Bute,  and  was  certain  he  had 
the  fame  earned  defire  with  Lord 
Chatham  to  fave  the  country  ;  and 
was  alfo  certain,  that  nobody  could 
fave  it,  but  Lord  Chatham,  with 
the  afliftance  of  Lord  Bute  ;  that 
Lord  Bute  was  ready  to  affift  him, 
and  would  be  Secretary  of  State  in 
the  room  of  Lord  Weymouth. 
The  Dodlor  underflood  that  Lord 
Bute  had.  told  Sir  James  fo  5  and 


he  has  afked  Sir  James  once  ©r 
twice  fince,  whether  Lord  Bute 
would  have  been  Secretary  of  State 
in  Lord  Weymouth’s  room  ?  and 
he  anfwered.  Yes,  he  would,  or 
would  not,  as  Lord  Chatham 
pleafed.  When  Sir  James  had 
mentioned  Lord  Bute’s  readinefs 
to  affift  Lord  Chatham,  and  to  be 
Secretary  of  State,  he  expreffed  a 
wifh  that  the  whole  which  had 
palled  might  be  communicated  to 
Lord  Chatham.  The  Dodlor,  on 
this,  refolved  to  go  to  Hayes  the 
next  morning  for  that  purpofe, 
looking  upon  it  as  a  matter  of  very 
great  moment.  But  he  defired  to 
have  in  writing,  before  he  went, 
the  fubftance  of  what  had  paffed 
between  Lord  Bute  and  Sir  James. 
Sir  James  faid  he  had  not  time  to 
write  then,  as  he  was  in  a  hurry 
to  go  to  Ray-houfe,  but  would 
write  in  the  evening,  and  fend  his 
letter  to  town  by  nine  the  next 
morning.  The  Dodlor,  notwith- 
Handing,  was  permitted  to  ac¬ 
quaint  Lord  Chatham  with  Lord 
Bute’s  vviilingnefs  to  be  Secretary 
of  State,  and,  as  he  underflood, 
with  every  thing  elfe  he  has  de- 
pofed,  which  is  not  expreffed  in 
the  letter.  (Vide  No.  I.)  The 
letter  is  dated  the  2d  of  January, 
1778  ;  it  fhould  have  been  dated 
February  id :  the  Dodlor  received 
it  February  3d,  before  nine  in  the 
morning,  and  fet  out  diredtly  for 
Hayes.  He  read  the  letter  to 
Lord  Chatham,  who  was  very  at¬ 
tentive,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
afterwards  didlated  this  anfwer. 
(Vide  No.  IT.  as  above).  As  foon 
as  Dr.  Addington  had  writ  and 
read  to  Lord  Chatham  the  above 
anfwer,  he  communicated  to  Lord 
Chatham  what  Sir  James  Wright 
had  told  him  of  the  readinefs  of 

Lord 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [25 


Lord  Bute  to  be  Secretary  of  State, 
in  the  place  of  Lord  Weymouth. 
He  Teemed  to  think  it  ftrange. 
Cc  Indeed  !  Laid  he  ;  did  Sir  James 
Wright  tell  you  lo?”  He  cer¬ 
tainly  told  me  fo.”-*-Afcer  this, 
he  aked  Lord  Chatham,  whether 
he  had  any  objection  to  coming  in 
with  Lord  Bute  or  Lord  North  ? 
He  lifted  up  his  hands,  and  laid 

It  was  impoftible  for  him  to 
ferve  the  King  and  country  with 
either  of  them  ;  and  if  any  one 
afks  you  about  it,  l  delire  you  to 
bear  witnefs  that  you  heard  me 
fay  fo.”  He  repeated  the  fame 
words  juft  as  the  Dodtor  was  leav¬ 
ing  him. 

Sir  James  continued  at  Ray* 
houfe  till  February  5 th  or  6th. 
He  called  on  the  Dodior  in  the 
morning  of  the  6th,  and  took  a 
corredt  copy  of  Lord  Chatham’s 
anfwer,  dated  February  3d.  Upon 
reading  it,  he  afked  what  was 
meant  by  the  words,  “  real 
change.”  It  looks,  faid  he,  as  if 
they  included  Lord  Bute  as  well 
as  the  miniftry,  and  as  if  Lord 
Ch  a^ham  thought  Lord  Bute  was 
concerned  in  public  affairs.  I  can 
affure  you,  he  has  nothing  to  do 
with  them,  and  has  not  feen  the 
King  thefe  two  years.  If  lord 
Chatham  has  a  mind  to  undertake 
the  diredtion  of  public  affairs, 
there  will  be  no  objedlion  to  his 
having  the  affiftanceof  Lord  Cam¬ 
den  ;  but  there  are  fome  he  might 
chufe  who  could  not  be  admitted. 
Sir  James  faid,  he  was  to  wait  on 
Lord  Bute  at  one  that  day,  and 
would  lend  the  Dodior  an  anfwer 
to  Lord  Chatham’s  paper  between 
two  and  three,  if  Lord  Bute 
ihould  chufe  to  give  any.  But  a 
misfortune  happening  in  Lord 


Bate’s  family,  no  anfwer  was  fent 
till  February  8th  in  the  morning. 
On  the  7th  of  February,  a  fervant 
of  Lord  Chatham’s  came  to  town, 
by  whom  Dr.  Addington  fent  a 
letter  to  Hayes  at  two  o’clock, 
giving  Lora  Chatham  an  account 
of  the  above  mentioned  converfa- 
ticm  with  Sir  James  Wright  on  the 
6th.  On  the  evening  of  the  7th, 
his  Lordfhip  wrote  the  following 
amwer,  which  the  Dodior  received 
the  next  morning.  (Vide  No.  III. 
and  No.  IV). 

On  the  8th  of  February,  fooa 
after  Lord  Chatham’s  letter  ar¬ 
rived,  the  Dodior  received  that 
letter  from  Sir  James,  which  had 
been  expedled  from  February  6th.. 
(Vide  No.  VJ).  It  is  dated  Febru. 
ary  7th,  and  contains  Lord  Bute’s 
anfwer  to  Lord  Chatham’s  paper 
of  February  3d.  The  Dodior  fent 
it  immediately  to  Hayes,  and  had 
the  next  morning  the  anfwer  writ¬ 
ten  by  Lady  Chatham,  dated  Fe¬ 
bruary  9th  (Vide  No.  VII).  The 
Dodior  communicated  to  Sir  James 
Wright  this  letter  from  Lady  Chat¬ 
ham,  and  alfo  the  latter  part  of 
that  from  Lord  Chatham,  as  foon 
as  he  could ;  and  fo  the  affair 
ended. 

P.  S.  In  Sir  James  Wright’s  let¬ 
ter  of  February  2d,  there  are  the 
following  words :  “  I  told  Lord 

Bute  that  a  friend  of  mine  had 
hinted  to  me,  that  he  thought 
Lord  Chatham  had  a  high  opinion 
of  his  Lordfhip’s  honour,  as  well 
as  his  ftncere  good  wilhes  for  the 
public  fafety.”  After  reading  thefe 
words  to  Lord  Chatham,  the  Doc¬ 
tor  could  not  but  take  notice,  that 
Sir  James  had  miftaken  him  ;  for 
all  lie  faid  was,  that  he  thought 

Lord 


*5*3  ANNUAL  R 

Lord  Chatham  had  no  difrefpecl 
Cor  Lord  Bute,  &c.  as  is  dated 
above. 

Sir  James  Wright* j  /infimr  to  Dr , 
AddingjtonV  Narrative. 

AN  account  having  been  print¬ 
ed  in  feveral  oi  the  News¬ 
papers  of  the  1 4-th  and  1 6th  in- 
da  nt,  concerning  a  neg-qciatiom, 
(if  it  may  be  called  fo)  faid  to 
have  been  carried  on  between  the 
Earl  of  Bute  and  the  late  Earl  of 
Chatham,  which  feems  to  convey 
an  i  in  predion  as  if  Sir  fames 
Wright  had  carried  to  Dr.  Ad¬ 
dington  a  proportion  from  Lord 
Bute,  to  take  a  Khare  in  Admini- 
ilration  with  the  late  Earl  of  Chat¬ 
ham  ;  Sir  James  Wright  thinks 
himfelf  obliged,  in  fupport  of 
Truth,  and  in  vindication  of  his 
own  honour,  to  declare  thus  pub¬ 
licly  what  he  has  long  finee  and 
repeatedly  given  under  his  own 
hand,  and  afferted  verbally  on  this 
fubjedt. 

He  therefore  now  declares,  in 
the  molt  folemn  manner,  upon  the 
word  of  a  man  of  honour.— c<  That 
he  never  received,  diredlly,  or  in¬ 
directly,  from  the  Earl  of  Bute,  or 
delivered  to  Dr.  Addington  any 
proportion  tq  that  or  the  like  ef¬ 
fect  ;  and  that  he  never  had  the 
Iteaft  authority  from  Lord  Bute  to 
mention,  hint,  or  fugged  to  Dr, 
Addington  any  terms  whatever  on 
which  his  Lordfhip  wifhed  .Lord 
Chatham  to  come  into  Adminiftra- 
tion,  or  made  any  offer  on  the 
part  of  Lord  Bute,  but  of  his 
hearty  concurrence  and  fmcere  good 
withes,  if  Lord  Chatham  thought 
fit  to  take  a  part  in  Adminiftra- 
tionT  Thus  much  Sir  James 
Wright  thinks  proper  to  fay  at 


G  IS  TER,  i77fg. 

prefent,  until  he  can  properly  di- 
geft  what  he  fhall  have  ihorcly  to 
offer  the  public  on  this  fubjedl, 

Thefe  Accounts  having  been  pub¬ 
lished  in  molt  of  the  News-pa¬ 
pers,  occafioned  the  following 
Addrefs  from  Lord  Moantdu- 
arc,  elded  fqn  to  the  Earl  of 
Bute, 

Hill ; fir. set ,  OB.  23. 

S  I  R, 

H  E  publication  which  ha* 
appeared  in  your  paper,  and 
is  there  faid  to  be  taken  from  a 
copy  handed  about  by  the  friends 
of  the  late  Earl  of  Chatham,  makes 
it  neceffary  for  me  to  defire  a  place 
■for  this  Letter  iigned  vyith  my¬ 
na  me. 

The  fird  paragraph  of  that  pub¬ 
lication  obferves  very  truly,  that 
various  falfe  reports  had  been  in- 
duffrioufly  propagated  concerning 
a  negociation  faid  to  haye  been 
carried  on  between  the  Earl  of 
Bute,  and  the  late  Earl  of  Chat¬ 
ham.  No  lefs  than  three  feveral 
reports  of  negociations  between 
thole  two  noble  Lords  reached  me 
in  the  courfe  of  lad  Spring,  each 
differing  from  the  other  two  in  Cir- 
cumdaces,  and  all  from  one  ano¬ 
ther  in  the  fubditqtes  named  as 
having  been  employed  in  the  cran¬ 
ia  £1  ion  ^  ;  and  I  took  fame  pains  to 
fearch  into  the  origin  of  thefe  do¬ 
ries  ;  not  to  fatisfy  any  doubt  of 
mine  as  to  their  falihood,  (for  I 
believed  none  of  them)  but  to 
convince  fome  of  my  acquaintance 
who  difagreed,  and  others  who 
might  difagree,  with  me  in  opi¬ 
nion  upon  the  fubjedl. 

In  confequence  of  thefe  enqui¬ 
ries,  the  perfons  mentioned  as 
agents  or  meffage- bearers  in  two 

of 


/ 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHItONICL E.  [25 


of  the  three  reports,  very  readily 
declaimed  all  fhare  in  or  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  tranfj&ions  afcribed 
to  them.  With  refpeul  to  the’ 
third,  there  was  more  pretence  of 
foundation  ;  fince  meHages  cer¬ 
tainly  palled  between  the  late  Earl 
of  Chatham  and  my  father,  by 
means  of  Sir  James  Wright  and 
Dr.  Addington. 

The  reprefentation  I  had  heard 
of  fome  particulars  in  the  lubjeft 
matter  of  that  intercourfe  furprifed 
me  fo  much,  that  I  requeued  the 
favour  of  an  explanation  from  Dr. 
Addington,  who  obligingly  allow¬ 
ed  me  to  write  from  his  mouth 
fuch  an  account  as  he  thought  lit 
to  give  me,  and  approved  my  date 
of  it  when  written.  This  was  put 
into  Sir  James  Wright’s  hands, 
who  in  a  fhort  time  produced  an 
anfwer  contradicting  it  in  all  the 
material  articles  of  their  converfa- 
tions,  on  which  Dr.  Addington’s 
reports  to  Lord  Chatham  had 
been  founded.  1  read  over  the 
anfwer  to  Dr.  Addington,  who 
perfilfed  in  maintaining  the  truth 
of  his  relations ;  but  faid,  he 
would  reConlider  the  matter  at  lei- 
fure,  and  put  his  thoughts  into 
writing.  Accordingly  he  after¬ 
wards  fent  me  a  paper,  the  fame 
with  that  referred  to  in  your  publi¬ 
cation,  and  fince  printed  under 
the  title  of  Dr.  Addington’s  Nar¬ 
rative. 

The  relations  given  by  thefe  two 
gentlemen  being  thus  inconliftent, 
it  was  thought  proper  that  a  full 
abftradl  fiiould  be  prepared  of  their 
refpeCtive  papers  and  others  which 
my  inquiries  had  produced,  in¬ 
cluding  my  father’s  own  account  of 
his  part  in  -dr  James  Wright’s  tranf- 
actions,  digeited  into  fome  me¬ 


thod,  to  be  (hewn  to  fuch  as  mio-hs 
defire  to  fee  it,  but  not  allowed  to 
be  copied.  This  abitrail  or  digelfc 
was  executed  by  a  friend,  at  my 
requell,  in  a  fair  Hate  of  the  alle¬ 
gations  on  both  lides  between  Sir 
James  and  the  Do&or  ;  with  a  pre¬ 
liminary  detail  or  introductory  na- 
rative  of  the  feveral  Heps  I  had 
taken  in  the  inquiries  above-men¬ 
tioned;  and  my  friend’s  compila¬ 
tion  hath  been  read  by  a  few  peo¬ 
ple  ;  but  no  copy,  as  I  am  in¬ 
formed,  hath  been  delivered  out 
of  my  family,  except  one  which 
had  been  intended  for  a  very  near 
relation,  and  was  fent  to  Lady 
Chatham,  with  copies  of  Sir  James 
Wright’s  papers,  at  her  Ladyfhip’a 
own  defire.  To  thefe  communi¬ 
cations,  I  underhand,  it  is  imme¬ 
diately  owing,  that  the  authentic 
account  lately  printed  was  judg¬ 
ed  indifpenfably  necefiary  to  be 
drawn  up  and  circulated  ;  of  which 
Lady  Chatham  was  fo  good  as 
to  furnifh  my  father  with  a  copy 
thirteen  or  fourteen  cays  before  it 
appeared  in  print  :  fo  that  I,  who 
conlider  myfelf  as  being  in  fome 
degree  the  caufe  cf  the  publica- 
tion,  am  for 'this  reafon  called 
upon  to  take  a  public  notice  of  it, 
if  my  connexion,  and  the  nature 
of  the  occafion  did  not  afford  me 
fufficient  inducement  and  excufe 
for  fo  doing. 

The  account  is  avowed  exprefsly 
to  be  drawn  up  from  papers  in 
polfeflion  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham’s 
family,  in  order  to  fhew  whether 
the  fuppofed  negociation  did  of 
did  not  originate  from  his  Lord- 
fhip  ;  fo  that  the  papers  are  con- 
feffedly  furnifhed  by  the  Earl’s  fa¬ 
mily  for  the  purpofe  of  compofmg 
this  account  $  which  therefore 

bears 


*54]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  t77$. 


bears  the  llamp  of  that  family's 
authority,  whether  printed  by  their 
direction  or  not. 

The  account  clofes  with  the  fol* 
lowing  obfervation,  viz.  From  this 
unambiguous  and  authentic  account , 
founded  on  in  dif put  able  evidence, 
every  impartial  p  erf  on  will  determine 
whether  the  following  propofition  is 
not  fully  ejlablijhed,  viz.  Fhat  the 
late  Earl  of  Chatham  not  only  did 
not  court  a  political  negociation  with 
the  Earl  of  Bute ,  but  without  hefi- 
tation  peremptorily  rejected  every  idea 
of  aSing  with  his  Lordjhip  in  Admi- 
nijlration . 

The  propofition  here  put,  it 
mu  ft  be  observed,  does  not  only 
concern  Lord  Chatham’s  rejection 
of  every  idea,  &c.  but  -  involves 
in  it  a  ftrong  implication,  as  if 
Lord  Bute  had  defired  and  pro¬ 
posed  to  take  a  part  in  Admini¬ 
stration  with  his  Lordlhip.  Now 
I  do  not  at  all  enter  into  the 
<jueflion,  whether  Lord  Chatham 
did  or  did  not  court  a  negociation 
with  the  Earl  of  Bute  ;  but  when 
I  ccnfider  the  expreffion  in  his 
Lordfhip’s  dittated  anfwer  to 
Sir  James  Wright’s  let-er,  that  he 
heard  with  particular  fatisfadiion  the 
favourable  fentiments  on  the  fubjedi  of 
the  noble  Lord  viz.  Lord  Bute) 
with  whom  Sir  fames  Wrigbt  had 
talked ,  and  the  following  words  of 
the  Sentence,  that  %eal>  duty ,  and 
obedience  might  outlive  hope ,  even 
under  the  impending  ruin  of  the 
kingdom  ;  it  appears  to  me,  that 
whatever  ideas  his  Lordfhip  might 
reject,  he  had  not  then  refolved  to 
rejed  all  ideas  of  negociation  with 
my  father  ;  conceiving,  perhaps, 
from  his  affurance  of  hearty  con¬ 
currence  and  fmcere  good  wifhes 
conveyed  in  Sir  James  Wright’s 


letter,  fotne  expectation  of  having 
the  door  of  the  Cabinet  opened  to 
him,  by  that  hand,  which,  ac¬ 
cording  to  his  notions,  had  always 
kept  the  key.  I  may  proceed  a 
Step  further :  it  feems  probable 
that  Lord  Chatham,  at  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  prefent  year,  was 
looking  out  for  a  negociation  with 
my  father ;  for  Mr.  Dagge,  who 
was  faid  in  one  of  the  above-men¬ 
tioned  reports  to  be  concerned  in 
tranfa&ing  a  negociation  between 
the  two  noble  Lords,  and  who  is 
an  acquaintance  of  Lord  Bute* 
happening  to  fay  in  common  con¬ 
versation  with  a  friend  of  Lord 
Chatham,  that  he  had  heard  my 
father  fpeak  refpe&fully  of  Lord 
Chatham,  and  give  his  opinion, 
that  Lord  Chatham’s  fervices  mull 
of  courfe  be  called  for  in  the  pre¬ 
fent  crifis;  and  this  being  reported 
to  Lord  Chatham  by  his  friend, 
who  heard  it  from  Mr.  Dagge,  his 
Lordlhip  inftantly  concluded,  the 
words  to  be  meant  as  a  meffage  to 
him  from  my  father  ;  but  luckily 
his  friend  undeceived  him  in  time; 
of  which  alfo  1  have  my  indifputa- 
ble  evidence  from  a  paper  of  that 
friend,  who  obliged  me  with  it  at 
my  own  delire,  but  who  cannot  be 
fufpe&ed  of  wanting  partiality  for 
Lord  Chatham.- — It  is  faid  in  the 
authentic  account  from  the  evi¬ 
dence  of  Dr.  Addington’s  Narra¬ 
tive,  that  Lord  Chatham  held  a 
converfation  with  the  Doctor  at 
Hayes,  in  which  the  former  de* 
dared  it  was  impoffible  for  him  to 
ferve  the  public  with  either  Lord  Bute 
or  Lord  North  ;  but  I  believe  no¬ 
body  would  diScern  in  this  part  of 
their  converfation  at  Hayes,  the 
Shadow  of  a  proof  that  my  father 
offered  to  ferve  the  public  in  a  Mi- 


APPENDIX  to  the 

niAry  with  his  Lordfhip,  unlefs 
Dr.  Addington  had  added  this  cir- 
cumAance  in  this  Narrative,  as 
gathered  from  Sir  James  Wright’s 
difcourfe  with  him  :  fo  that  at  laA 
the  indifputable  evidence  of  this 
fad,  fo  far  as  regards  my  father, 
refts  wholly  upon  Dr.  Addington’s 
Narrative,  which  hath  been  flatly 
contradided  in  that  point,  again 
and  again,  by  Sir  James  Wright. 
Undoubtedly  the  Dr.  and  Sir 
James  would  have  been  fufflcient 
witnefles  of  the  meflage  intended  to 
be  conveyed  thro’  them,  if  their  ac¬ 
counts  had  agreed  ;  but  they  differ 
fo  widely  and  eflentially,  that  no 
evidence  feems  to  have  lefs  claim 
to  be  called  indifputable.  What 
other  evidence  then  can  be  reforted 
to  in  this  cafe,  but  Lord  Bute’s 
own  relation  of  his  own  proceed¬ 
ings  ?  This  I  am  at  liberty  to  give 
you  in  the  following  extract  from 
his  letter  to  Lady  Chatham,  of  the 
j6th  of  AuguA  lalt,  dated  from 
Luton-park. 

“  Madam, 

I  am  happy  in  the  opportunity 
your  Ladylhip  gives  me  of  relating 
to  you  all  I  know  concerning  a 
tranfadion,  in  which  both  Lord 
Chatham  and  I  have  been  firange- 
ly  milreprelented  to  each  other, 
and  concerning  which  fo  many  fal- 
fhoods  have  been  fo  induflrioufly 
propagated.  When  Sir  James 
Wright  communicated  to  me  the 
very  flattering  language  in  which 
he  declared  Lord  Chatham  expref- 
fed  himfelf  concerning  me,  1  was 
naturally  led  to  mention  my  regard 
for  his  Lordfhip,  and  the  high 
opinion  1  entertained  of  his  fupe- 
rior  talents,  hoping  from  what  was 
then  publicly  talked  of,  to  fee 
them  once  more  employed  in  the 
Miniilerial  line ;  and  colleding 


CHRONICLE.  [255 

from  Sir  James  that  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  my  fentiments  would  not 
on  this  occafion  be  difpleafing,  I 
did  not  hefitate  to  exprefs  my 
hearty  willies  that  this  important 
event  might  foon  take  place.  Some 
time  after  this  I  was  extremely  fur- 
prifed  wirh  a  converfation  Sir 
James  faid  Dr.  Addington  wilhed 
to  be  reported  to  me  :  it  was  in 
fubAance  Lord  Chatham’s  opinion 
of  the  alarming  condition  we  were 
in,  and  the  neceflary  meafures  to 
be  immediately  taken  upon  it.  As 
fuch  a  communication  to  a  perfon 
in  my  retired  fituation,  feemed 
only  made  on  a  fuppofition  that  I 
had  Aili  fome  fhare  in  public 
councils,  it  appeared  neceflary  for 
me  to  didate  to  Sir  James  my  an- 
fwer  ;  in  which,  after  lamenting 
the  dangerous  iituation  of  affairs, 
unknown  to  me  in  fuch  an  extent, 
I  added,  that  this  affeded  me  the 
more,  as  my  long  illnefs,  and  to¬ 
tal  feclufion  from  all  public  bufi- 
nefs,  put  it  out  of  my  power  to  be 
of  the  leaA  fervice. — This,  Ma¬ 
dam,  is  the  whole  I  am  privy  to 
in  this  affair,  and  all  that  paffed 
between  Sir  James  and  me  upon 
it.” 

If  any  further  explanation  can 
be  neceflary  from  my  father,  re- 
fpeding  either  the  deflgn  or  pur¬ 
port  of  his  meflage,  he  allows  me 
to  fay,  in  his  name,  that  he  did 
(perhaps  erroneoufly)  conflder  Dr. 
Addington’s  reprefen  tations  of  Lord 
Chatham’s  manner  of  fpeaking  of 
him,  as  reported  at  the  time  by 
Sir  James  Wright,  to  be  intima¬ 
tions  thrown  out  by  his  Lordfhip, 
in  order  to  know  his  (my  father’s) 
fentiments  upon  the  fubjedofhis 
coming  then  into  AdminiAration  : 
for  which  reafon  my  father  did  not 
fcruple  to  fend  a  meffage  by  the 

perfcm 


2 s 6]  Annual  register,  i7f 


perfon  from  whom  he  derived  his 
information,  fignifying,  Mat  if 
Lord  Chatham  was  appemted  to 
Adminidration,  the  hearr/  concur¬ 
rence  of  his  judgment  and  fincere 
wifhes  of  fuccefs  would  follow  that 
appointment.  He  avers,  at  the 
fame  time,  that  he  did  not  con¬ 
ceive  a  thought  of  propoflng  him- 
felf  to  his  Lordihip  for  any  office, 
or  of  accepting  any  office  with 
him,  his  own  inclination  having 
never  prompted  him,  nor  his  date 
of  health  admitted  him,  to  engage 
in  public  buflnefs,  except  on  very 
few  occasions  in  the  Houfe  of 
Lords,  from  the  time  of  his  quit¬ 
ting  the  Treafury  in  1763  ;  neither 
did  he  entertain  an  idea  of  fug- 
gelling  to  Lord  Chatham  any  ar¬ 
rangement  of  an  Adminidration, 
his  wilhes,  and  the  communication 
of  them  through  Sir  James  Wright, 
having  folely  regarded  Lord  Chat¬ 
ham.  There  is  another  paffage  in 
your  publication,  which  appears 
to  me  more  material  hill  with  re - 
fped  to  my  father,  than  what  I 
have  already  mentioned.  This  is 
the  copy  of  the  note  from  Lord 
Chatham  in  his  own  hand-writ¬ 
ing  to  Dr.  Addington,  faying, 
**  the  next  attempt  he  (Sir  James 
Wright)  makes  to  furprife  friendly 
integrity  with  courtly  infinuation, 
let  him  know  that  his  great  Patron 
.  and  your  Village  Friend  differ  in 
this ;  one  has  brought  the  King 
and  kingdom  to  ruin,  the  other 
would  fincerely  endeavour  to  fave 
it.” 

Here  is  a  letter  under  the  Earl 
of  Chatham’s  hand,  vouched  to 
be  fuch  by  the  authority  of  his  fa¬ 
mily,  imputing  to  Lord  Bute  thofe 
counfels,  which  Lord  Chatham 
fays  (whether  juftly  or  erroneoufiy, 
is  not  the  prefent  quedion)  have 


ruined  the  King  and  kingdodh 
Every  reader  will  at  once  havd 
underdood  this  imputation  to  be 
founded  on  Lord  Chatham’s  opi¬ 
nion  ofLord  Bute’s  fecret  influence 
(as  it  is  called),  by  which  he  has 
been  imagined  to  dictate  or  con- 
troul  the  meafures  of  the  cabinet 
ever  fmee  the  Earl  of  Chatham 
left  it.  Lord  Bute  has  not  been 
ignorant  of  the  long  prevalence  of 
that  error,  having  feen  himfelf 
mod  injurioufly  treated  in  con- 
fequence  of  it,  for  many  years  pall, 
by  writers  of  pamphlets*  News¬ 
paper  effays,  and  political  para¬ 
graphs;  all  which  he  paffed  over 
in  lilent  indignation  and  contempt; 
but  when  he  fees  the  fame  cruel 
midake  advanced  and  counte¬ 
nanced  by  fuch  an  authority  as 
the  Earl  of  Chatham,  he  thinks 
he  fliould  be  wanting  to  himfelf 
if  he  did  not  encounter  it  with  the 
bell  evidence  that  can  be  fuppofed 
to  lie  within  his  reach. 

There  are  but  two  perfons  in 
the  kingdom  who  are  capable  of 
knowing  the  negative  of  that  opi¬ 
nion  with  abfolute  certainty.  One 
of  them  is  of  a  rank  too  high  to  be 
appealed  to,  or  even  mentioned  on 
this  occaflon  ;  the  other  is  himfelf. 
He  does  therefore  authorize  me  to 
fay,  that  he  declares,  upon  his  fo- 
lemn  word  of  honour,  he  has  not 
had  the  honour  of  waiting  on  his 
Majelty  but  at  his  levee  of  draw¬ 
ing-room,  nor  has  he  prefumed  to 
offer  an  advice  or  opinion  concern¬ 
ing  the  difpolition  of  offices,  or  the 
conduCl  of  meafures,  either  di¬ 
rectly  or  indiredlly,  by  himfelf  or 
any  othef,  from  the  time  when 
thmiateuDuke  of  Cumberland  was 
confulted  in  the  arrangement  of  a 
Miniltry  in  1765  to  the  prefent 
hour. 


Before 


/ 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [257 


Before  I  conclude,  I  mud  ap¬ 
prize  your  readers  that  I  do  not 
intend  to  fet  up  for  a  News-paper 
author,  or  to  anfvver  queffions,  ob¬ 
jections  or  obfervations,  or  to  en¬ 
gage  in  printed  altercation  with 
any  body.  I  am,  & c. 

Moun  tstu  art. 

goon  after  the  following  letter  made 
its  appearance  in  the  fame  Paper. 
Harley -Jlreet,  Tburjday  OB.  29,  1778. 

SIR, 

A  Letter  appeared  in  your  paper, 
figned  by  Lord  Moun  til  u  art, 
•of  which  I  think  it  incumbent  upon 
me  to  take  public  notice,  and  I 
lhould  have  done  fo  fooner,  if  I 
had  not  been  at  that  time  at  fome 
diftance  from  London.  His  Lord- 
Blip’s  letter  contains  fome  paffages 
which  I  think  injurious  to  my  fa¬ 
ther’s  memory,  as  well  as  obferva- 
tions  on  an  Authentic  Account,  See. 
which  feems  to  require  an  anfwer 
from  Lord  Chatham’s  family.  I 
wifli  it  had  fallen  to  fome  other 
hand  to  difeharge  this  debt  to  my 
father’s  memory  ;  at  the  fame  time, 
my  impatience  to  vindicate  his 
conduCt.  and  to  free  this  fubjeCt 
from  mifconftruCtion,  cannot,  I 
am  perfuaded,  Band  in  need  of 
any  excufe,  either  towards  Lord 
Mountlluart,  ortowards  the  public. 

Lord  Mountlluart,  in  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  his  letter,  fays.  That  no 
lefs  than  three  reports  of  negocia- 
tions  between  my  father  and  Lord 
Jiute  reached  hirn  in  the  courfe  of 
laff  Spring.  One  of  them  appears 
to  have  arifen  from  the  tranfa&ion 
between  Sir  James  Wright  and 
Do'Ctor  Addington,  of  which  the 
public  have  heard  fo  much  al¬ 
ready. —  Another  from  that  affair 
in  which  Mr.  Dagge  was  concern¬ 
ed,  which  I  fhall  have  occafion  to 
Vol.  XXL 


mention  hereafter* - And  the 

third  report  which  Lord  Mount- 
iluart  alludes  to,  I  fuppofe  to  be 
the  fame  with  that  mentioned  in 
a  paper  drawn  up  at  Lord  Mount- 
lluart’s  requeit,  by  Mr.  Martyn. 

If  it  is,  I  can  only  fay,  that  I 
have  been  allured  by  my  brother- 
in  law,  Lord  Mahon,  that  my  fa¬ 
ther  himfelf  told  him,  that  Lord 
Bute’s  name  was  not  mentioned 
in  the  affair  which  has  occaiioned 
that  report.  :  f 

Lord  Mountlluart  afterwards  al¬ 
ludes  to  the  abltraCt or  digelt  drawn 
up  by  his  friend  on  the  fubjeCt  of 
the  negotiations  between  my  fa¬ 
ther  and  Lord  Bute.  I  think  it 
right  to  declare  that  that  paper, 
which  was  fent  to  my  mother  at 
her  requeff  by  Lord  Bute,  toge¬ 
ther  with  the  declarations  of  Sir 
James  Wright  and  other  concur¬ 
ring  reports,  tended',  in  the  opi¬ 
nion  of  the  family,  to  bring  im-. 
putations  upon  my  father’s  cha¬ 
racter,  which  they  could  not  fuffer 
to  pals  unnoticed.  The  perfons 
therefore  who  compiled  thofe  pa¬ 
pers  fent  to  Lady  Chatham,  or 
who  propagated  fuch  injurious  re¬ 
ports,  were,  in  faCt,  the.caufes  of 
the  Authentic  Account  being  drawn 
up  and  circulated. 

1  fhall  now  proceed  to  take  no¬ 
tice  of  the  remarks  made  by  Lord 
Mountftuart,  on  the  concluding 
proportion  of  the  Authentic  Ac¬ 
count,  which  is,  “  that  the  late 
Pari  of  Chatham  not  only  did  not 
court  a  political  negociation  with  the 
Earl  of  Bute ,  but  without  heft  at  ion , 
peremptorily  rejected  e%-ery  idea  of 
adiing  with  his  Lordjhip  in  Admi~ 
tiijiratjon .”  His  Loidlhip  lays,  * 
“  That  the  propofition  does  not 
only  coricern  Lord  Chatham’s  re¬ 
jection  of  every  idea,  &c.  but  in- 
[J!]  v  elves 


/ 


a  58]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


volves  in  it  a  ftrong  implication, 
as  if  Lord  Bute  had  defired  and 
propofed  to  take  a  part  in  Admini- 
ftration  with  him.”  To  this  I 
fay,  that  the  propofition,  as  quot¬ 
ed  above,  does  not  neceflarily  in¬ 
volve  fuch  an  implication,  nor  is 
it  any  where  afferted  in  the  Au¬ 
thentic  Account,  that  Lord  Bute  did 
make  any  fuch  propofal.  The 
propofition  only  implies  (what  I 
think  the  Authentic  Account  fully 
proves),  that  what  was  reported  to 
Lord  Chatham  by  Dr.  Addington, 
Was  brought  to  him  as  coming  from 
Lord  Bute.  Whether  the  ideas 
thus  conveyed  to  Lord  Chatham, 
originated  entirely  with  Sir  James 
Wright — whether  they  arofe  from 
mifapprehenfions  of  Dr.  Adding¬ 
ton,  or  whether  they  proceeded 
from  Lord  Bute  himfelf,  it  is 
equally  inconteftible,  in  every  one 
of  thefe  caLs,  that  they  came  to 
Lord  Chatham  in  the  manner  Hat¬ 
ed  in  the  Authentic  Account .  Lord 
Chatham  could  confider  thofe  ideas 
only  in  the  fnape  in  which  they 
came  to  him,  and  his  mefiages  in 
confequence  are  fufficient  to  fhew 
his  determination  on  this  fubjedft, 
without  our  enquiring  how  far  the 
advances  made  to  him  were  or 
were  not  authorized  by  Lord  Bute. 
The  foie  motive  of  drawing  up  the 
Authentic  Account ,  was  the  defire  of 
vindicating  my  father’s  memory, 
and  not  any  wifh  to  affedt  the  cha¬ 
racter  of  Lord  Bute.  If  any  one 
by  reading  the  Authentic  Account , 
is  led  to  form  any  opinion  relative 
to  Lord  Bute,  it  mull  be  from  the 
nature  of  the  papers  contained  in 
it  (which  were  neceffary  to  be 
produced  for  my  father’s  j unifi¬ 
cation^  and  not  from  any  afl'ertion 
made  or  implied  in  any  part  of 
tke  account.  Whoever  has  read 


it,  muft  have  obferved,  that  it 
confifts  of  written  and  indifputa- 
ble  evidence,  and  does  net  con¬ 
tain  a  Angle  word  beyond  that  evi¬ 
dence,  excepting  only  the  few  in¬ 
troductory  lines; — the  allufion  to 
various  converfations  which  had 
paffed  between  Sir  James  Wright 
and  Dr.  Addington,  previous  to 
the  3d.  of  February,  which  cir- 
cum fiance,  I  am  perfuaded,  can¬ 
not  be  called  in  queilion  ; — the 
mention  of  Lord  Chatham’s  eon- 
verfation  with  Dr  Addington,  and 
his  declaration  relative  to  Lord 
Bute  and  Lord  North,  which  no 
one  can  pretend  to  controvert 
and  finally,  the  concluding  propo¬ 
fition,  of  the  trmh  of  which  the 
public  muft  judge,  by  confidering 
the  fails  from  which  it  is  deduced. 
With  refpeit  to  Dr.  Addington’s 
Narrative,  it  was,  by  his  permif- 
iion,  added  in  the  appendix,  in 
order  to  throw  light  upon  fome 
parts  of  the  tranfa&ion.  If  Sir 
James  Wright  contefls  any  thing 
advanced  in  the  Doitor’s  Narra¬ 
tive,  the  public  judgment  will 
finally  reft  on  the  comparative  de¬ 
gree  of  credit  due  to  thofe  two 
gentlemen,  and  upon  the  probabi¬ 
lity  or  improbability  of  their  re* 
fpeCtive  affertions. 

Lord  Mountftuart  alfo  fays, 
Si  That  he  does  not  at  all  enter 
into  the  queftion,  whether  Lord 
Chatham  did  or  did  not  court  a 
negociation  with  the  Earl  of 
Bute  ?”  If  his  Lordfhip  had 
ftriCtly  adhered  to  this  intention 
throuo-h  the  remainder  of  his  let- 
ter,  thefe  remarks  would  have  been 
lefs  neceffary. ” 

His  lordfhip  then  endeavours  to 
prove,  <c  That  my  father,  at  the 
time  of  dictating  his  anfwer  to  Sir 
James  Wright’s  firft  letter,  had 

not 


# 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE,  [259 


not  refolved  to  rejedl  all  ideas  of 
negociation  with  Lord  Bute.” 
Now,  if  Lord  Mountftuart  means 
by  this,  that  Lord  Chatham  would 
not,  from  any  perfonal  objection 
to  Lord  Bute,  have  refufed  to  lillen 
to  fuch  propofals,  as  might  be 
perfectly  confident  with  his  ho¬ 
nour  and  his  principles,  and  which 
he  might  have  accepted  with  the 
profpedt  of  being  ferviceable  to 
his  country,  merely  becaufe  they 
came  through  his  Lordjhip  ;  Lord 
Mountftuart  can  deduce  from  this 
nothing  that  in  any  way  affiedts  the1 
prefent  queftion.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  means  that  Lord  chat- 
ham  had  not  refolved  to  rejedl  a 
negociation  of  any  other  defcrip- 
tion,  or  that  there  was  any  time 
when  he  would  not  have  rejected 
every  idea  of  adling  with  Lord 
Bute  in  Adminiftfation  ;  this  opi¬ 
nion  is  utterly  without  foundation, 
and  no  j;argument  has  been  pro¬ 
duced  in  fupport  of  it. 

The  expreffions  which  Lord 
Mountftuart  quotes  from  my  fa¬ 
ther’s  note  are  thefe  :  that  “  Lord 
Chatham  heard  with  particular  fa- 
tisfadiion  the  favourable  fentiments  of 
his  Jubjedt  on  the  noble  Lord  with 
whom  Sir  ‘ James  IVright  had  talked , 
and  that  zeal,  duty  and  obedience 
might  outlive  hope'"  (even  under  the 
impending  ruin  of  the  kingdom). 
Now  what  does  the  firft  of  thefe 
expreffions  amount  to,  but  that 
Lord  Chatham  heard,  with  much 
fatisfadlion,  thofe  high  expreftions 
of  approbation  and  explicit  offers 
of  concurrence ,  from  one  who  was 
generally  thought  (no  matter  how 
truly)  to  have  fo  much  influence 
in  the  government  of  this  country, 
which  were  conveyed  in  Sir  James 
Wright’s  firft  letter,  with  the  ex¬ 
press  delire  that  they  might  be 


communicated  through  Dr.  Ad¬ 
dington  to  Lord  Chatham  ? — 'And 
what  is  the  meaning  of  the  fe- 
cond  expreffion,  but  that  Lord 
Chatham,  however  defperate  he 
thought  the  fituation  of  public  af¬ 
fairs,  would  ftill  perform  the  du¬ 
ties  of  a  good  fubjedl,  in  endea¬ 
vouring  to  prevent,  if  poftible,  the 
final  ruin  of  the  kingdom  ?  It  is 
impoflible,  therefore,  to  argue  from, 
either  of  thefe  expreftions,  which 
were  written  in  anfwer  to  Sir 
James  Wright,  that  my  father  ei¬ 
ther  courted  a  negociation  with 
Lord  Bute,  or  was  willing  to  adt 
with  his  lordfhip  in  Adminiftra¬ 
tion  ;  unlefs  it  can  be  pretended 
that  the  profeflions  of  zealy  duty , 
and  obediencey  are  to  be  referred 
to  Lord  Bute.  Let  it  alfo  be  re¬ 
membered,  that  the  very  meftage 
from  which  Lord  Mountftuart  has 
quoted  the  expreffions  above  re¬ 
cited,  contains  in  it  the  declara¬ 
tion  of  Lord  Chatham’s  opinion 
“  That ,  if  any  thing  can  prevent 
the  conjummation  of  public  ruin ,  it 
can  only  be  new  Counfels  and  new* 
Coun/ellors,  without  further  lofs  of 
time  >  a  real  change,  from  fine  ere 
convidlion  of  pafi  errors ,  and  not  a 
mere  palliation ,  which  muf  prove  ' 
fruitlefs  f  which  words  were  con- 
fidered  by  Sir  James  Wright,  and 
(as  appears  from  Sir  James’s  letter 
of  February  yth)  were  con  fidered 
by  Lord  Bute  himfeif,  as  includ¬ 
ing  his  Lordiliip  as  well  as  the 
Miniftry. 

Lord  Mountftuart  next  attempts 
tofhew,  “  That  Lord  Chatham  at 
the  beginning  of  the  prefent  year 
was  looking  out  for  a  negociation 
with  Lord  Bute.”  It  is  not  very 
clear  what  exadlly  is  meant  by  that 
expreffion.  I  cannot  imagine.Lord 
Mountftuart  to  have  intended  to 

[jR]  a  imply 


26o)  ANNUAL  REGIS  T  E  R,  1778 


imply  that  Lord  Chatham  expe&ed 
a  negociation  would  be  begun  on 
the  part  of  Lord  Bute  :  becaufe  that 
would  feem  as  if  Lord  Mountduart 
admitted  that  there  was  ground  for 
fuch  an  expectation.  But,  if  he  in¬ 
tended  by  this  expreffion  to  convey, 
that  Lord  Chatham  was  difpofed  to 
court  a  negociation  with  the  Earl 
of  Bute,  1  mud  take  the  liberty  to 
affert,  that  the  cir  cum  dance  he  re¬ 
fers  to  is  no  proof  of  fuch  a  pofi- 
tion.  The  affair  mentioned  by 
Lord  Mountduart,  in  which  Mr. 
Dag  ge  was  concerned,  was  report¬ 
ed  to  Lord  Chatham  by  his  ne¬ 
phew,  Mr.  Thomas  Pitt,  (who  is 
at  prefent  out  of  England)  and  it 
is  from  him  that  Lord  Mountduart 
mud  have  received  the  account  he 
alludes  to.  His  Lorddiip  has  not 
thought  proper  to  lay  that  paper 
before  the  public,  and  therefore  I 
need  not  enlarge  upon  the  fubjeft; 
but  I  am  confident  Mr.  Pitt  cannot 
have  aliened  any  thing  which  has 
the  mod  remote  tendency  to  prove 
that  Lord  Chatham  was  at  any  time 
looking  out  for  a  negociation  with 
Lord  Bute.  Theonly  reafon  alledg- 
ed  by  Lord  Mountduart  for  think¬ 
ing  that  he  was,  amounts  to  no  more 
than  this:  That  Lord  Bute  did 
fpeak  refpeftfully  of  Lord  Chatham 
to  Mr.  Difgge,  and  did  declare  his 
opinion,  that  Lord  Chatham's  fer- 
*vims  mujl  of  courfe  he  called for  in  the 
frejent  crifs.  That  Mr.  Dagge  did 
communicate  this  to  Lord  Chat¬ 
ham's  nephew,  Mr.  Thomas  Pitt 
— That  he  did  go  to  Hayes  in  or¬ 
der  to  report  this  to  Lord  Chatham 
—and  that  Lord  Chatham  did  in 
conlequence  imagine,  that  it  was 
meant  by  Lord  Bute  to  be  commu¬ 
nicated  to  him.  On  this  I  do  not 
think  it  neceffary  to  make  any  ob- 
fervation.  I  mud,  however,  add. 


that  thofe  who  received  an  account 
of  this  affair  from  my  father’s  own 
mouth,  know,  that  he  was  fo  far 
from  welcoming  thefe  unauthorized 
advances,  with  the  view  of  impro¬ 
ving  them  into  farther  negociation, 
that  he  expreffed  in  the  dronged 
terms  his  diflike  to  fuch  a  mode  of 
application. 

Lord  Mountlluart  obferves,  that 
Lord  Chatham’s  declaration  to  Dr. 
Addington,  li(That  it  njjas  impofji- 
hle  for  him  to  ferve  the  public  nvitb 
either  Lord  Bute  or  Lord  North  f  is  no 
proof  that  LordBute  offered  to  ferve 
the  public  in  a  minidry  with  Lord 
Chatham.  It  was  never  intended 
as  a  proof  of  that  matter  ;  but  mere¬ 
ly  as  an  evidence  of  Lord  Chat¬ 
ham’s  refolution  not  to  aft  in  Ad- 
minidration  with  Lord  Bute.  To 
that  point  Dr.  Addington’s  evi¬ 
dence  is  conclufive  ;  for,  however 
other  parts  of  his  Narrative  may  be 
contradicted  by  Sir  James  Wright, 
it  is  impoflible  for  Sir  James  to  dis¬ 
pute  his  account  of  the  converfa- 
tion  between  Lord  Chatham  and 
the  Doftor,  at  Hayes.  There  are, 
however,  other  perfons  befides  Doc¬ 
tor  Addington,  to  whom  Lord 
Chatham  has  made  tfte  dronged 
declarations  to  the  fame  purpofe  ; 
and  the  more  his  conduct  is  canvaf- 
fed  the  more  proofs  will  appear  of 
this  unalterable  refolution. 

I  mud  now  add  a  few  words  with 
regard  to  the  extract  of  Lord  Bute’s 
letter  to  my  mother,  which  is  quot¬ 
ed  by  Lord  Mountduart.  Lord 
Bute  mentions,  Si  That  Sir  James 
Wright  communicated  to  him  the 
very  flattering  language  in  which 
Sir  James  declared  Lord  Chatham 
expreffed  himfelf  concerning  Lord 
Bute.”  I  am  very  far  from  queL 
tioning  that  Sir  James  Wright  ex- 
preffed  himfelf  in  the  manner  dated 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [261 


by  Lord  Bute  ;  but  I  mud  obferve, 
that  Sir  James  does  not  pretend  to 
have  heard  that  Lord  Chatham 
held  fuch  language  from  any  other 
perfon  than  from  Do&or  Adding, 
ton  ;  and  whoever  will  take  the 
troubleto recurtothe  Dodtor’s  Nar¬ 
rative,  will  there  find  that  the  Doc¬ 
tor  in  the  beginning  of  this  tranf- 
a&ion,  declared  to  Sir  James 
Wright,  that,  to  the  bed  of  his  re¬ 
membrance,  Lord  Chatham  had  ne¬ 
ver  once  natned  Lord  Bute  to  him. 

Lord  Bute  in  another  part  of  his 
letter  fays,  “  That  he  was  extreme¬ 
ly  furpri  fed  with  a  converfation  Sir 
James  faid  Dr.  Addington  wiihed 
to  be  reported  to  him.  It  was  in 
fubdance,  Lord  Chatham’s  opini¬ 
on  of  the  alarming  condition  we 
were  in,  and  theneceffary  meafures 
to  be  immediately  taken  upon  it.” 
Lord  Bute  cannot  poffibly  here  re¬ 
fer  to  any  thing,  except  to  the  Pa¬ 
per  No.  2,  which  is  printed  in  the 
Authentic  Account.  The  opinion 
contained  in  that  paper  of  the  ne~ 
cejfary  meafures  to  be  taken  is  only 
in  general  terras ,  that  if  any  thing 
can  present  the  conjummation  of  pub¬ 
lic  ruin ,  it  can  only  be  ne<w  Counfels 
and  new  Counfellors ,  &c,  and  this 
communication  did  not  proceed 
fpontaneoufly  from  my  father,  but 
was  in  anfwer  to  Sir  James  Wright’s 
letter  of  February  2,  which  was  by 
his  defire  communicated  to  Lord' 
Chatham. 

,The  latter  part  of  Lord  Mount- 
duart’s  letter  relates  to  Lord  Chat¬ 
ham’s  expreflion,  <(  That  Lord  Bute 
had  brought  the  King  and  Kingdom  to 
ruin.”  What  reafon  Lord  Chatham 
had  at  that  time  for  thinking  that 
Lord  Bute  influenced  the  meafures 
of  Government,  it  would  be  pre- 
fumption  in  me  to  examine;  nor  is 
it  for  me  to  enquire,  whether  he 


was  or  was  not  deceived  in  his  opi¬ 
nion  of  the  public  ruin.  But  in  this 
lingle  inftance,  thofe  who  revere 
his  memory  the  mod  will  fincerely 
rejoice  (as  he  himfelf  would,  were 
he  living)  if  they  lhall  find  his  opi¬ 
nion  difproved  by  the  event. 

I  am,  See. 
Wtilliam  Pitt. 

Thefe  Letters  were  followed  by  an 
Anfwer  from  Sir  fames  Wright 
to  Dr.  Addington’s  Narrative , 
in  which ,  after  fotne  apologies  for 
engaging  the  attention  of  the  pub - 
lie,  the  writer  proceeds  thus  ; 

DR.  Addington  (fays  he)  has 
been  long  and  intimately 
connected  with  Sir  James  Wright; 
Sir  James  had  known  him  from  his 
youth  ;  confidered  him  as  the  friend 
of  his  bofom,  with  whom  he  has 
ever,  on  all  fubjedls,  communi¬ 
cated  as  freely  as  with  another  felf. 
Dr.  Addington  was  phyfecian  to  Sir 
fames  ;  and  therefore  faw  him  fre¬ 
quently  in  thofe  moments  in  which 
a  man  is  leaft  upon  his  guard  ;  un¬ 
der  that  character,  in  which  a  man 
is  mod  apt  to  confide.  Little  ere-, 
die,  it  is  conceived,  can  be  due  to 
the  Narrative  of  fuch  a  man,  fo 
circumdanced  ;  if,  on  examining 
that  Narrative, 'it  /hall  appear  that 
he  has  divulged — it  is  harfli,  but  it 
mqd  be  added — that  he  has  mifre - 
pX'efented  a  confidential  intercourfe; 
which,  if  not  private  frjpndlhip, 
yet,  profeifional  delicacy  '  fhould 
have  kept  from  the  ear  of  babling 
Curiofity. 

“  Before  the  Reader  turns  to  fhe 
Narrative,  yet  another  trait  of  the 
good  Do&or’s  chai after  mud  be 
pointed  out  to  him.  Dr.  Adding¬ 
ton’s  abilities  as  a  phyfician  a^e  ac¬ 
knowledged  :  On  the  fubjedt  of  his 
( R )  3  profeflion 


/ 


2 62]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 

feflion  no  man  more  learned  or  more  be  an  honed  man,  to  wifh  well  to 
pertinent.  But  that  is  rarely  the  his  country,  to  be  a  man  endowed 
fubjed  of  his  choice.  His  darling  with  many  private  virtues, 
theme  is  Politicks.  Though  the  **  Was  it  "hen  fo  very  wonderful 
whole  lidening  College  fhouldhang  that,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
on  what  he  fpoke,  it  would  give  1778,  fir  James  Wright  ihould 
him  little  pleafnre  ;  his  joy,  his  ‘  talk  with  Dr.  Addington  nfipediing 
pride,  are  to  dictate  on  the  fubjed  Lord  Bute  and  Lord  Chatham,  when 
of  Politicks.  Lord  Bute  and  Lord  Chatham  had 

“  This  Remark  is  not  made  with  been  the  conftant  fubjed  of  the 
a  view  of  throwing  any  ridicule  on  Doitor’s  converfations  with  Sir 
the  Doftor,  but  only  with  a  view  James  Wright  at  vifits  fo  frequent- 
of  fetting  him  right  in  a  little  point  jy  repeated,  continued  to  fuch  a 
of  Chronology  ;  for,  at  the  very  length  during  the  courfe  of  the  year 
outfet  of  the  Narrative,  his  memo-  1777?  Would  it  have  been  very 
jy  fails  him.  Long  before  the  be-  wonderful,  if,  knowing  how  fami~ 
ginning  of  the  year  1778  had  the  liarly  the  Dodor  was  received  by 
Dodor  converfed  with  oir  fames  Lord  Chatham  :  if,  obferving  how 
Wright  of  Lord  Bute  and  Lord  frequently  he  introduced  his  opi- 
Chatham.  He  may  remember  that  nion  of  the  point  of  view  in  which 
Sir  James  had  along  fit  of  iilneb.  Lord  Bute  was  regarded  by  Lord 
which  commenced  more  than  a  year  Chatham  ;  if,  remarking  the  zeal 
before  the  sera  from  which  the  Doc-  with  which  he  always  entered  on 
tor  fets  out ;  that  during  that  ill-  the  fubjed,  Sir  James  had  been 
irefs  his  vifits  to  Sir  James  were  led  to  conclude,  that  the  Dodor, 
frequent,  almoft  daily;  that  in  all  under  his  own  name,  was  deliver- 
thefe  vifits,  equally  attentive  to  the  ing  the  opinion,  was  fpeaking  from 
conditution  of  his  country,  as  to  the  inftrudions  of  ius  patron  t  That 
the  conditution  of  his  patient,  he  his  patron  was  not  averfe  10  a  ne- 
recurred  to  his  darling  topic  Pd(-  gociation,  but  had  lent  forth  his 
ticks ;  that  the  hero  of  his  theme  trudy  a'-  chates  to  found  the  land, 
was  Lord  Chatham  ,  that  the  bur-  left  p  radventure  his  pride  (the 
then  of  his  fong  were  the  diftreffes  friends  of  Lord  Chatham  will  al- 
©f  the  nation.  Let  him  recoiled,  lfc*w  that  he  pofTefled  at  lead  a  de- 
and  he  will  furely  remember,  that  cent  pride)  might  be  hurt  by  a  re¬ 
st  this  period,  twelve  months  be-  fufal  l  Would  it  have  been  very 
fore  the  time  which,  for  want  of  wonderful,  if,  under  that  idea.  Sir 
recolledion,  he  fo  confidently  fixes  James  has  communicated  to  Lord 
to  be  the  *  fir fe  time  Sir  ames  Bute — not  expofed  to  the  public k-~— the 
Wright  talked  with  him  reflecting  purport  of  fuch  conversation  ? 

Lord  Bute  and  Lord  Chatham he  t(  But  the  fad  is.  Sir  James  had 
frequently  gave  it  as  his  own  opi-  no  fuch  idea.  He  conlidercd  the 
nion,  at  lead,  that  Lord  Chatham  frequency  of  the  Dodor’s  vifits ;  he 
had  no  unfavourable  opinion  of  confidered  the  *  length  of  his  vi- 
Lord  Bute,  but  conceived  him  to,  fits  as  the  pure  effeds  of  a  warm 

*  The  Dodor’ s  political  vifits — tfor  fuch  they  were,  as  much  as  medicinal  vi  fits 
—frequently  exceeded  two  hours ,  No  doubt  his  other  patients  may  bpad  of  the 
lame  attention.  Sir  James  has  not  now  the  vanity  to  luppofe  that  he  has  been 
diJUnguijhed. 

and 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [263 


and  difinterefted  friendftiip ;  he 
confidered  the  introduction  of  poli¬ 
tical  fubje&s  as  kindly  meant  to  be¬ 
guile  the  teed  turn  of  a  long  and  pain¬ 
ful  illnefs.  He  faw  in  the  DoCtor, 
or  he  thought  he  faw,  a  fkilfui 
phyfician  and  an  affectionate  friend. 
Wifhing  for  nothing  further,  he 
looked  for  nothing  further.  It  was 
a  very  worthy,  a  very  refpeCtable 
friend,  who  had  been  prefent  at 
molt  of  the  converfations  which 
preceded,  and  at  all  thofe  which 
fucceeded  the  tera  from  which  the 
HoCtor  choofes  to  fet  out,  who  fir  ft 
fugge^ed  to  Sir  James,  that  the  fre¬ 
quent  enquiries  of  the  DoCtor  about 
the  return  of  Sir  James  to  town  in 
the  beginning  of  1778  ;  that  his 
frequent  vilits  when  he  was  return¬ 
ed,  indicated  fomething  more  than 
the  attention  which  an  eminent 
phyfician  has  theleifure,  or  the  molt 
intimate  friend  has  the  inclination 
to  fhew.  That  friend  it  was,  who 
comparing  this  frequency  of  vifits 
with  the  conftant  recourfe  to  the 
fame  topic  of  converfation,  fir ff 
fuggefted,  that  it  was  meant,  and 
wifhed,  that  the  purport  of  thefe 
converfations  fhould  be  communi¬ 
cated  to  Lord  Bute. 

“  Here  then  is  the  origin  of  the 
tranfaClion,  which  the  author  of 
the  Authentic  Account  is  willing  to 
call — and  yet,  it  feems,  afhamed 
to  call  ‘  a  negociation  and  which, 
whatever  it  may  be  called,  began 
on  the  fecond,  and  terminated  (On 
the  part  of  Sir  James)  on  the 
feventh  of  February. 

4<  True,  indeed,  it  is,  that  Dr. 
Addington,  in  his  very  curious  Nar¬ 


rative  *,  talks  of  various  conver- 
fations  which  preceded  the  epoch 
of  various  converfations  which  paf- 
fed  in  the  month  of  January. 

“  Of  thefe  various  converfations 
one  extraCl  deferves  the  reader’s 
particular  attention. 

“  The  great  objeCt,  which  the 
DoCtor  attributes  to  Sir  James,  was 
to  fave  this  country  from  ruin. 
"The  only  means  which  the  DoCtor 
fuppofes  Sir  James  to  have  difeo- 
vered  of  faving  it  was,  that  Lord 
Chatham  fhould  be  brought  into 
Adminiftration  by  Lord  Bute.  And 
the  reafon  why  he  thought  this  to 
be  the  only  means  was,  that  he  had 
*  remarked ,  they  were  the  two  men 
whom  the  King  hated  moft. 

“  It  is  with  reluCtance  Sir  James 
even  quotes  this  palfage.  The  name 
of  his  Sovereign  is  too  dear,  too  fa- 
cred,  to  have  been  voluntarily  in¬ 
troduced  ;  He  never  fo  far  forgot 
his  duty  as  to  fpeak  fo  irreverently 
of  his  King.  If  he  has  quoted  this 
paffage,  it  is  only  toexpofe  the  pal¬ 
pable  inconfiftency  of  the  Narra¬ 
tive.  Is  it  poffible  that  Sir  James 
could  pretend  to  have  been  autho- 
rifed  by  Lord  Bute  to  com  million 
Dr.  Addington,  or  that  Sir  James 
could  wifh  to  engage  Dr.  Adding¬ 
ton,  to  negociate  with  the  Earl  of 
Chatham  about  the  terms  of  aCting 
with  the  Earl  of  Bute  in  Admini¬ 
ftration,  at  the  very  moment  when 
he  reprefented  the  Earl  of  Bute  to 
be  in  the  predicament  in  which  he 
is  here  made  to  reprefent  him  ? 

“  What  idea  muft  the  reader 
form  of  the  underftanding  of  Dr. 
Addington,  if  he  could  have  ac- 


*  Narrative,  folio  536.  The  Compiler  of  the  Authentic  Account  is  the  inven¬ 
tor  of  a  new  kind  of  arrangement.*  In  his  compilation,  the  Narrative  forms  the 
Appendix  ;  and  the  vouchers  introduced  to  fuppoit  the  Narrative,  form  cite  body 
«r  die  work.  There  arc  occalions  where  obicurity  is  better  than  order. 


W  4 


cep  ted 


2  64]  ANNUAL  RE 

cepted  this  commiffion  ;  if  he  could 
even  have  lifiened  another  moment 
to  a  man,  who,  if  his  account  were 
true,  mud  have  been  the  wildeft  of 
all  poiTible  vifionaries  ? 

But  the  conventions,  what¬ 
ever  they  were,  which  palled  pre- 
vioufly  to  the  third  of  February, 
make  no  part  of  what  is  called  the 
Negotiation  :  For  the  Doctor  fet  out 
with  the  caution  of  a  veteran  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  corps  diplomatique .  How¬ 
ever  he  inay  now  find  it  convenient 
to  apply,  or  to  mifapply,  thefe  pre¬ 
tended  converfations  ;  he  determi¬ 
ned  prudentially,  at  the  time,  for 
bimfelf,  and  in  the  event,  happily 
for  Sir  James,  he  determined-— not 
to  trud  to  mere  converfation.  1  He 
defined  to  have  in  <vo  iting  the  fub- 
fiance  of  <what  had pafi'ed  beivoeen  him 
and  Sir  James,’  He  had  it  in 
writing.  He  received  the  writing 
e  on  the  third  of  February  before 
nine  in  the  morning,  and  yet  out  di - 
retily  fpr  Hayes 

“  To  this  written  evidence  then 
let  the  reader  advert.  It  was  on 
that  which  was  written,  and  on  that 
alone ,  the  Doctor  was  to  negociace. 
All  that  had  palled,  and  which  Was 
not  written,  was,  in  that  very  pa¬ 
per,  declared  to  he.  of  little  concern N 


Particulars  of  the  Mifchianza,  exhi 
hi  ted  in  America  at  the  Departure 
of  General  Howe. 

Cofy  of  a  Letter  from  an  O fleer  at 
Philadelphia  to  his  Correfpondent 
in  London. 

Philadelphia ,  May  23,  1778. 

FOR  the  fird  time  in  my  life  I 
write  to  you  with  unwilling 
nefs.  The  Ihip  that  carries  home 
Sir  William  Howe  will  convey  this 
letter  to  you  ;  apd  not  even  the 


G  IS  TER,  1778; 

pleafure  of  converfing  with  my 
friend  can  fecure  me  from  the  ge¬ 
neral  dejection  1  fee  around  me,  or 
remove  the  fhare  1  mud  take  in  the 
univerfal  regret  and  difappoint- 
ment  which  his  approaching  de¬ 
parture  hath  fpread  throughout  the 
whole  army.  We  fee  him  taken 
from  us  at  a  time  when  we  mod: 
Hand  in  need  of  fo  Ikilful  and  po¬ 
pular  a  commander  ;  when  the  ex-, 
perience  of  three  years,  and  the 
knowledge  he  hath  acquired  of  the 
country  and  people,  have  added  to 
the  confidence  we  always  placed  in 
his  conduct  and  abilities.  You  • 
know  he  was  ever  a  favourite  with 
the  military  ;  but  the  affeftion  and 
attachment  which  all  ranks  of  offi¬ 
cers  in  this  army  bear  him  can  only 
be  known  by  thofe  who  have  at  this 
time  feen  them  in  their  effects.  I 
do  not  believe  there  is  upon  record 
an  indance  of  a  Commander  in 
Chief  h  aving  lo  univerfally  endear¬ 
ed  himfelf  to  thofe  under  his  com¬ 
mand  ;  or  of  one  who  received  fuch 
fignal  and  flattering  proofs  of  their 
love.  1  hat  our  fentiments  might 
be  the  more  univerfally  and  une¬ 
quivocally  known,  it  was  refolved 
amongft  us,  that  we  ffiould  give 
him  as  fplendid  an  entertainment 
as  the  fhortnefs  of  the  time,  and 
our  prelent  fituation,  would  allow 
us,  For  the  ex pences,. the  whole 
army  would  have  mod  cheerfully 
contributed  ;  but  it  vvas  requifite 
to  draw  the  line  fomewhere,  and 
twenty-two  field  officers  joined  in 
a  fubfcrjption  adequate  to  the  plan 
they  meant  to  adopt.  I  know  your 
curiofity  will  be  raifed  on  this  oc¬ 
casion  ;  I  fhall  therefore  give  you  as 
particular  an  account  of  our  Mif¬ 
chianza  as  I  have  been  able  to  col- 
left.  From  the  name  you  will  per¬ 
ceive  that  it  wa$  made  up  of  a  va¬ 
riety 


APPENDIX  to  the 

riety  of  entertainments.  Four  of 
the  gentlemen  fubfcribers  were  ap¬ 
pointed  managers — Sir  {ohn  Wrot- 
tefley,  Col.  OHara,  Major  Gadir- 
ner,  and  Capt.  Montrefor,  thechief 
engineer.  On  the  tickets  of  ad- 
miflion,  which  they  gave  out  for 
Monday  the  1 8th,  was  engraved, 
in  a  fhield,  a  view  of  the  fea,  with 
the  fetting  fun,  and  on  a  wreath, 
the  words  Luceo  dijcedens ,  audio fplen- 
dore  re/urgam .  At  top  was  the  Ge¬ 
neral’s  ere#,  with  vive,  vale!  All 
round  the  fhield  ran  a  vignette,  and 
various  military  trophies  filed  up 
»  the  ground.  A  grand  regatta  be¬ 
gan  the  entertainment.  It  con¬ 
fided  of  three  divifions..  In  the 
firft  was  the  Ferret  galley,  having 
on  board  feveral  General  Officers, 
and  a  number  of  Ladies.  In  the 
centre  was  the  Huffar  galley,  with 
Sir  William  and  Lord  Howe,  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  the  officers  of  their 
fuite,  and  fome  Ladies.  The  Corn¬ 
wallis  galley  brought  up  the  rear, 
having  on  board  General  Knyp- 
haufen  and  his  fuite,  three  Britifh 
Generals,  and  a  party  of  Ladies. 
On  each  quarter  of  thefe  gallies, 
and^formins  their  divifion,  were 
five  flat  boacs,  lined  with  green 
cloth,  and  filled  with  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen.  In  front  of  the  whole 
were  three  flat  boats,  with  a  band 
of  mufic  in  each — Six  barges  row¬ 
ed  about  each  flank,  to  keep  off  the 
fwarm  of  boats  that  covered  the 
river  from  fide  to  fide.  The  gallies 
were  dreffed  out  in  a  variety  of  co¬ 
lours  and  fireamers,  and  in  each 
flat  boat  was  difplayed  the  flag  of 
its  own  diviflon.  In  the  ftream  op¬ 
posite  the  centre  of  the  city,  the 
Fanny  armed  fhip,  magnificently 
decorated,  was  placed  at  anchor, 
ajjd  at  fome  diftance  a-head  lay  his 
Majefty’s  fhip  Roebuck,  with  the 


CHRONICLE.  [265 

Admiral’s  flag  hoifted  at  the  fore¬ 
top  m  aft-head.  The  tranfport  fhips, 
extending  in  a  line  the  whole  length 
of  the  town,  appeared  with  colours 
flying,  and  crouded  with  fpedla- 
tors,  as  were  alfo  the  openings  of 
the  feveral  wharfs  on  fhore,  exhi¬ 
biting  the  moft  pifturefque  and  en¬ 
livening  feenetheeye  could  defire. 
The  rendezvous  was  at  Knight’s 
Wharf,  at  the  northern  extremity 
of  the  city.  By  half  after  four  the 
whole  company  were  embarhed, 
and  the  fignal  being  made  by  the 
Vigilant’s  manning  fhip,  the  three 
divifions  rowed  flowly  down,  pre- 
ferving  their  proper  intervals,  and 
keeping  time  to  the  mufic  that  led 
the  fleet.  Arrived  between  the 
Fanny  and  the  Market  Wharf,  a 
fignal  was  made  from  one  of  the 
boats  a  head,  and  the  whole  lay 
upon  their  oars,  while  the  mufic 
played  God  fave  tbe  King,  and  three 
cheers  given  from  the  veffels  were 
returned  from  the  multitude  on 
fhore.  By  this  time  the  flood-tide 
became  too  rapid  for  the  gallies  to 
advance;  they  were  therefore  quit¬ 
ted,  and  the  company  difpofed  of 
in  the  different  barges.  This  alte¬ 
ration  broke  in  upon  the  order  of 
proceffion,  but  was  neceffary  to 
give  fufficient  time  for  difplaying 
the  entertainment  that  was  prepar¬ 
ed  on  fhore. 

The  landing  place  was  at  the  Old 
Fort,  a  little  to  the  fOuthward  of 
the  town,  fronting  the  building  pre¬ 
pared  for  the  reception  of  the  com¬ 
pany,  about  400  yards  from  the 
water  by  a  gentle  afeent.  As  foon 
as  the  General’s  barge  was  feen  to 
pufh  for  the  fhore,  a  falute  of  17 
guns  was  fired  from  the  Roebuck, 
and,  after  fome  interval,  by  the 
fame  number  from  the  Vigilant. 
The  company,  as  they  difembark- 

ed. 


V 


266]  ANNUAL  R 

cd,  arranged  themfelves  into  a  line 
of  proceffion,  and  advanced  through 
an  avenue  formed  by  two  hies  of 
grenadiers,  and  a  line  of  light- 
Jiorfe  fupporting  each  file.  This 
avenue  led  to  a  fquare  lawn  of  150 
yards  on  each  fide,  lined  with  troops 
and  properly  prepared  for  the  ex¬ 
hibition  of  a  tilt  and.  tournament, 
according  to  the  cuftotns  and  ordi¬ 
nances  of  ancient  chivalry.  We 
proceeded  through  the  centre  of  the 
fquare.  The  mufic,  confiding  of 
all  the  bands  of  the  army,  moved  in 
front.  The  Managers,  with  fa¬ 
vours  of  blue  and  white  ribbands 
in  their  breads,  followed  next  in 
\  order.  The  General,  Admiral,  and 
the  red  of  the  company  fucceeded 
promifcuoufiy. 

In  front  appeared  the  building, 
bounding  the  view  through  a  vida 
formed  by  two  triumphal  arches, 
ere&ed  at  proper  intervals  in  a  line 
with  the  landing  place.  Two 
pavilions,  with  rows  of  benches, 
rifing  one  above  the  other,  and 
ferving  as  the  advanced  wings  of 
the  fir  ft  triumphal  arch,  received 
the  Ladies,  while  the  Gentlemen 
ranged  themfelves  in  convenient 
order  on  each  fide.  On  the  front 
feat  of  each  pavilion  were  placed 
feven  of  the  principal  young  Ladies 
of  the  country,  drefied  in  Turkifh 
habits,  and  wearing  in  their  tur¬ 
bans  the  favours  with  which  they 
meant  to  reward  the  Several  Knights 
who  were  to  contend  in  their  ho¬ 
nour.  Thefts  arrangements  were 
fcarce  made  when  the  found  ol 
trumpets  was  heard  at  a  didance  ; 
and  a  band  of  Knights,  eroded  in 
ancient  habits  of  white  and  red  iilk, 
and  mounted  on  grey  hprfes,  rich¬ 
ly  capari Toned  in  trappings  of  the 
fame  colours,  entered  the  lids,  at¬ 
tended  by  their  Efquires  on  foot. 


EG  IS  TER,  177S. 

in  fuitable  apparel,  in  the  folio w* 
ing  order  -Four  trumpeters,  pro¬ 
perly  habited,  their  trumpets  deco¬ 
rated  with  fmall pendent  banners— 
A  herald  in  his  robes  of  ceremony  ; 
on  his  tunic  was  the  device  of  his 
band,  two  rofes  intertwined,  with 
the  motto,  We  droop  when  feparat - 
ed. 

Lord  Cathcart,  fuperbly  mount¬ 
ed  on  a  managed  horfe,  appeared 
aschiefof  thefe  Knights ;  two  young 
black  Haves,  with  faihes  and  draw¬ 
ers  of  blue  and  white  filk,  wearing 
large  diver  clafps  round  their  necks 
and  arms,  their  breads  and  fhonl- 
ders  bare,  held  his  dirrups.  On 
his  right  hand  walked  Capt.  Ha¬ 
zard,  and  on  his  left  Capt.  Brown* 
low,  his  two  Efquires,  one  bearing 
his  lance,  the  other  his  fhield. 

His  device  was  Cupid  riding  on 
a  Lien,  the  Motto,  Surmounted  by 
Love,  His  Lord ih ip  appeared  in 
honour  of  Mifs  Auchmuty. 

Then  came  in  order  the  Knights 
of  his  band,  each  attended  by  his 
Squire,  bearing  his  lanceandlhield, 

id  Knight,  Hon.  Capt,  Cath¬ 
cart,  in  honour  of  Mifs  N.  White. 
—Squire,  Capt.  Peters. — Device  a 
heart  and  fword  ;  Motto,  Love  and 
Honour . 

2d  Knight,  Lieut.  Bygrove,  in 

honour  of  Mifs  Craig.— - Squire 

Lieut.  Nichols- — Device,  Cupid 
tracing  a  Circle  ;  Motto,  Without 
end. 

3d  Knight,  Capt.  Andre,  in  ho¬ 
nour  of  Mifs  P.  Chew.— Squire, 
Lieut.  Andre. — Device,two  Game¬ 
cocks  fighting  ;  Motto,  No  Rival. 

4th  Knight,  Capt.  Horneck,  in 
honour  of  Mils  N.  Redman.  — 
Squire,  Lieut.  Talbot.  — Device,  a 
burning  Heart ;  Motto,  Abfence can- 
not  extinguijh. 

$th  Knight,  Capt.  Matthews,  in 

honour 


l 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [267 


honour  of  Mil's  Bond - Squire, 

Lieut. Hamilton. — Device,  a  wing¬ 
ed  Heart  ;  Motto,  Each  Fair  by 
Hum. 

6th  Knight,  Lieut.  Sloper,  in 

honour  of  Mifs  M.  Shippen. - 

Squire,  Lieut.  Brown. — Device,  a 
Heart  and  Sword  ;  Motto,  Honour 
and  the  Fair. 

Afte.  they  had  made  the  circuit 
of  the  fquare,  and  falu:ed  the  La¬ 
dies  as  they  palled  before  the  pa¬ 
vilions,  they  ranged  themfelves  in 
a  line  with  that  in  which  were  the 
Ladies  of  their  Device  ;  and  their 
Herald  (Mr.  Beaumont,)  advan¬ 
cing  into  the  center  of  the  fquare, 
after  a  flourifh  ot  trumpets,  pro¬ 
claimed  the  following  challenge  : 
“  The  Knights  cf  the  Blended 
Rofe,  by  me  their  Hera’d,  pro¬ 
claim  and  alTert  that  the  Ladies  of 
the  Blended  Rofe  excel  in  wit, 
beauty,  and  every  accomplishment, 
thofe  of  the  whole  world-,  and  Should 
any  Knight  or  Knights  be  fo  hardy 
as  to  difpute  or  deny  it,  they  are 
ready  to  enter  the  lilts  with  them, 
and  maintain  their  affertions  by 
deeds  of  arms,  according  to  the 
laws  of  ancient  chivalry.5’ 

At  the  third  repetition  of  the 
challenge,  the  found  of  trumpets 
was  heard  from  the  oppofite  tide  of 
the  fquare  ;  and  another  Herald, 
with  four  Trumpeters,  dreffed  in 
black  and  orange  galloped  into 
the  lilts.  He  was  met  by  the  He^- 
raid  of  the  Blended  Rofe,  and  after 
a  fhort  parley,  they  both  advanced 
in  front  of  the  pavilions,  when  the 
Black  Herald  (Lieut.  More)  order¬ 
ed  his  trumpets  to  found,  and  then 
proclaimed  defiance  to  the  challenge 
in  the  following  words  : 

**  The  Knights  of  the  Burning 
Mountain  prefent  themfelves  here, 
not  to  conteft  by  words,  but  to  dif- 


prove  by  deeds,  the  vain-glorious 
allertions  of  the  Knights  of  the 
Blended  Rofe,  and  enter  thefe  lills 
to  maintain,  that  the  Ladies  of  the 
B  timing  Mountain  are  not  excelled 
in  beauty,  virtue,  or  accomplilh- 
mencs,  by  any  in  the  univerfe.55 

He  then  returned  to  the  part  of 
the  barrier  thtough  which  ne  had 
entered  ;  and  Ihortly  after  the  Black 
Knigb  rs,  attended  by  their  Squires, 
rode  into  the  lilts  in  the  following 
order : 

Four  Trumpeters  preceding  the 
Herald,  on  whofe  tunic  was  repre¬ 
sented  a  mountain,  fending  forth 
flames. — Motto,  I  burn  for  ever* 

Captain  Watfon,  of  the  guards, 
as  Chief,  dreffed  in  a  magnificent 
fuit  of  black  and  orange  filk,  and 
mounted  on  a  black  managed  horfe, 
with  trappings  of  the  fame  colours 
with  his  own  drefs,  appeared  in  ho¬ 
nour  of  Mifs  Franks.  He  was  at¬ 
tended  in  the  fame  manner  as  Lord 
Cathcart.  Capt. 5cct  bore  hi  lance, 
and  Lieut.  Lyttleton  hi-  hield. 
TheDevice.  a  Heart,  with  aWreath 
of  Flowers ;  Motto,  Love  and 
Glory . 

Knight,  Lieut.  Underwood, 
in  honour  of  Mifs  S.  Shippen. — 
Squire,  Enfign  Haverkam. — De¬ 
vice,  a  Pelican  feeding  her  young  ; 
Motto,  For  thofe  /  love. 

2d  Knight,  Lieut.  Winyard,  in 
honour  of  Mifs  P.  Shippen.— — * 
Squire,  Capt.  Bofcawen. — Device, 
a  Bay-leaf ;  Motto,  Unchangeable . 

3d  Knight,  Lieut.  Delaval,  in 
honour  of  IViifsB.  Bond, — Squire, 
Capt.  Thorne. —Device,  a  Heart, 
aimed  at  by  feveral  arrows,  and 
llruck  by  one  ;  Motto,  One  only 
pierces  me. 

4th  Knight,  Monfieur  Montluif- 
fant,  (Lieut,  of  the  Helfian  Chaf- 
feurs)  in  honour  of  Mifs  B.  Red¬ 
man 


z68]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


man. -—Squire,  Capt.  Campbell.— 
Device,  a  Sun-flower  turning  to¬ 
wards  the  Sun  ;  Motto,  Je  vife  d 
*uous, 

5th  Knight,  Lieut.  Hobbart,  in 
honour  of  Mils  S.  Chew.— Squire, 

Lieut.  Brifcoe.- - —Device,  Cupid 

pierting  a  Coat  of  Mail  with  his 
Arrow  ;  Motto,  Proof  to  ail  but 
Love. 

6th  Knight, Brigade-MajorTarl- 
ton,  in  honour  of  Mifs  W.  Smith. 
— Squire,.  Enflgn  Hart.— Device, 
a  Light  Dragoon  ;  Motto,  Swift, 
vigilant,  and  bold . 

After  they  had  rode  round  the 
lifts,  and  made  their  obeifance  to 
the  Ladies,  they  drew  up  fronting 
the  White  Knights  ;  and  the  Chief 
of  thefe  having  thrown  down  his 
gauntlet,  the  Chief  of  the  Black 
Knights  directed  his  Efquire  to 
take  it  up.  The  Knights  then  re¬ 
ceived  their  lances  from  their  En¬ 
quires,  fixed  their  fhields  on  their 
left  arms,  and  making  a  general 
fialute  to  each  other,  by  a  very 
graceful  movement  of  their  lances, 
turned  round  to  take  their  career, 
and,  encountering  in  full  gallop, 
ihivered  their  fpears.  In  the  fe- 
cond  and  third  encounter  they  dif- 
charged  their  piftols.  In  the  fourth 
they  fought  with  their  fwords.  At 
length  the  two  Chiefs,  fpurring 
forward  into  the  centre,  engaged 
furiolifly  in  Angle  combat,  till  the 
Marfhalofthe  Field(MajorGwyne) 
rufhed  in  between  the  Chiefs,  and 
declared  that  the  Fair  Damfels  of 
the  Blended  Rofe  and  Burning- 
Mountain  were  perfe6lly  fatisfied 
with  the  proofs  of  love,  and  the 
fignal  feats  of  valour,  given  by  their 
refpeftive  Knights ;  and  command¬ 
ed  them,  as  they  prized  the  future 
favours  of  their  Miftnfffes,  that  they 
would  inftantly  deli  ft  from  further 


combat.  Obedience  being  paid  by 
the  Chiefs  to  this  order,  they  join¬ 
ed  their  refpedtive  bands.  The 
White  Knights  and  their  attend¬ 
ants  filed  off  to  the  left,  the  Black 
Knights  to  the  right  ;  and,  after 
palling  each  other  at  the  lower  fide 
of  the  quadrangle,  moved  up  al¬ 
ternately,  till  they  approached  the 
pavilions  of  the  Ladies,  when  they 
gave  a  general  falute. 

A  paffage  being  now  opened 
between  the  two  pavilions,  the 
Knights,  preceded  by  their  Squires 
and  the  bands  of  mufic,  rode 
through  the  firft  triumphal  arch, 
and  arranged  themfeives  to  the 
right  and  left.  Th  is  arch  was 
erected  tn  honour  of  Lord  Howe. 
It  prefented  two  fronts,  in  theTuf- 
can  order;  the  pediment  was 
adorned  with  various  naval  tro¬ 
phies,  and  at  top  was  the  figure  of 
Neptune,  with  a  trident  in  his  right 
hand.  In  a  niche,  on  each  fide, 
flood  a  Sailor  with  a  drawn  cutlafs. 
Three  Plumes  of  Feathers  were 
placed  on  the  fummitof  each  wing,  _ 
and  in  the  entablature  was  this  in- 
fcription  :  Laus  illi  debetur.  et  alme 
gratia  major .  The  interval  between 
the  two  arches  was  an  avenue  300 
feet  long,  and  34  broad.  It  was 
lined  on  each  fide  with  a  file  of 
troops  ;  and  the  colours  of  all  the 
army,  planted  at  proper  diftances, 
had  a  beautiful  effect  in  diverfify- 
ing  the  fcene.  Between  thefe  co¬ 
lours  the  Knights  and  Squires  took 
their  ftations.  The  Bands  conti¬ 
nued  to  play  feveral  pieces  of  mar¬ 
tial  mufic.  The  company  moved 
forward  in  proceffion,  with  the  La¬ 
dies  in  the  Turkifh  habits  in  front; 
as  thefe  paffed,  they  were  faluted 
by  their  Knights,  who  then  dif- 
mounted  and  joined  them  :  and  in 
this  order  we  were  all  conducted  in¬ 
to 


APPENDIX  to  the 

to  a  garden  that  fronted  the  houfe, 
through  the  fecond  triumphal  arch, 
dedicated  to  the  General.  This 
arch  was  alfo  built  in  the  Tufcan 
order.  On  the  interior  part  of 
the  pediment,  wq,s  painted  a  Plume 
of  Feathers,  and  various  military 
trophies.  At  top  flood  the  figure 
of  Fame,  and  in  the  entablature 
this  device. — /,  bone ,  quo  njirtustua 
tevocet  ;  I,pede  faufto.  On  the  right 
hand  pillar  was  placed  a  bomb- 
fhell,  and  on  the  left  a  flaming 
heart.  The  front  next  the  houfe, 
was  adorned  with  preparations  for 
a  fire-work.  From  the  garden  we 
afcended  a  flight  of  Iteps,  covered 
with  carpets,  which  led  into  a  fpa- 
cious  hall;  the  pannels,  painted  in 
imitation  of  Sienna  marble,  enclo- 
fing  feftoons  of  white  marble  :  the 
furbafe,  and  all  below,  was  black. 
In  this  hall,  and  in  the  adjoining 
apartments,  were  prepared  tea,  le¬ 
monade,  and  other  cooling  liquors, 
to  which  the  company  feated  them- 
felves  ;  during  which  time  the 
Knights  came  in,  and  on  the  knee 
received  their  favours  from  their  re- 
fpedtive  Ladies.  One  of  thefe  rooms 
was  afterwards  appropriated  for  the 
ufe  of  the  Pharaoh  table ;  as  you  en¬ 
tered  it  you  faw,  on  a  pannel  over 
the  chimney,  a  Cornucopia,  exu¬ 
berantly  filed  with  flowers  of  the 
richeft  colours  ;  over  the  door,  as 
you  went  out,  another  prefented  it- 
felf,  fhrunk,  reverfed,  and  emp¬ 
tied. 

From  thefe  apartments  we  were 
conducted  up  to  a  ball-room,  deco¬ 
rated  in  a  li^ht  elegant  file  of 
painting.  The  ground  was  a  pale 
blue,  pannelled  with  a  fmall  gold 
bead,  and  in  the  interior  filled  with 
dropping  feftoons  of  flowers  in  their 
natural  colours.  Below  the  lur’oafe 
the  ground  was  of  role-pink,  with 


CHRONICLE.  [2% 

drapery  feftooned  in  blue.  Thefe 
decorations  were  heightened  by  85 
mirrours,  decked  with  rofe-pink 
filk  ribbands,  and  artificial  flowers; 
and  in  the  intermediate  fpaces  were 
34  branches  with  wax-lights,  orna¬ 
mented  in  a  fimilar  manner. 

On  the  fame  floor  were  four  draw¬ 
ing-rooms,  with  fide  boards  of  re- 
frefhments,  decorated  and  lighted 
in  the  fame  ftile  and  tafte  as  the 
ball-room.  The  ball  was  opened 
by  the  Knights  and  their  Lad-ies  ; 
and  the  dances  continued  till  tea 
o'clock,  when  the  windows  were 
thrown  open,  and  a  magnificent 
bouquet  of  rockets  began  the  fire¬ 
works.  Thefe  were  planned  by 
Capt.  Montrefor,  the  chief  engi¬ 
neer,  and  confifted  of  twenty  dif¬ 
ferent  exhibitions,  difplayed  under 
his  direction  with  the  happieftfuc- 
cel's,  and  in  the  higheft  ftile  of  beau¬ 
ty.  Towards  the  conclufion,  the 
interior  part  of  the  triumphal  arch 
was  illuminated  amidft  an  uninter¬ 
rupted  flight  of  rockets,  and  burft- 
ing  of  baloons.  The  military  tro¬ 
phies  on  each  fide,  aflumed  a  variety 
of  tranfparent  colours.  The  Ihell 
and  flaming  heart  on  the  wings  fent 
forth  Chinefe  fountains,  fucceeded 
by  fire  pots.  Fame  appeared  at  top, 
fpangled  with  ftars,  and  from  her 
trumpet  blowing  the  following  de¬ 
vice  in  letters  of  light,  Tes  Laufiers 
font  immertels. — A  /auteur  of  rock¬ 
ets,  burfting  from  the  pediment, 
concluded  the  feu  d'artijice . 

At  twelve fupper was  announced, 
and  large  folding  doors,  hitherto 
artfully  concealed,  beinc* fuddenly 
thrown  open,  difeovered  amagni- 
ficient  faloon  of  2  10  feet  by  40,  and 
22  feet  in  height,  with  three  al¬ 
coves  on  each  fide,  which  ferved  for 
fide  boards.  The  cieling  was  the 
fegment  of  a  circle,  and  the  ficks 

were 


\ 


270]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


were  painted  of  alight  draw-colour, 
with  vine  leaves  and  feftoon  flow¬ 
ers,  fome  in  a  bright,  fome  in  a 
darkilh  green.  Fifty-fix  large  pier- 
glafles,  ornamented  with  green  fllk 
artificial  flowers  and  ribbands  ;  ioo 
branches,  with  three  lights  in  each, 
trimmed  in  the.fame  manner  as  the 
jnirrours ;  18  luftres,  each  with 

24  lights,  fufpended  from  the  del¬ 
ing,  and  ornamented  as  the  branch¬ 
es;  300  wax-tapers,  difpofed  along 
the  (upper  tables  ;  430  covers,  1 200 
dilhes ;  24  black  Haves,  in  oriental 
drefies,  with  fiiver  collars  and 
bracelets,  ranged  in  two  lines,  and 
bending  to  the  ground  as  the  Ge¬ 
neral  and  Admiral  approached  the 
falcon  :  allthefe,  forming  together 
the  molt  brilliant  aflemblage  of  gay 
objects,  and  appearing  at  once  as 
we  entered  by  an  eafy  defcent,  ex¬ 
hibited  a  coup  <P ceil  beyond  defcrip- 
don  magnificent* 

Towards  the  end  of  fupper,  the 
Herald  of  the  Blended  Rofe,  in  his 
habit  of  ceremony,  attended  by  his 
trumpets,  entered  the  faloon,  and 
proclaimed  the  King’s  health,  the 
Queen,  and  Royal  Family,  the 
Army  and  Navy,  with  their  refpec- 
tive  Commanders,  the  Knights  and 
their  Ladies,  the  Ladies  in  gene¬ 
ral  :  each  of  thefe  toafts  was  fol¬ 
lowed  by  a  flourifh  of  mufic.  Af¬ 
ter  fupper  we  returned  to  the  ball¬ 
room,  and  continued  to  dance  till 
four  o’clock. 

Such,  my  dear  friend,  is  the  de¬ 
fer  ip  t  ion,  though  a  very  faint  one, 
of  the  moft  fplendid  entertainment, 
I  believe,  ever  given  by  an  army 
to  their  General.  But  what  mull 
be  moll  grateful  to  Sir  W.  Howe, 
is  the  fpirit  and  motives  from  which 
it  was  given.  He  goes  from  this 
place  to-morrow  ;  but,  as  I  under¬ 
hand,  he  means  to  flay  a  day  or  two 


with  his  brother  on  board  the  Eagle 
at  Billingfport,  I  (hall  not  feal  this 
letter  till  I  fee  him  depart  from 
Philadelphia. 

Sunday  24th.  I  am  juft  returned 
from  conducting  our  beloved  Ge¬ 
neral  to  the  vvater-flde,  and  have 
feen  him  receive  a  more  flattering 
teftimony  of  the  love  and  attach- 
ment  of  his  army,  than  all  the  pomp 
and  fplendor  of  the  Mifchianza 
could  convey  to  him.  1  have  feen 
the  moft  gallant  of  our  officers,  and 
thofe  whom  I  leaft  fufpe&ed  of 
giving  fuch  inftances  of  their  af¬ 
fection,  fhed  tears  while  they  bid 
him  farewel.  The  gallant  and  af¬ 
fectionate  General  of  the  Heflians, 
Knyphaufen,  was  fo  moved,  that 
he  could  not  finilh  a  compliment  he 
began  to  pay  him  in  his  own  name 
and  that  of  his  officers  who  at¬ 
tended  him.  Sir  Henry  Clinton 
attended  him  to  the  wharf,  where 
Lord  Howe  received  him  into  his 
barge,  and  they  are  both  gone 
down  to  Billingfport.  On  my  re¬ 
turn,  I  faw  nothing  but  dejeCted 
countenances. 

Adieu,  &c. 


An  Account  of  the  Ceremony  obferved 
at  the  fir [l  Audience  given  to  Mon  - 
feur  Gerard,  Minifer  Plenipo¬ 
tentiary  from  the  French  King  to 
the  Rebel  Colonies ,  by  their  General 
Congrefs  ;  a  Copy  and  Kranflation 
of  the  French  King  s  Letter  to 
themt  his  Minifer' s  Speech  in  Con¬ 
grefs  y  with  'their  Reply  by  the  Pre- 
fdent . 

Philadelphia ,  Auguf  11, 
AST  Thurfday  being  the  day 
appointed  by  Congrefs  for  the 
audience  of  the  Sieur  Gerard,  Mi- 
nifter  Plenipotentiary  from  his  moft 

Chriftian 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [37* 


Chriftian  Majefty,  that  Minifter 
received  audience  accordingly.  In 
purfuance  of  the  ceremonial  efta- 
blilhed  by  Congrefs,  the  Hon. 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  Efq.  one  of 
the  delegates  from  Virginia,  and 
the  Hon.  Samuel  Adams,  Efq. 
one  of  the  delegates  from  Maila- 
chufett’s-bay,  in  a  coach  and  fix, 
provided  by  Congrefs,  waited  upon 
the  Minifter  at  his  houfe.  In  a 
few  minutes  the  Minifter  and  the 
two  delegates  entered  the  coach, 
Mr.  Lee  placing  hinifelf  at  the 
Minifter’s  left  hand  on  the  back 
feat,  Mr.  Adams  occupying  the 
front  feat;  the  Minifter’s  chariot 
being  behind,  received  his  Secre¬ 
tary.  The  carriages  being  arriv¬ 
ed  at  the  ftate-houfe  in  this  city, 
the  two  members  of  Congrefs, 
placing  themfdves  at  the  minifter’s 
left  hand,  a  little  before  one 
o’clock,  introduced  him  to  his 
chair  in  the  Congrefs-chamber ; 
the  Prefident  and  Congrefs  fitting 
— the  Minifter  being  feated,  he 
gave  his  credentials  into  the  hands 
of  his  Secretary,  who  advanced 
and  delivered  them  to  the  Prefi¬ 
dent.  The  Secretary  of  Congrefs 
then  read  and  tranflated  them; 
which  being  done,  Mr.  Lee  an¬ 
nounced  the  Minifter  to  the  Prefi¬ 
dent  and  Congrefs  ;  at  this  time 
the  Prefident,  the  Congrefs,  and  the 
Minifter  rofe  together  :  he  bowed 
to  the  Prefident  and  the  Congrefs ; 
they  bowed  to  him:  whereupon 
the  whole  feated  themfelves.  in  a 
moment,  the  Minifter  rofe  and 
made  a  fpeech  to  Congrefs,  they 
fitting.  The  fpeech  being  finilhed, 
the  Minifter  fat  down,  and,  giv¬ 
ing  a  copy  of  his  fpeech  to  his  Se¬ 
cretary,  he  prefented  it  to  the  Pre¬ 
fident.  The  Prefident  and  the 

4 


Congrefs  then  arofe,  and  the  Prefi¬ 
dent  pronounced  their  anfvver  to 
the  fpeech,  the  Minifter  {landing. 
The  anfwer  being  ended,  the 
whole  were  again  feated,  and  the 
Prefident  giving  a  copy  of  the  an¬ 
fvver  to  the  Secretary  of  Congrefs, 
he  prefented  it  to  the  Minifter. 
The  Prefident,  the  Congrefs,  and 
Minifter,  then  again  rofe  together  : 
the  Minifter  bowed  to  the  Prefi¬ 
dent,  who  returned  the  falute,  and 
then  to  the  Congrefs,  who  alfo 
bowed  in  return  :  and,  the  Mini¬ 
fter  having  bowed  to  the  Prefident 
and  received  his  bow,  he  with¬ 
drew,  and  was  attended  home  in. 
the  fame  manner  in  which  he 
had  been  conduced  to  the  au¬ 
dience. 

Within  the  bar  of  the  Houfe, 
the  Congrefs  formed  a  femicircle 
on  each  fide  of  the  Prefident  and 
the  Minifter:  the  Prefident  fitting 
at  one  extremity  of  the  circle,  at 
a  table  upon  a  platform  elevated 

two  Heps, - the  Minifter  fitting 

at  the  oppofite  extremity  of  the  cir¬ 
cle  in  an  arm  chair,  upon  the  fame 
level  with  the  Congrefs.  The 
door  of  the  Congrefs-chamber  be¬ 
ing  thrown  open,  below  the  bar, 
about  200  gentlemen  were  ad¬ 
mitted  to  the  audience,  among 
whom  were  the  Vice-prefident  of 
the  fupreme  executive  Council  of 
Pennfylvania,  the  fupreme  execu¬ 
tive  Council,  the  Speaker,  and 
members  of  the  Houle  of  Afiero- 
bly,  feveral  foreigners  of  diftinc- 
tion,  and  officers  of  the  army. 

The  audience  being  over,  the 
Congrefs  and  the  Minifter,  at  a 
proper  hour,  repaired  to  an  enter¬ 
tainment  by  Congrefs  given  to 
the  Minifter;  at  which  were  pre- 
fent,  by  invitation,  feveral  foreign¬ 
ers 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  17780 


272] 

ers  of  didindion,  and  gentlemen  of 
public  chara&er.  The  entertain¬ 
ment  was  conducted  with  a  deco¬ 
rum  fuited  to  the  occafion,  and 
gave  perfed  fatisfadion  to  the 
whole  company. 

In  Congrejs,  Aug.  6,  1778. 

According  to  order*  thehonour- 
,  able  the  Sieur  Gerard  being  intro¬ 
duced  to  an  audience  by  the  two 
members  for  that  purpofe  appoint¬ 
ed,  and  being  feated  in  his  chair, 
his  Secretary  delivered  to  the  Prefi- 
dent  a  letter  from  his  mod  Chri- 
dian  Majedy,  which  was  read  in 
the  words  following: 

Very  dear  great  friends  and  allies, 

THE  treaties  which  we  have 
dgned  with  you,  in  confequence 
of  the  propofals  your  Commiffion- 
ers  made  to'  ns  in  your  behalf, 
are  a  certain  affurance  of  our  af- 
fedion  for  the  United  States  in  ge¬ 
neral,  and  for  each  of  them  in 
particular,  as  well  as  of  the  in- 
tereft  we  take,  and  condantly  fhall 
take,  in  their  happinefs  and  pro- 
fperity.  It  is  to  convince  you 
more  particularly  Gf  this,  that  we 
have  nominated  the  Sieur  Gerard, 
Secretary  of  our  Council  of  State, 
to  refide  among  you  in  the  quality 
of  our  Minider  Plenipotentiary; 
he  is  the  better  acquainted  with 
our  fentiments  toward  you,  and 
the  more  capable  of  tedifying  the 
fame  to  you,  as  he  was  entruded 
on  our  part  to  negociate  with  your 
Commiffioners,  and  figned  with 
them  the  treaties  which  cement  our 
union.  We  pray  you  to  give  full 
credit  to  all  he  fhall  communicate 
to  you  from,  us,  more  eipecially 
when  he  fhall  allure  you  of  our 
affection  and  condant  friendihip  for 
you.  We  pray  God,  very  dear 


great  friends  and  allies,  to  have  you 
in  his  holy  keeping.  Your  good 
friend  and  ally. 

Signed, 

Louis, 

Verfailles ,  March  28,  1778. 
(Undei  -figned)  Gravier  deVER- 

GENNES, 

(Direded) 

To  our  very  dear  great  Friends  the 

Prefident  and  Members  of  the 

General  Congrefs  of  North 

America. 

The  Minider  was  then  announc¬ 
ed  to  the  Prefident  and  the  Houfe, 
whereupon  he  arofe  and  addreffed 
Congrefs  in  the  fpeech,  which, 
when  he  had  finished,  his  Secre¬ 
tary  delivered  the  fame  in  writing 
to  the  Prefident,  as  follows  : 

Gentlemen, 

THE  connedion  formed  by  the 
King,  my  mader,  with  the  United 
States  of  America,  is  fo  agreeable 
to  him,  that  he  could  no  longer 
delay  fending  me  to  refide. among 
yo.u,  for  the  purpofe  of  cementing 
it.  It  will  give  his  Majedy  great 
fatisfadion  to  learn  that  the  fenti¬ 
ments,  which  have  (hone  forth  on 
this  occafion,  judify  that  confi¬ 
dence  with  which  he  hath  been 
infpired  by  the  zeal  and  charader 
of  the  Commiffioners  of  the  United 
States  in  France,  the  wifdom  and 
fortitude  which  have  direded  the 
refolutions  of  Congrefs,  and  the 
courage  and  perfeverance  of  the 
people  they  represent ;  a  confidence 
which  you  know,  gentlemen,  has 
been  the  balls  of  that  truly  amica¬ 
ble  and  difintereded  fydem,  on 
which  he  hath  treated  with  the 
United  States. 

It  is  not  his  Majedy’s  fault  that 
the  engagements  he  hath  entered 

into 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [273 


into  did  not  eflablifh  your  inde¬ 
pendence  and  repofe,  without  the 
further  effuiion  of  blood,  and  with¬ 
out  aggravating  the  calamities  of 
mankind,  whole  liappinefs  it  is  his 
highell  ambition  to  promote  and 
fecure.  But,  fince  the  holtile  mea- 
fures  and  defigns  of  the  common 
enemy  have  given  to  engagements 
purely  eventual  an  immediate,  po¬ 
sitive,  permanent,  and  indiffoluble 
force,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  King 
my  mailer,  that  the  allies  fhould 
turn  their  whole  attention  to  fulfil 
thofe  engagements  in  the  manner 
moll  uleful  to  the  common  caufe, 
and  belt  calculated  to  obtain  that 
peace  which  is  the  object  of  the 
alliance. 

It  is  upon  this  principle  his  Ma- 
jefly  hath  haflened  to  fend  you  a 
powerful  affiflance,  which  you  owe 
only  to  his  friendlhip,  to  the  fin- 
cere  regard  he  has  for  every  thing 
which  relates  to  the  advantage  of 
the  United  States,  and  to  his  de¬ 
fire  of  contributing  with  efficacy 
to  eflablifh  your  repofe  and  pro- 
fperity  upon  an  honourable  and 
folid  foundation.  And  further  it 
is  his  expectation  that  the  princi¬ 
ples,  which  may  be  adopted  by 
the  refpeCtive  governments,  will 
tend  to  llrengthen  thofe  bonds  of 
union,  which  have  originated  in 
the  mutual  interefl  of  the  two  na¬ 
tions. 

The  principal  objedt  of  my  in- 
flrudtions,  is  to  connect  the  ir.tereils 
of  France  with  thofe  of  the  Unit¬ 
ed  States.  I  flatter  mvfelf,  gen¬ 
tlemen  that  my  pait  conduit  in 
the  affairs  which  concern  them, 
hath  already  convinced  you  of  the 
determination  I  feel  to  endeavour 
to  obey  my  inllruClions  in  fuch 
manner  as  to  deferve  the  confidence 
of  Congref;,  the  friendlhip  of  its 
Vol.  XXI. 


members,  and  the  efleem  of  the 
citizens  of  America. 

Gerard, 

To  which  the  Prefident  was  plea- 
fed  to  return  the  following  An- 
fvver  : 

SIR, 

THE  treaties  between  his  mod 
Chdiilian  Majefly  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  fo  fully  demon- 
flfate  his  wifdom  and  magnani¬ 
mity,  as  to  command  the  reverence 
of  all  nations.  The  virtuous  ci¬ 
tizens  of  America  in  particular  can 
never  forget  his  beneficent  attention 
to  their  violated  rights  ;  nor  ceafe 
to  acknowledge  the  hand  of  a  gra¬ 
cious  providence,  in  railing  them 
up  fo  powerful  and  illuftrious  a 
friend.  It  is  the  hope  and  opi¬ 
nion  of  Congrefs,  that  the  confi¬ 
dence  his  Majelty  repofes  in  the 
firmnefs  of  thefe  Hates  will  receive 
additional  flrength  from  every  day’s 
experience.' 

This  affembly  are  convinced,Sif\ 
that,  had  it  relied  folely  with  the 
moll  Chrillian  King,  not  only  the 
independence  of  thefe  Hates  would 
have  been  univerfally  acknowledg¬ 
ed,  but  their  tranquillity  fully 
ellablifhed.  We  lament  that  lull 
of  domination,  which  gaye  birth 
to  the  prefent  war,  and  hath  pro¬ 
longed  and  extended  the  mileries 
of  mankind.  We  ardently  wifh  to 
Iheathe  the  fword,  and  fpare  the 
farther  effufion  of  blood  ;  but  we 
are  determined,  by  every  means  in 
our  power,  to  fulfil  thole  eventual 
engagements  which  have  acquired 
poiitive  and  permanent  force  from 
the  hollile  defigns  and  rneafures  of 
the  common  enemy. 

Congrefs  have  reafon  to  believe, 
that  the  afiiltance  fo  wifely  and  ge- 
neroufly  feut,  will  bring  Great  Bri- 
[. S ]  '  tain 


1 


274]  ANNUAL  RE 

tain  to  a  fenfe  of  iudice  and  mo- 
aeration,  promote  the  common  m- 
terefts  of  France  and  America,  and 
fecure peace  and  tranquillity  on  the 
mod  firm  and  honourable  foun¬ 
dation.  Neither  can  it  be  doubted, 
that  thofe,  who  adminifter  the 
powers  of  government  within  the 
feveral  dates  of  this  union,  will 
cement  that  connection  with  the 
fubjeCfs  of  France,  the  beneficial 
effects  of  which,  have  already  been 
fo  fenfibly  felt. 

Sir,  from  the  experience  we  have 
had  of  your  exertions  to  promote 
the  true  intereits  of  our  country,  as 
well  as  your  own,  it  is  with  the 
higheft  fa tis faction  Congrefs  re¬ 
ceive,  as  the  firit  Minifter  from 


GISTER,  1778. 

his  mod  Chriftian  Majedy,  a  gen¬ 
tleman,  whole  pad  conduCt  affords 
a  happy  prefage,  that  he  will  me¬ 
rit  the  confidence  of  this  body,  the 
friendfhip  of  its  members,  and  the 
efieem  of  the  citizens  of  America. 

Hen.  Laurens,  Pref. 

In  Congrefs , 

Auguft  0,  1778. 

.  The  Secretary  of  Congrefs  then 
delivered  to  the  Minider  a  copy  of 
the  foregoing  reply,  figned  as 
above ;  whereupon  the  Minider 
withdrew,  and  was  conducted  home 
in  the  manner  in  which  he  was 
brought  to  the  Houfe. 

Extract  from  the  minutes. 

Charles  Thomson,  Sec* 


t  275  ] 


The  following  authentic  Extr&fts  from  the  Corn -Register,  are  derived 
from  Accounts  collected  from  the  Cuftom-Houfe  Books,  and  deliver¬ 
ed  to  William  Cooke,  Efqj  by  Authority  of  Parliament. 


An  Account  of  the  Quantities  of  ail  Corn  and  Grain  exported  from,  and 
imported  into  England  and  Scotland,  with  the  Bounties  and  Drawbacks 
paid ,  and  the  Duties  received  thereon  for  Eight  Years,  from  the  Com~ 
menccment  of  the  Corn  Regifier  Adi,  viz.  1771,  1 772,  1 7 73 >  1774* 
■7 7S>  0 76-  l777>  i778- 


»  I 


EXPORTED. 


1771. 

ENGLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 
Earley  and  Malt  - 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  ..  -  - 

Peafe  -  -  -  - 

SCOTLAND. 

Earley  and  Malt 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  -  -  -  - 

Peafe  - 

Barley  and  Bear  - 
Bear  and  Meal 


1771. 

ENGLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 
Rye  -  -  - 

Barley  and  Malt 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  -  -  -  - 

Peafe  -  -  -  - 

Indian  Corn  -  - 

SCOTLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 


Britilh 

Foreign 

Quarters. 

« 

10,089") 

Quarters. 

31,1 66  j 

z3>364> 

Nil 

‘3.345  \ 

v  ^  ' 

3>701  J 

* 

m  J 

z°3  "1 

11,869  I 

3  l 

Nil 

3  | 

2,829  1 

18  J 

Bounties  and 
Drawbacks  paid* 


£■ 

617O 


S. 


d. 

6 


Nil 


M  P  O 
Quarters. 


R  T  E  D. 

Duties 
received. 


2,509 

2>l79 
228 

198,072  y 

67 ' 

6h 


2 

55 


£■ 


d. 


13,170  2  t 


547  Sis 


27  6]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177&, 

EXPORTED. 


1772. 

ENGLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 
Barley  and  Malt 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  -  -  »  - 
Peafe  -  -  -  - 

SCOTLAND. 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Barley  and  Bear 


Britifh  1 

Foreign  | 

Quarters. 

Quarters.  | 

6,959  | 

I3>7  89/ 

23,511  > 

Nil 

i3»321  \ 

i  • 

3*775  J 

\ 

.87I 

Nil 

242  J 

Bounties  and 
Drawbacks  paid, 


£• 


Nil 


Nil 


'N 


IMPORTED. 


1772. 

ENGLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 
Rye  -  - 

Barley  and  Malt 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  •  -  - 

Peafe  -  -  - 

Indian  Com  -  - 

Buck  Wheat  -  - 

SCOTLAND.- 

Wheat  and  Flour 
Barley  and  Malt 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Peafe  -  -  - 

Buck  Wheat  -  - 


Quarters. 


23>I34l 

4 >799  j 
2,107 

70,542  l 

4  69  r 

17 

ij 


Duties 

received. 

jT»  /.  d . 


2,393  6  10 


1,372  14  11 


7-..  v  » 


\ 


N.  B.  When  foreign  grain  is  imported,  and  not  fold,  it  is,  by  a£I  of  parlia¬ 
ment,  fufrered  tube  warehoufed,  without  paying  duty  ;  and  if  exported  again^  it 
is  here  arranged  under  the  title  of  Foreign,  to  diftinguilh  it  from  Britifh. 


E  X- 


1 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [277 


EXPORTED. 


1 773* 

ENGLAND. 

Britifh 

Quarters. 

Foreign 

Quarters. 

Wheat  and  Flour 
Barley  and  Malt 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  -  -  -  - 
Peafe  -  -  -  - 

7-637  'j 
2.445 1 

18,67.  {■ 
10.733  \ 
4.43° J 

Nil 

SCOTLAND. 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  - 
Barley  and  Bear 

106  J 
18 

3°  J 

Nil 

Bounties  and 
Drawbacks  paid, 

£.  s.  d . 

Nil 


Nil 


I  M  P  O 


R  T  E  D, 


T773* 

ENGLAND. 


Quarters. 


Wheat  and  Flour 

5°'3I21 

Rye*  - 

9>253 

Barley _and  Malt  - 

51,221 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

234,366  i 

Beans  - 

49,858  f 

Peafe  *  - 

3>254 

Indian  Corn  -  - 

6,322 

Buck  Wheat  - 

53J 

SCOTLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 

6*545  "1 

Rye  - 

2  j 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

95,088  f 

Beans  - 

4,002  ( 

Peafe  - 

4,002  | 

Barley  and  Bear  - 

12,695  J 

Duty  free. 


Duty  free. 


*78]  .ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177?. 


EXPORTED. 


1774. 

Britifh 

Foreign 

ENGLAND. 

Quarters. 

Quarters. 

Wheat  and  Flour 

1^171 

i 

5 

7571 

Rye  -  -  -  - 

1 ,434 

826 

Barley  and  Malt  - 

2,416 

r— 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

16,286 

25  1 

Beans  -  -  -  - 

9*443 

797  f 

Peafe  -  - 

3  > 2 1 1 

107 

Indian  Corn  -  -  , 

I,88o 

Buck  Wheat  -  - 

— r— 

50J 

SCOTLAND. 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

?  2  % 

A*  | 

Beans  -  ~  - 

9  5 

Barley  and  Bear 

495  J 

, 

I 

a 

M  P  O 

R  T  E  D 

/ 

IJ74* 

Quarters. 

Duties 

ENGLAND. 

received. 

Wheat  and  Flour 

269,235*] 

£■ 

s. 

Rye  -  -  -  - 

4=1,427 

Barley  and  Malt 

155,148 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

312,908 

>• 

12.379 

4 

Beans  -  - 

16,401 

J 

Peafe  -  -  -  - 

2,780  ; 

Indian  Corn  -  - 

5-945J 

Bounties  and 
Drawbacks  paid. 


£■ 


d. 


596 I  12  Q 


6l  II 


SCOTLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 
Pats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  - 

Peafe  -  -  - 

Barley  and  Bear  • 
Buck  Wheat  -  - 


?>336  ii 


E  X* 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [270 


EXPORTED, 


1775- 

Britilh 

Foreign 

ENGLAND. 

Quarters. 

Quarters. 

* 

Wheat  and  Flour 

28,348 

62,649^ 

Rye  -  —  s  - 

2,471 

25  1 

Barley  and  Malt  - 

45*454 

5,940 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

22,593 

3*773  Y 

Beans  -  -  -  - 

I4*°75 

343 

Peafe  -  -  -  - 

4*7  r7 

2 1 2 

Indian  Corn  -  - 

4.323- 

SCOTLAND, 

Wheat  and  Flour 

40 1 

* 

Barley  and  Malt  - 

Zol 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

no  1 

Beans  - 

2) 

Bounties  and 
Drawbacks  paid. 

£.  s.  d. 

1,798  16  8  Dr. 

7,842  10  1 1  Bo. 


N 


IMPORTED. 


i?  75- 

Quarters.- 

ENGLAND. 

t 

Wheat  and  Flour 

544,641' 

Rye  -  -  - 

33.574 

Barley  and  Malt  - 

126,332 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

283,827  >- 

Beans  -  -  - 

29,862 

Peafe  -  - 

11,275 

Indian  Corn  -  - 

S6638.. 

SCOTLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 

1  6,3471 

Barley  and  Malt 

1 3 » 1 1 9  / 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

1 0 1  j»  1 15  c 

Beans  -  -  -  - 

1,657  \ 

Peafe  -  -  -  - 

1,658 J 

Duties 

received. 

/ 

£■  *•  d- 
18,442  18  2 


l>355  1  5 


\ 


'  ''  •  .  ’  / 

2 so i  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i7?S, 

-  i-  t  V 

EXPORTED. 


1777 • 

ENGLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 

Rye  - 

Barley  and  Malt 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  -  -  -  - 

Peafe  »  _  .  - 

Indian  Corn  -  - 

SCOTLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 
Barley  and  Malt 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  - 

Peafe  »  - 

Barley ^nd  Bear  - 


Britifh 

Foreign 

Quarters. 

Quarters. 

174,940 

32-467’ 

10,369 

630 

129,104 

2)  J  60 

21,936 

8,686 

* 

33-338 

7,006 

6,562 

8,043 

L957J 

3*247  ^ 

422  I 

4*365  ( 

•  543  f 

543  ] 

4*  42  ^ 

j 

Bounties  and 
Drawbacks  paid. 

£'  4-  d . 

786  8  o  Dr, 

50*925  7  2  Bo, 


5,322  13  9  Bo, 


1776, 

Quarters. 

ENGLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 

00 

■'T 

*N 

O 

Rye  -  - 

3*415 

-Barley  and  Malt  - 

8,020 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

373>7°7 

Beans  - 

19,055 

Peafe  -  -  - 

19,776 

S  GOTLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 

430 

Barley  and  Malt 

479 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

4,859 

Peale  -  -  -  - 

12 

IMPORTED. 


Duties 

received. 


£•  s-  d . 
3*658  5  5 


30  7 


E  X. 


l 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [281 


EXPORTED. 


1 777- 

Britilh 

Foreign 

ENGLAND. 

• 

Quarters. 

Quarters. 

Wheat  and  Flour 

79,120 

Rye  - 

719 

227 

Barley  and  Malt 

*32>5!3 

479 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

16,874 

12,507  y 

Beans  - 

22, 449 

7  >49 z 

Peafe  7  -  -  - 

6,629 

6,742 

Indian  Corn  -  - 

- . 

BJ 

SCOTLAND. 

Wheat  and  Fiour 

2,652 

Barley  and  Malt 

3*645  j 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

7>233  ( 

Beans  - 

42  2  j 

Peafe  -  -  - 

422  j 

Barley  and  Bear  - 

6,088  J 

Bounties  and 
Drawbacks  paid. 

£.  t .  d . 

102  1  10  Dr. 

43,250  o  7  Bo. 


2,426  15  10  Bo. 


1 777- 

ENGL  AND. 

Wheat  and  Fleur 
Rye  -  -  -  - 

Barley  and  Malt  - 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 
Beans  -  -  - 

Peafe  -  -  -  - 

Buck  Wheat  -  - 

SCOTLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour 
Oats  and  Oatmeal 


M  P  O 

*  *  1 

Quarters. 


R  T  E  D. 


Duties 

received. 


233,069"' 
18,454 

7, 9**1 

366,155 

35 » 1 27  I 

28,702  | 

loj 


254 
29 


:} 


£■ 


d. 


8,83;  13  9 


o  14  9 


\ 


E  X- 

1 


2.8  £] 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


EXPORTED 


1778.  \ 

Britifh 

Foreign 

ENGLAND, 

Quarters. 

Quarters. 

Wheat  and  Flour  **  - 

124,698 

33,077 

Rye  -  “  sr 

1,689 

1 7] 

Barley  and  Malt 

100  820 

1,391  { 

Oats  and  Oatmeal 

20,810 

8,043  \ 

Beans  -  -  -  - 

37,787 

3,962  I 

Peafe  -  -  -  ** 

9>399 

6,221 J 

SCOTLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour  -  - 

Ba'-ley  and  Malt  -  - 

Oa  s  and  Oatmeal  - 

1 

:  3-295^ 
924  | 
27,690  1 

Beans  -  -  -  - 

Peaie  -  -  - 

653  \ 
6^3  l 

Barley  and  Bear  -  - 

795  J 

• 

Bounties  and 
Drawbacks  paid^ 

5»  d » 

224  3  6  Dr*. 

40,101  16  3  Bo* 


3,704  12  6 


ENGLAND. 

Wheat  and  Flour  - 
Rye 

Barley  and  Malt 
Oats  and  Qa'tmeal 
Beans  -  -  -  -  - 

Peafe  -  -  -  -  - 

SCOTLAND. 

Barleys  and  Malt 
Oats  and  Oatmeal  -  ■ 


M  P  O 

Quart.  rs» 


106,394 

9,3^7 

42,314 

199,680 

30,163 

37,708 


-  200 
3,490 


R  T  E  J>, 


Duties 

received. 


& 

4,890 


J. 


5  7 


H  3  9 


/  • 

The  following  is  an  account  of  the  average  prices  of  corn  in  England  and  Wales, 
by  the  ftatidard  Winchefter  Buthel,  for  eight  years,  from  the  commencement 
of  the  Corn  Regifter  Act  in  the  year  1770. 


Average  of  the  Bight  Years. 


Wheat 

s.  d . 

t. 

Rye 

d. 

Barley* 

5  • 

Oats, 

5 

Beans* 

i.  d* 

1771 

5 

icf 

4 

3f 

/*» 

2 

I 

3 

6f 

1772 

6 

4 

4 

7 

3 

2 

<7 

of 

3 

9 

1773 

6 

4| 

4 

2 

3 

6f 

2 

4 

if 

1 77*4 

6 

7 

4 

3t 

3 

6f 

2 

af 

3 

1  of 

1 775 

6 

of 

4 

if 

3 

3 

2 

of 

3 

7 

1776 

4 

94 

3 

45 

2 

H 

1 

iof 

.4 

3 

35 

1777 

5 

8* 

3 

6 

2 

H 

1 

3 

6f 

177S 

5 

.3 

3 

i1 

t,2 

2 

10 

1 

iof 

3 

5* 

— 

5 

iof 

3 

1  if 

3 

1 

2 

3 

8 

The  prices  of  the  fined  and  coarfeft  forts  of  grain,  generally  exceed  and  reduce 

the  average  price  as  follows,  viz.  ,  / 

Per  Bulb  el  -  -  Wheat  (>d.  Rye  3  d*  Barley  3  d*  Oats  3  d.  Beans  6d. 

6  '  '  SUPPLIES 


[  283  } 


\ 


\ 


SUPPLIES  granted  by  Parliament,  for 

the  Year  1778. 


/ 


NAVY. 

November  27,  1777* 

A  T“a  HAT  60,000  men  be  employed  for  the 
J[  fea  fervice,  for  the  year  1778,  including 
11,829  marines. 

2  That  a  fum  not  exceeding  4  1.  per  man  per 
month,  be  allowed  for  maintaining  the  faid  60,000 
men,  for  15  months,  including  ordnance  for  lea  fer- 
yice  —  —  ““  3,120,000 

February  16,  1778. 

1.  For  the  ordinary  of  the  navy,  including  half¬ 
pay  to  the  lea  and  marine  officers,  for  the  year 

1778  - 7 — 7 —  —  .  ‘ 

2.  Towards  building,  rebuilding,  and  repairs  01 

ihips  of  war  in  his  majelly’s  yards,  and  other  extra 
works  over  and  above  what  are  propofed  to  be  done 
upon  the  heads  of  wear  and  tear  in  ordinary,  for  the 

year  1778  * -  ' — 

April  9,  1778. 

1.  Towards  paying  off  and  difcharging  the  navy 

debt  ' — - -  _  —  —l,oco,ooo 

2.  Upon  account,  to  be  applied  by  the  com- 
miffioners  of  Greenwich  hofpital,  lor  the  fupport  and 
relief  of  fuch  worn-out  feamen,  as  fhail  not  be  pro¬ 
vided  for  in  the  faid  hofpital,  for  the  year  1778. 


© 


389,200  16  o 


— •  488,695  o  o 


o  o 


4,000  o  o 


5,001,895  16  o 


'ARMY. 

December  4,  1 777. 

1 .  That  a  number  of  land  forces,  including  3,213 
invalids,  amounting  to  20,057  effedlive  men,  com- 
miffion  and  non-commiffioned  officers  included, 
be  employed  for  the  fervice  of  the  year  1778. 

2.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  20,734  effedtive 
men,  for  guards,  garrifons,  and  other  his  Majelly  s 
land  forces  in  Great  Brkain,  Jerfey  and  Guernfey 


634,240  3  11 

3.  For 


2,84]  ANNUAL  REGISTER 

3.  For  the  pay  of  the  general,  and  general  ffafF 

officers,  in  Great  Britain,  for  the  year  1778  — 

4.  For  maintaining  his  majefty’s  forces  and  gar- 
rifons  in  the  Plantations  and  Africa,  including  thofe 
in  garrifon  at  Minorca  and  Gibraltar ;  and  for  pro¬ 
visions  for  the  forces  in  North  America,  Nova 
Scotia,  Newfoundland,  Gibraltar,  the  Ceded  iflands, 
and  Africa,  for  the  year  >778 


5.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  the  difference  of 

pay  between  the  Britifh  and  Irifh  eftablifhment,  of 
one  regiment  of  light  dragoons,  and  fix  regiments 
of  foot,  fefving  in  North  America,  for  the  year 
,778  — -  - 

6.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  five  Hanoverian 

battalions,  ferving  in  Gibraltar  and  Minorca,  and 
prcvifions  for  the  fame  - - 

7.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  3,472  men,  the 

troops  of  the  landgrave  of  Heffe-Caffel,  in  the  pay  of 
Great  Britain,  together  with  the  fubfidy  — 

8.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  2  regiments  of  foot 

of  Hanau,  &c.  — — -  — ~~ 

9.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  a  regiment  of  foot 

of  Waldeck,  &c.  - — -  - - 

10.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  4,300  men,  the 

troops  of  the  reigning  Duke  of  Brunfwick  — 

11.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  1,241  troops  of 

Brandenburg  Anfpach  - 

12.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  provifions  for  the 

foreign  troops  ferving  in  America  — -  — 

13.  For  making  good  a  deficiency  in  the  fum 

voted  laft  feffion,  for  the  Hanau  foot  . — — » 

14.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  artillery  for  the 

foreign  troops  for  the  year  1778  - - - - 

February  5,  1778. 

1.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  feveral  augmenta¬ 

tions  of  his  majeily's  forces  from  their  feveral  com¬ 
mencements  to  Dec.  24,  1778  — 

2.  Towards  defraying  the  charge  of  the  out- 

penfioners  in  Chelfea  hofpital  — - — 

3.  Upon  account  of  the  reduced  officers  of  his 

jnajelty’s  land  forces  and  marines  - 

4.  For  defraying  the  charge  for  allowances  to  the 
feveral  officers  and  private  gentlemen  of  the  two 
troops  of  horfe  guards  reduced,  and  to  the  fuperan- 
nuated  gentlemen  of  the  four  troops  of  horfe 

5.  For  paying  of  penfions  to  widows  of  fuch  re¬ 
duced  officers  of  his  majefly’s  land  forces  and  nia- 


1 778. 

1 U473 


—  960,843 


52  923 

56>074 

367,203 

35*44i 

17>37° 

93*947 

34>°°7 

47,160 

1,645 

1  ■ 

27*379 

286,632 

105,431 

9°*939 


7 12 


18  6§ 

18  9 

1  6 

19  4 

9  10 

19  9s 
8  2} 

IS  8 

2  II 

13  3 

17  J 
10  8 

14  6 

15  5 
15  o 

o  5 

s. 

rines. 


I 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE. 

•  ) 

rines,  as  died  upon  the  eftablifhment  of  half-pay 
in  Great  Britain,  and  were  married  to  them  before 

December  25,  1716  — —  -  238 

March  26. 

1.  Towards  defraying  the  extraordinary  expences 

of  his  Majefty’s  land  forces,  and  other  fervices  incur¬ 
red  between  Jan.  31,  1777,  and  Feb.  1,  1778  —  1,469,923 

2.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  feveral  augmenta¬ 

tions  of  his  majefty’s  forces,  from  their  feveral  com¬ 
mencements  to  Dec,  24,  1778  —  —  1 8,895 

April  16. 

For  defraying  the  charge  of  feveral  augmentations 
of  his  majefty’s  forces,  from  March  25,  1 777,  to 

Dec.  24,  1778  -  - —  80,319 

May  14. 

For  defraying  the  charge  of  a  corps  of  infantry 
of  Anhalt  Zerbft,  including  the  pay  of  Great  Bri¬ 
tain,  in  the  year  1778,  purfuant  to  treaty  —  18,071 

4,410,876 

ORDNANCE. 

December  4,  1777. 

1,  For  the  charge  of  the  office  of  ordnance  for 

land  fervice,  for  the  year  1778  — —  —  382,816 

2.  For  defraying  the  expence  of  fervices  perform¬ 
ed  by  the  office  of  ordnance  for  land  fervice,  and 

not  provided  for  by  parliament  in  1777  — —  300,483 

683,399 


MISCELLANEOUS  SERVICES. 

February  10,  1778. 

For  defraying  the  extraordinary  expences  incur¬ 
red  in  calling  in  and  recoining  the  deficient  coin  of 

this  kingdom  -  — - — ■ 

March  26. 

1.  To  be  paid  to  Mr  Edward  Moore,  as  a  final 

compenfation  for  his  pains,  trouble  and  expence, 
during  an  employment  of  13  years,  in  compiling  a 
general  index  to  the  Journals  of  the  Houfe  of  Com¬ 
mons  — -  -  - 

2.  To  be  paid  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Forfter,  as  a  final 

compenfation  for  his  pains,  trouble  and  expence, 
during  an  employment  of  8  years,  in  compiling  a 
general  index  to  the  Journals  of  the  Houfe  of  Com¬ 
mons  -•  - -  — • 

3.  To  be  paid  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Roger  Flaxman, 
ki  a  final  compenfation  for  his  pains,  trouble  and 

7 


105,227 


6,400 


3,000 


[2gS 

o  o 

1  4 

5  2  . 

14  1 

I  2  o 
l7  Si 

2  $ 

13  10 
16  6 

8  3 

o  © 

o  o 

cxpencc 


*86]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778', 

Spence,  during  an  employment  of  9  years,  in  com¬ 
piling  a  general  index  to  the  Journals  of  the  Houfe 
Of  Commons 


4.  To  be  paid  to  Mr.  Cunningham,  in  part  of 
his  payment,  for  his  pains,  trouble  and  expence,  in 
comoiling  a  general  index  to  the  Journals  of  the 

Houfe  of  Commons  — - —  — - 

c ,  For  the  expences  of  the  new  roads  of  commu¬ 
nication,  and  building  bridges,  in  the  Highlands  of 
North  Britain,  in  the.  year  1776  — ■  — 

April  9. 

To  make  good  the  deficiency  on  5th  of  July* 
1777,  of  the  fund  eftablilhed  for  paying  annuities 
granted,  by  an  act  made  in  the  31ft  year  of  his  late 
majefty,  towards  the  fupply  granted  for  the  year  1758 
For  defraying  the  charges  of  the  following  civil 
eftabliftiments,  and  other  incidental  expences  attend¬ 
ing  the  fame  :  to  wit,  in  America  —  — 


—  3,000  o  & 


•  2. 


His  majefty’s  ifland  of  St.  John’s 
His  majefty’s  colony  oTGeorgia 


3.  His  majefty’s  colony  of  Nova  Scotia  — » 

4.  His  majeify’s  colony  of  Eaft  Florida  — • 

5  His  majefty’s  colony  of  Weft  Florida  — - 

6.  In  Africa:  Senegambia,  iituate  between  the 
port  of  Salee  in  South  Barbary,  and  Cape  Rouge 

7.  For  defraying  expences  attending  genera]  fur- 

veys  of  his  majefty’s  dominions  in  North  America, 
for  the  year  1778  — — — — —  — — 

8  To  make  good  to  his  majelly  the  Turns  ifiued 
by  his  majefty’s  orders,  in  purfuance  of  the  addreffes 
of  this  houfe  —  —  —  — 

April  14. 

1.  To  make  good  the  fum  which  has  been  iffued 
by  his  majefty’s  orders  to  fundry  perfons,  to  be  by 
them  applied  for  the  relief  and  benefit  offuth  Ame¬ 
rican  civil  officers,  and  others,  as  have  fuffered  on  ac¬ 
count  of  their  attachment  to  his  majefty’s  government 

2.  To  replace  the  fum  ifiued  by  his  majefty’s  or¬ 

ders  to  Mr.  Duncan  Campbell ,  for  the  expence  of 
confining,  maintaining,  and  employing  conviftson 
the  River  Thames  — — —  - - - 

3.  For  repairing  and  fupporting  the  Britifh  forts 
and  fettlements,  on  the  coaft  of  Africa 


December.  4,  1777. 

Towards  paying  off  and  difcharging  the  exche¬ 
quer  bills,  made  gut  by  virtue  of  an  aft  paffed  in 


500  o  o 
6,998  iz  3 


43,622  10  Q 


3,200  0  O 
2,866  o  g 
4,701  10  8 

4,950  o  o 
4,900  o  o 

5,55°  O  G 


2,372  O  G 


1,100  O  # 


56,680  2  6 


9»°75  3 

13,000  o  o 


295,142  7  9 


the 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [287 

the  laft  feffion  of  parliament,  intituled,  ,c  An  aft  for 
raifing  a  certain  fum  of  money  by  loans  or  exchequer 
bills  for  the  lervice  of  the  year  1777,  and  charged 
upon  the  fir  ft  aids  to  be  granted  in  this  feffion  of  par¬ 
liament  • - :  —  —  1,500,006  o  * 

For  paying  off  and  difcharging  the  exchequer  bills 
made  out  by  virtue  of  an  adt  paffed  in  the  laft  feffion 
of  parliament,  intitled  An  aft  for  enabling  his  majefty 
to  raife  the  fum  of  one  million,  for  the  ufes  and  purpofes 
therein  mentioned ,  and  charged  upon  the  frf  aids  to  be 
granted  in  this  jtfion  of  parliament  —  — —  1,000,000  O  © 

March  2 o,  1778. 

For  difcharging  and  paying  off  the  prizes  of  the 
lottery,  of  the  year  1777  — _  —  480,000  o  o 


2,980,000  o  o 


April  30. 

1.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  the  embodied  mi¬ 

litia  of  the  feveral  counties  of  South  Britain,  from 
March  26,  17-8,  to  the  24th  ot  December  follow¬ 
ing,  both  inclusive  —  * —  — ■ •  402,622.  9  9 

2.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  additional  cloath- 

ing  for  the  embodied  militia  for  the  year  1778  —  37^ 559  7  6 

3.  For  defraying  the  charge  of  three  regiments  of 
fencible  men,  to  be  forthwith  raifed  in  North  BrD 
tain,  from  April  25th,  1778,  to  the  24th  of  Dec. 

following,  both  inclufive  — —  ■ —  45,608  2  o 

/  Jl  1 T  1  . .  “  ■ 

485,789  18  6 

DEFICIENCIES.  \ 

April  14,  1778. 

1.  To  make  good  the  deficiency  of  the  grants  for 
the  fervice  of  the  year  1777,  to  replace  to  the  finking 
fund  the  like  fum  paid  out  of  the  fame  —  38,493  2  7§ 

2.  In  the  land  tax  —  252,000  o  o 

3.  In  the  malt  tax  — —  —  200,000  o  o 

—  —  - 

”  490,493  2  7! 


Total  of  fupplies 


—  14,345,497  18  lof 

mmrnmm  n-»  —  hi— — g  ■■■■» ■  ■ 


Ways  and  Means  for  raifing  the  above  Supplies ,  granted  to  his  Majefy, 

for  the  Tear  1778. 

November  29,  1 777. 

1.  That  the  fum  of  four  /hillings  in  the  pound, 

and  ng  jngre,  be  raifed  withia  the  fpacecf  one  year, 

from 


£83]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778; 

from  the  25th  of  March,  1778,  upon  lands,  tene¬ 
ments,  hereditaments,  penfions,  offices,  and  per- 
fonal  eftates,  in  that  part  of  Great  Britain  called 
England,  Wales,  and  the  town  of  Berwick  upon. 

T^eed,  and  that  a  proportionable  cefs,  according  to 
the  ninth  article  of  the  treaty  of  union,  be  laid  upon 
that  part  of  Great  Britain  called  Scotland  "  2,000,000 

2.  That  the  duties  upon  malt,  mum,  cyder,  and 
perry,  which  by  an  aft  of  parliament  of  the  16th 
year  of  his  prefent  Majelly’s  reign,  have  continuance 
to  the  24th  of  July;  1 777,  ffiali  be  further  continued 
and  charged  upon  all  malt,  which  fhall  be  made, 
and  all  mum,  which  ffiali  be  made  or  imported,  and 
all  cyder  and  perry,  which  ihall  be  made  for  fale 
within  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  from  the  23d 
of  June,  1777,  to  the  24th  of  June,  1778.  "  750,000 

March  10,  1778. 

That,  towards  raffing  the  (apply  granted  to  his 
Majefty,  the  fum  of  6,®oo,ooo  1.  be  raifed  by  an¬ 
nuities,  and  the  further  fum  of  480,000  1.  by  a  lot¬ 
tery,  in  manner  following;  that  is  to  fay. 

That  every  contributor  to  the  faid  6,000,000  L 
fhall,  for  every  300 1.  contributed,  be  entitled  to  an 
annuity,  after  the  rate  of  3  1.  per  cent,  perann.  re¬ 
deemable  by  parliament ;  and  alfo  to  a  further  an¬ 
nuity  of  2  1.  ios.  per  cent,  per  ann.  to  continue  for 
a  certain  term  of  thirty  years,  and  then  to  ceafe  ; 
the  faid  annuity  of  3  1.  per  cent,  and  of  2I.  10s.  per 
cent,  to  commence  from  the  5th  day  of  January 
1778,  and  to  be  payable  and  transferrable  at  the  bank 
of  England,  and  to  be  paid  half  yearly  on  the  5th 
day  of  July  and  the  5th  day  of  January  in  every 
year;  and  (hall  be  charged  and  chargeable  upon,  and 
payable  out  of,  a  fund,  to  be  eifabliffied  in  this  fef- 
fion  of  parliament  for  payment  thereof,  and  for 
which  the  finking  fund  ffiali  be  a  collateral  fecurity. 

That  every  contributor,  or  his  or  her  reprefenta- 
tive,  who  ffiali  chufe  to  have  and  receive  a  life  an¬ 
nuity  indead  of  the  faid  annuity  of  2I.  10  s.  per 
cent,  per  ann.  to  continue  for  a  term  of  30  years  as 
aforefaid,  ffiali,  upon  completing  the  whole  of  his 
or  her  contribution  money,  and  fignifying  fuch  his 
or  her  intention  to  the  chief  caffiier  or  the  governor 
and  company  of  the  bank  of  England,  have  a  certi¬ 
ficate  figned  by  him,  the  faid  caffiier,  expreffing 
the  fum  fo  paid  by  fuch  contributor,  or  his  or  her 
reprefentative,  and  the  annuity,  after  the  rate  of 
2  L  io  s.  per  cent,  per  ann.  to  which  fuch  perfon  is 


o  o 


©  o 


in  titled 


1 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  '[289 

in  titled  in  refpefl  of  the  fame  ;  and  ihall,  upon  pro¬ 
ducing  fuch  certificate  to  the  auditor  of  the  receipt 
of  his  Majeily’s  Exchequer,  at  any  time  on  or  be¬ 
fore  the  2  2  d  day  of  December  next,  have  and  be  in- 
titled  to  a  like  annuity,  after  the  rate  of  2  1.  10  s.  per 
cent,  per  ann.  to  be  paid  at  the  receipt  of  the  Ex¬ 
chequer,  to  commence  from  the  5th  day  of  January 
1778,  and  to  be  paid  and  payable  half  yearly  on  the 
5th  day  of  July  and  the  5th  day  of  January  in  every 
vear,  during  the  life  of  fuch  nominee  as  he  or  fhe 
fhall  appoint  at  the  time  of  delivering  inch  certifi¬ 
cate  to  the  laid  auditor  of  the  receipt  of  the  Ex¬ 
chequer,  out  of  the  laid  fund,  to  be  eflablifned  in. 
this  feflion  of  parliament,  and  for  which  the  finking 
fund  is  to  be  a  collateral  fecurity. 

That  every  contributor,  towards  railing  the  faid 
fum  of  6,000,000 1.  (hall,  for  every  500  1.  by  him 
or  her  contributed,  be  entitled  to  four  tickets  in  a 
lottery  to  confitl  of  48,000  tickets,  amounting  to 
480,000  1.  upon  payment  of  the  further  fum  of  10 1. 
for  each  ticket  ;  the  faid  480,000  1.  to  be  diilributed 
into  prizes  for  the  benefit  of  the  proprietors  of  the  ~ 
fortunate  tickets  in  the  faid  lottery,  which  fhall  be 
paid  in  money  at  the  bank  of  England,  to  fuch 
proprietors,  upon  demand*  as  foon  after  the  ill  day 
of  March  1779,  as  certificates  can  be  prepared, 
without  any  deduflion  whatfoever. 

That  every  contributor  fhall,  on  or  before  the 
17th  day  of  this  inllant  March,  make  a  depofit  of 
10  1.  per  cent,  on  fuch  fum  as  he  or  fhe  fhall  chufe 
to  fubferibe,  towards  raifing  the  faid  fum  of 
6, 000, cool,  with  the  chief  cafhier  or  calhiers  of  the 
governor  and  company  of  the  bank  of  England  ;  and 
alfo  a  depoiit  of  15  I.  per  cent,  with  the  faid  cafhier 
or  cafhiers,  in  part  of  the  monies  to  be  contributed 
towards  raifing  the  faid  fum  of  480,0001.  by  a  lotte¬ 
ry,  as  a  fecurity  for  making  the  future  payments  re- 
fpeftively,  on  or  before  the  days  or  times  herein 
after  limited,  that  is  to  fay,  on  6,000,000  1.  for  an¬ 
nuities  ;  10 1.  per  cent,  on  or  before  the  14th  day  of  1 
April  next ;  15  1.  per  cent,  on  or  before  the  19th  day 
of  May  next ;  10  1.  per  cent,  on  or  before  the  23d 
day  of  June  next  ;  15I.  percent,  on  or  before  the 
4th  day  of  Augullnext;  iol.  per  cent,  on  or  before 
the  1  5th  day  of  September  next ;  10  1.  per  cent,  on 
or  before  the  23d  day  of  O&ober  next ;  iol.  per  cent, 
on  or  before  the  20th  day  of  November  next ;  10  1. 
percent,  on  or  before  the  18th  day  of  December 
next;  on  the  lottery,  for  480,0001.  20I.  percent. 

Vol.  XXI.  ^  [T]  an 


I 


e9o]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 

on  or  before  the  28th  day  of  April  next;  20I.  per 
cent,  on  or  before  the  3d  day  of  July  next;  20  1. 
per  cent,  on  or  before  the  25th  day  of  Auguil  next; 

25  1.  per  cent,  on  or  before  the  9th  day  of  October 
next. 

That  all  the  monies,  fo  to  be  received  by  the  faid 
chief  cafhier  or  cafhierx  of  the  governor  and  company 
of  the  bank  of  England,  (hall  be  paid  into  the  re¬ 
ceipt  of  the  Exchequer,  to  be  applied  from  time  to 
time  to  fuch  fervices  as  lhall  then  have  been  voted  in 
this  feffion  of  parliament. 

That  every  contributor,  who  lhall  pay  in  the 
whole  of  his  or  her  contribution  money,  towards  the 
faid  fum  of  6,ooo,ocol.  to  be  contributed  for  an¬ 
nuities  as  aforefaid,  at  any  time  before  the  17th  day 
of  November  next,  or  on  account  of  his  or  her  fhare 
in  the  faid  lottery,  on  or  before  the  21ft  day  of 
Auguft  next,  lhall  be  allowed  an  interefl,  by  way 
ofdifcounc,  after  the  rate  of  3  1.  per  cent*  per  ann. 
on  the  fums  fo  completing  his  or  her  contribution- 
money  refpe&ively,  to  be  computed  from  the  day  of 
completing  the  fame,  to  the  1 8 th  day  of  December 
next,  in  regard  to  the  fum  to  be  paid  for  the  faid  an¬ 
nuities,  and  to  the  9th  day  of  October  next,  in  re- 
fpefl  of  the  fum  to  be  paid  on  account  of  the  faid 
lottery  ;  and  that  all  fuch  performs  as  lhall  make  their 
full  payments  on  the  faid  lottery,  lhall  have  their 
tickets  delivered  to  them  as  foon  as  they  can  con¬ 
veniently  be  made  out. 

That  the  annuities  after  the  rate  of  3I.  percent* 
per  ann.  to  be  payable  in  refpedl  of  the  faid 
6,000,000  1.  to  be  contributed  as  aforefaid,  lhall, 
from  the  time  of  their  commencement,  be  added  to, 
and  made  one  joint  ftock  with  the  3  1.  per  cent,  an¬ 
nuities  confolidated,  per  adls  25th,  28th,  29th,  31ft, 

3 2d,  and  33d,  George  II.  and  by  feveral  fubfe- 
quent  acts,  and  lhall  be  payable  and  transferable 
at  the  bank  of  England,  and  fubjefl  to  redemption 
in  the  fame  manner  as  the  faid  3  1.  per  cent,  confo¬ 
lidated  annuities  are  payable  and  transferable  there, 
and  redeemable  by  parliament  — -  —  6,480,000  o  © 

April  9. 

That,  towards  railing  the  fupply  granted  to  his 
Majefty,  the  ium  of  1,500,0001.  be  raifed,  by  loans 
or  Exchequer  bills,  to  be  charged  upon  the  frit  aids 
to  be  granted  in  the  next  feihon  of  parliament ; 
and  fuch  Exchequer  bills,  if  not  difcharged,  with 


intereft 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [291 

intereft  thereupon,  on  or  befoie  the  5th  day  of 
April,  1778,  to  be  exchanged  and  received  in  pay¬ 
ment  in  luch  manner  as  Exchequer  bills  have  Ufual- 
ly  been  exchanged  and  received  in  payment  —  1,500,000  o  Q 


* 


April  14. 

1.  That,  towards  making  good  the  fupply  grant¬ 
ed  to  his  Majelty,  there  be  ilfued  and  applied  the 
fum  of  703,790!.  18  s.  3§  remaining  in  the  re¬ 
ceipt  of  the  Exchequer,  on  the  3th  day  of  April, 
1778,  for  the  difpofuion  of  parliament,  of  the  mo¬ 
nies  which  had  then  arifen  of  the  iurplufies,  excef- 
fes,  and  overplus  monies,  and  other  revenues,  com- 
poling  the  fund  commonly  called  the  linking  fund 

2.  That,  towards  railing  the  fupply  granted  to  his 

Majelty,  there  be  ilfued  and  applied  the  fum  of 
2,296,209  1.  1  s.  out  of  fuch  monies  as  lhall  or 
may  arife  of  the  furplulfes,  exceiTes,  or  overplus  mo¬ 
nies,  and  other  revenues,  compofing  the  fund  com¬ 
monly  called  the  finking  fund  — 

3.  That,  towards  railing  the  fupply  granted  to 

his  Majelty,  there  be  applied  the  fum  of  4,976  k  17  s. 
if  remaining  in  the  receipt  of  the  Exchequer,  on 
the  5  th  of  April,  1778,  lubjedt  to  the  difpofition  of 
parliament,  exclufive  of  the  furplus  monies  then  re¬ 
maining  of  the  finking  fund  —  — 

4.  That  towards  raifing  the  fupply  granted  to  his 
Majelty,  there  be  applied  the  fum  of  46,825!.  re- 
mainingin  the  receipt  of  the  Exchequer,  on  the  5th 
day  of  April,  1778,  of  the  deductions  of  fix-pence 
in  the  pound  out  of  all  monies  paid  upon  all  falaries, 
penlions,  and  annuities  and  other  payments  from 
the  crown,  after  fatisfying  all  annuities  and  other 
charges  then  due,  and  payable  out  of  the  fame 

5.  That  the  fum  of  31,1  54I.  17  s.  8J  remaining 
in  the  receipt  of  the  Exchequer,  on  the  5th  day  of 
April,  1778,  of  the  two  fevenths  Excife  granted  by 
an  a£t  of  parliament,  made  in  the  5th  and  6th  years 
of  the  reign  of  King  William  and  Queen  Mary,  af¬ 
ter  fatisfying  the  feveral  charges  and  incumbrances 
thereupon,  for  the  half  year  then  ended,  be  carried 
to,  and  made  part  of,  the  aggregate  fund  ;  and  that 
the  faid  fund  be  made  a  fecurity  for  the  difeharge 
of  fuch  annuities,  and  other  demands,  payable  out 
of  the  faid  b’m,  as  the  growing  produce  of  the  faid 
two  feve*'  j  Excife  fhall  not  be  fufficient  to  anfwer 

6.  Th.  t  fuch  of  the  monies  as  lhall  be  paid  into  the 
receipt  of  the  Exchequer,  after  the  5th  day  of  April, 

[  /■]  2 


l 


703,790 18  3-1 


2,296,209  x  8 


4,976  17  if 


46^825 


» 


31,154  17  8f 
1778, 


/9 


I 


292]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177?. 

1778,  and  on  or  before  the  5th  day  of  April,  1779, 
of  the  produce  of  the  duties  charged  by  two  a&s, 
made  in  the  5th  and  14th  years  of  his  prefent  Ma- 
jefty’s  reign,  upon  the  importation  and  exportation 
of  gum  fenega  and  gum  arabic,  be  applied  towards 
making  good  the  lupplv  granted  to  his  Majefty. 

April  16. 

1.  That,  towards  making  good  the  fupply  grant¬ 

ed  to  his  Majefty,  there  be  applied  a  fum,  not  ex¬ 
ceeding  37,921  1.  3s.  lod.  out  of  the  monies,  or 
favings,  arihng  from  the  pay  of  his  majefty’s  na¬ 
tional  troops,  in  the  hands  of  the  Paymafter  General 
of  his  Majefty’s  land  forces  - -  — 

2.  That,  towards  making  good  the  fupply  granted 
to  his  Majefty,  there  be  applied  a  fum,  not  exceed¬ 
ing  27,690  k  out  of  the  monies,  or  favings,  arifing 
from  the  pay  of  fundry  regiments  of  foot,  in  the 
hands  of  the  Paymafter  General  of  his  Majefty’s  land 


May  4. 

That  towards  raiftng  the  fupply  granted  to  his 
Majefty,  the  fum  of  500,000  1.  be  raifed,  by  loans, 
or  Exchequer  bills,  to  be  charged  upon  the  firft 
aids  to  be  granted  in  the  next  feffion  of  parliament  ; 
and  fuch  Exchequer  bills,  if  not  difcharged,  with 
intereft  thereupon,  on  or  before  the  5th  day  of 
April,  1 779,  to  be  exchanged  and  received  in  pay¬ 
ment,  in  fuch  manner  as  Exchequer  bills  have 
ufually  been  exchanged  and  received  in  payment 


37,92!  3  I  Or 


27,690 


500,000  o  o 


Total  of  way  s  and  means  — - 

Total  of  fupplies  ■ —  — 

Excefs  of  ways  and  means  — 

Note/  The  vote  of  credit  of  one  million  granted  this 
feffion ,  and  ihe  500,000  1.  loan  of  the  \th  of  May , 
are  both  charged  on  the  next  aids. 

The  additional  public  debt  funded  and  provided 
for  this  year,  amounts  to  fix  millions,  the  intereft 
of  which  at  3  per  cent,  per  ann.  is  —  — 

The  annuity  of  2k  10 s.  per  cent,  per  ann. 
for  thirty  years,  is  —  —  — *■ 


1 4,378,5  67  18 

I4»345>497  ^  iof 


nL 
/  4. 


33,069  19  9$ 


180,00  o  o 


150,000  o  o 


la  all 


330,000  o  o 


This 


APPENDIX  to  the  CHRONICLE.  [293 

This  fum  (by  a£ts  parted  in  purfuance  cf  the  refo- 
lutions  of  March  9th)  is  to  be  railed  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  manner. 

By  a  tax  on  houfes  *  —  —  264,000  o 

By  an  additional  tax  of  eight  guineas  ger  tun  on 
all  French  wines,  and  four  guineas  per  tun  on  all 
other  wines  imported  —  —  —  72o 5s  0  0 

336,558  0  0 

Excefs  of  taxes  — •  —  —  6, 55800 


*  See  the  abftra&  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Chronicle. 


I 

} 


V 


* 


X 


tn  3 


1 


V  \ 


\ 


STATE 


[  294  ] 


STATE  PAPERS. 


Ills  Majefiy^S  mofi  gracious  Speech  to 
both  Houfes  of  P '  arliamevt ,  on 
<ThurJaay  the  20 th  Day  of  Novem¬ 
ber,  *777. 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen* 

T  is  a  great  fatisfadion  to  me, 
that  1  can  have  recourfe  to  the 
wifciom  and  fupport  of  my  parlia¬ 
ment,  in  this  conjundure,  when  the 
continuance  of  the  rebellion  in 
North  America,  demands  our  mod: 
ferious  attention.  The  powers, 
which  you  have  intruded  me  with 
for  the  fu'ppreffiqn  of  this  revolt, 
have  been  faithfully  exerted  ;  and 
I  have  a  juft  confidence,  that  the 
conduct  and  courage  of  my  officers, 
and  the  fpirit  and  intrepidity  of 
my  forces,  both  by  fea  and  land, 
will,  under  the  blefling  of  divine 
providence,  be  attended  with  im¬ 
portant  fuccefs  :  but  as  I  am  per- 
fuaded  that  you  will  fee  the  ne- 
ceffity  of  preparing  for  fuch  fur¬ 
ther  operations,  as  the  contingen¬ 
cies  of  the  war,  and  the  obftinacy 
of  the  rebels  may  render  expedient, 
I  am,  for  that  purpofe,  purfuing 
the  proper  me  a  fares  for  keeping 
m  v  land  forces  com  pleat  to  their 
prefent  eftablifhment  ;  and  if  I 
fhould  have  occafion  to  increafe 
them,  by  contrading  any  new  en¬ 
gagements,  I  rely  on  your  2eal 


and  public  fpirit  to  enable  me  tq 
make  them  good. 

i  receive  repeated  affurances  from 
foreign  powers,  of  their  pacific!? 
difpofitions.  My  own  cannot  be 
doubted  :  but,  at  this  time,  when 
the  armaments  in  the  ports  of 
France  and  Spain  continue,  I  have 
thought  it  advifeable  to  make  a 
confiderable  augmentation  to  my 
naval  force,  as  vs  ell  to  keep  my 
kingdoms  in  a  relpedable  ftate  of 
fecurity,  as  to  prov  de  an  adequate 
protedion  for  the  extenfive  com¬ 
merce  of  my  fubjeds  ;  and  as,  on 
the  one  hand.  1  am  determined 
that  the  peace  of  Europe  fir  all  not 
be  diiturbed  by  me,  fo,  on  the 
other,  I  will  always  be  a  faithful 
guardian  of  the  honour  of  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Houfe  of 
Commons, 

I  have  ordered  the  eflimates  for 
the  enfuinp-  year  to  be  laid  before 
you.  The  various  fervices  which 
I  have  mentioned  to  you  will  una¬ 
voidably  require  large  fupplies ; 
and  nothing  could  relieve  my  mind 
from  the  concern  which  I  feel  for 
the  heavy  charge  which  they  mufc 
bring  on  my  faithful  people,  but 
the  perfed  convidion  that  they 
are  neceffary  for  the  welfare  and 

the 


STATE 

the  effiential  intereds  of  my  king* 
doms. 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

I  will  Head i ly  purfue  the  mea- 
fures  in  which  we  are  engaged  for 
the  re-edablifnment  of  that  con¬ 
ditional  fu  ordination,  which, 
with  the  bleding  of  God,  I  will 
maintain  througn  the  feveral  parts 
of  my  dominions  :  but  1  fh all  ever 
be  watchful  Tor  an  opportunity  of 
putting  a  ilop  to  the  effuiion  of  the 
blood  of  my  fubjeds,  and  the  ca¬ 
lamities  which  are  infeparable 
from  a  dace  of  war.  And  1  dill 
hope,  that  the  deluded  and  un¬ 
happy  multitude,  will  return  to 
their  allegiance  ;  and  that  the  re¬ 
membrance  of  what  they  once  en¬ 
joyed,  the  regret  for  what  they 
have  lod,  and  the  feelings  of  what 
they  now  fuder  under  the  arbitrary 
tyranny  of  their  leaders,  will  re¬ 
kindle  in  their  hearts  a  fpirit  of 
loyalty  to  their  Sovereign,  and  of 
■attachment  to  their  mother  coun¬ 
try  :  and  that  they  will  enable 
me,  with  the  concurrence  and  fup- 
porr  of  my  parliament,  to  accom- 
plifh  what  I  ih all  confider  as  the 
greated  happinefs  of  my  life,  and 
the  greated  glory  of  my  reign, 
the  reitoration  of  peace,  order,  and 
confidence  to  my  American  colo¬ 
nies. 


Th  :  humble  Addrefs  of  the  L  ords  spi¬ 
ritual  and  Temporal,  in  Parliament 
ajjembled , 

Mod  gracious  Sovereign, 

E,  your  Majedy’s  mod  du¬ 
tiful  and  loyal  fubjedls,  the 
Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  in 
parliament  affem bled,  beg  leave  to 


PAPERS.  [295 

return  your  Majedy  our  humble 
thanks  for  your  mod  gracious 
fpeech  from  the  throne. 

Permit  us.  Sir,  to  offer  our 
congratulations  to  your  Majedy  on 
the  increafe  of  your  domedic  hap¬ 
pinefs,  by  the  birth  of  another 
Princefs,  and  the  recovery  of  your 
royal  confort,  who  is  mod  highly 
endeared  to  this  nation,  as  well  by 
her  Majedy’s  eminent  and  amiable 
virtues,  as  by  every  new  pledge 
of  fecurity  to  our  religious  and 
civil  liberties. 

We  are  duly  fenfible  of  your 
Majedy’s  goodnefs  in  recurring  to 
the  advice  and  fupport  of  your 
parliament  in  the  prefent  conjunc¬ 
ture,  when  the  rebellion  in  North 
America  dill  continues  ;  and  we 
return  your  Majedy  our  unfeigned 
thanks  for  having;  communicated 
to  us  the  jud  confidence  which 
your  Majedy  repofes  in  the  zeal, 
intrepidity,  and  exertions  of  your 
Majedy’s  officers  and  forces  both 
by  fea  and  land  :  bug  at  the  fame 
time  that  we  entertain  a  well- 
founded  hepe  of  the  important  fuc- 
cedes,  which,  under  the  bleffing  of 
providence,  may  be  expedted,  we 
cannot  but  applaud  your  Majedy’s 
unwearied  vigilance  and  wifdom 
in  recommending  to  us  to  pre¬ 
pare,  at  all  events,  for  fuch  fur¬ 
ther  operations  as  the  contingen¬ 
cies  of  the  war,  and  the  obftinacy 
of  the  rebels,  may  render  expe¬ 
dient:  we  are  therefore  gratefully 
fenfible  of  your  Majedy’s  con fide - 
ration  in  purfuing  the  meafures 
necedarv  to  keep  your  land  forces 
complete  to  the  prefent  edablidi- 
ment:  and  we  owe  it  both  to  your 
Majedy  and  to  ourleives  to  fay, 
that  we  diall  chearfully  concur  in 
enabling  your  Majedy  to  make 
[V]  4  good 


296]  ANN  U  At  REGISTER,  i77g, 


good  luch  new  engagements  with 
foreign  powers,  for  the  augmenta¬ 
tion  of  the  auxiliary  troops,  as  the 
weighty  motives  your  Majefty  has 
Hated  to  us,  may  induce  you  to 
contract. 

It  is  with  great  fatisfa&ion  we 
learn  that  your  Majefty  receives 
repeated  ail u ranees  from  foreign 
powers,  of  their  pacific  diipoiitions; 
and  with  hearts  full  of  gratitude 
and  admiration,  we  acknowledge 
your  Majeliy’s  humane,  Heady,  and 
dignified  condudl,  which  is  equal¬ 
ly  well  calculated  to  demonftrate 
to  the  world  your  Majefty’s  wifh 
to  preferve  the  general  tranquil¬ 
lity  of  Europe,  and  your  determi¬ 
nation  to  maintain  the  honour  of 
the  crown,  the  feemity  of  thefe 
Lingdorns,  and  the  commercial  in- 
terefts  of  your  fu'bje&s, 

VVe  thankfully  receive  your  Ma- 
jelly’s  declaration  or  perfeverance 
in  the  meafures  now  punning,  for 
the  re-eftablifhment  of  a  juil 
and  conftnutional  fubordination 
through  the  federal  pans  of  your 
Majeily’s  dominions;  and  we  beg 
leave  to  allure  your  Majefty,  that 
we  participate  the  defire  which  at 
the  fame  time  animates  your  royal 
breaft;  to  fee  a  proper  opportunity 
for  putting  an  end  to  the  effufioa 
of  blood,  and  the  various  calami¬ 
ties  inseparable  from  a  Hate  of 
wan 

The  conftant  tenor-of  your  Ma¬ 
jefty  ’s  reign  has  ihewn,  that  your 
whole  attention  is  employed  for 
the,  fafety  and  happinefs  of  all 
your  people;  an$  whenever  our 
unhappy  fellow  fubjeds  in  North 
America  fh all  duly  return  to  their 
"allegiance,  we  Hull  readily  con¬ 
cur  in  every  wife  and  falutary 
meafilre  which  can  contribute  to 
reftore  confidence  and  order.,  and 


fix  the  mutual  welfare  of  Great 
Britain  and  her  colonies,  on  the 
rnoft  ibiidl  and  permanent  foun¬ 
dations. 


Protest  of  the  Lords. 

Die  Jovis)  200  Nov.  17.78, 

'PON  the  motion  for  the  above 
iddreis,  the  follow: tig  amend¬ 
ment  was  moved  by  the  Earl  of 
Chatham,  “  That  this  Houfe 
does  moll  humbly  advife  and  fup- 
plicate  his  Majefty,  to  be  pleafed 
to  caufe  the  molt  fpeedy  and  ef¬ 
fectual  meafures  to  be  taken  for 
reftoring  peace  in  America,  and 
that  no  time  may  be  loft,  in  pro- 
poling  an  immediate  celfation  of 
holtilities  there,  in  order  to  the 
opening  a  treaty  for  the  final  fet- 
tlement  of  the  tranquillity  of  thofe 
invaluable  provinces,  by  a  removal 
of  the  unhappy  caufes  of  this  rui¬ 
nous  civil  war,  and  by  a  juft  and 
adequate  fecurity  againft  a  return 
of  the  like  calamities  in  times  to 
come.  And  this  Houfe  defires  to 
oiler  the  moft  dutiful  affurance  to 
his  Majefty,  that  they  will  in  due 
time  chearfully  co-operate  with  the 
magnanimity  and  tender  goodnefs 
of  his  Majefty,  for  the  preferva- 
tion  of  his  people,  by  fuch  expli¬ 
cit  and  moft  folemn  declarations 
and  provisions  of  fundamental  and 
irrevocable  laws,  as  may  be  judged 
necefiary  for  afeertaining  and  fix¬ 


ing  for  ever  the  refpedive  rights 
of  Great  Britain  and  her  colo¬ 
nies.” 

When  the  quellion  being  put, 
the  Houfe  divided.  Contents  28. 
Non-contents  84. 

The  queftion  was  then  put  on 
the  addrefs,  and  carried  in  the  af¬ 
firmative. 

Dififen- 


STATE  PAPER  S. 


<c  DifTentient, 

“  Becaufe  this  addrefs  is  a  re¬ 
petition  of,  or  rather  an  improve¬ 
ment  on,  the  fullome  adulation 
offered,  and  of  the  blind  engage¬ 
ments  entered  into  on  former  oc- 
cafion '  by  this  Houfe,  relative  to 
this  unhappy  civil  war. 

£  F  F  I  a  g  h  a  m  . 

Richmond. 


The  humble  Addrrfs  of  the  Houfe  of 
Commons  to  the  Kino-. 

O 

Moll  gracious  Sovereign, 

^  jf  7  E,  your  Majefty’s  pioft  du- 
W  tiful  and  loyal  fubjedts,  the 
Commons  of  Great  Britain  in  par¬ 
liament  affiernbied,  beg  leave  to 
-return  your  Majeily  the  humble 
thanks  of  this  Houfe,  for  your 
mod  gracious  fpeech  from  the 
throne. 

Deeply  interefled  in  every  event 
which  tends  to  increafe  your  Ma- 
jelly’s  domeiiic  felicity,  and  im- 
preffed  with  the  livelielt  fentiments 
of  duty  and  attachment  to  the 
Queen  ;  we  beg  leave  to  offer  to 
your  Majeily  our  congratulations 
on  the  birth  of  another  Princefs, 
and  on  her  Majeity’s  happy  reco¬ 
very. 

We  afTure  your  Majefly,  that 
we  take  a  fincere  part  in  the  con¬ 
fidence  which  your  Majeily  ex- 
preffes,  that  the  conduit  and  cou¬ 
rage  of  your  officer.',  and  the  fpi- 
rit  and  intrepidity  of  your  forces 
boih  by  fea  and  land,  will,  under 
the  divine  providence,  be  attended 
with  important  fuccefs.  But  at 
the  lame  time  we  entirely  concur 
with  your  Majefly  in  thinking, 
that  it  is  necefiary  to  prepare  for 
fuch  further  operations  as  future 
events,  and  the  contingencies  of 


[297 

• 

the  war,  may  render  expedient. 

And  we  learn  with  much  fatisfac- 

tion,  that  your  Majefly  is  for  that: 

purpofe  purfuing  the  proper  mea- 

fures  for  keeping  your  land  forces 

compleat  to  their  prefent  eliablifh- 

ment.  And  whenever  vour  Ma- 

✓ 

jefty  fh3.ll  be  pleafed  to  commu¬ 
nicate  to  us  any  new  engage¬ 
ments,  which  you  may  have  en¬ 
tered  into  for  increasing  your  mi¬ 
litary  force,  we  will  take  the  fame 
into  our  coniideration.  And  we 
trull  your  Majeily  will  not  be  dif- 
appointed  in  the  gracious  fenti¬ 
ments  which  you  entertain  of  the 
zeal  and  public  fpirit  of  your  faith¬ 
ful  Commons. 

We  are  truly  fenfible  that  your 
Majefty’s  conllantcare  for  the  wel¬ 
fare  of  your  people,  and  your  ge¬ 
nerous  concern  for  the  happinefs 
of  mankind,  difpofe  your  Majeily 
to  defire,  that  the  peace  of  Europe 
may  not  be  dillurbed  :  but  we 
acknowledge  with  equal  gratitude, 
your  Majefly’s  attention  to  the  fe- 
curity  of  your  kingdoms,  and  the 
protection  of  the  extenfive  com¬ 
merce  of  your  fubje&s,  in  having 
made  a  considerable  augmentation 
to  your  naval  force,  on  which  the 
reputation  and  importance  of  this 
nation  muff  ever  principally  de¬ 
pend.  And  we  hear  with  the 

Jl  y 

highefl  fatisfaClion,  and  rely  with 
perfect  confidence  on  your  royal 
declaration,  that  your  Majefly  will 
always  be  the  faithful  guardian  of 
the  honour  of  the  Britifh  crown. 

We  beg  leave  to  allure  your 
Majeily,  that  we  will,  without  de¬ 
lay,  enter  into  the  coniideration  of 
the  fupplies  for  the  ertfuing  year  ; 
and  that  we  will  chearfully  and 
efredluully  provide  for  all  fuch  ex- 
pences  as  fhall  be  found  neceffiary 
fox  the  welfare  and  eflential  in- 

terells 


298]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


terefts  of  thefe  kingdoms,,  and  for 
the  vigorous  profecution  of  the 
jneafures  in  which  we  are  engaged, 
for  the  re  cftablifbment  of  that 
conftituti.on.al  fubordination,  which 
we  truft,  with  the  bleffingof  God, 
your  Majefty  will  be  abie  to  main¬ 
tain  through  the  feveral  parts  of 
your  dominions. 

We  acknowledge,  with  equal 
gratitude  and  admiration,  your 
Majefty’s  paternal  declaration,  that 
you  will  be  ever  watchful  for  an 
opportunity  of  putting  a  Hop  to 
the  efFufion  of  the  blood  of  your 
fubje&s,  and  the  calamities  of 
war. 

Permit  us  to  allure  your  Ma¬ 
jefty,  that  we  cannot  but  ftiil  en¬ 
tertain  a  hope,  that  the  difcern- 
jnrient  of  rheir  true  in  ter  efts,  the 
remembrance  of  the  bleffmgs  they 
once  enjoyed,  and  the  fenfe  of  their 
prefent  fufferings  under  the  arbi¬ 
trary  tyranny  of  their  leaders,  will 
induce  the  deluded  and  unhappy 
multitude  to  return  to  their  alle¬ 
giance,  and  will  reanimate  their 
hearts  with  a  fpirit  of  loyalty  to 
their  Sovereign,  and  of  attachment 
to  their  mother  country. 

The  gracious  and  condescending 
manner  in  which  your  Majefty  ex- 
preftes  your  defire  that  you  may 
be  enabled  to  reftore  peace,  order, 
and  confidence,  to  your  American 
colonies,  cannot  fail  of  endearing 
your  Majefty  to  the  hearts  of  all 
your  fubjedls  :  and  we  allure  your 
Majefty,  that  when  this  great  work 
can  be  accomplished,  and  fettled 
on  the  true  principles  of  the  con¬ 
futation,  your  Majefty  may  de¬ 
pend  on  the  tnoft  zealous  concur¬ 
rence  and  lupport  of  your  faithful 
C  ommons. 


On  Tuefday  the  IJfh  day  of  March, 
the  following  Mejfage  was  lent 


1 0  hot h  Houfes  of  Parliament  from 

the  King. 

GEORGE  R. 

TJT  I  S  Majefty,  having  been  in- 

JL  it  formed,  by  order  of  the 

French  King,  that  a  treaty  of  amity 

and  commerce  has  been  fip-ned  he¬ 
's 

tween  the  court  of  France,  and 
certain  per  ft:  ns  employed  by  his 
Majeily’s  revolted  fubjeds  in  North 
America,  has  judged  it  neceftary 
to  direft  that  a  copy  of  the  de¬ 
claration,  delivered  by  the  French 
Ambaftador  to  Lord  Vifcount  Wey¬ 
mouth,  be  laid  before  tfie  Houfe 
of  Commons ;  and  at  the  fame 
time  to  acquaint  them,  that  his 
Majefty  has  thought  proper,  in. 
confequence  of  this  often  five  com¬ 
munication  on  the  part  of  the  court 
of  France,  to  fend  orders  to  his 
Ambaftador  to  withdraw  from  that 
court. 

His  Majefty  is  perfuaded,  that 
the  juftice  and  good  faith  of  his 
conduct  towards  foreign  powers, 
and  the  finceritv  of  his  wifhes  to 
preferve  the  tranquillity  of  Europe, 
will  be  acknowledged  bv  all  the 
world  ;  and  his  Majefty  trufts,  that 
he  fhall  not  Hand  refponftble  for 
the  difturbance  of  that  tranquillity ? 
if  he  fhould  find  himfelf  called 
upon  to  refent  fo  unprovoked  and 
fo  unjuft  an  aggreffion  on  the  ho¬ 
nour  of  his  crown,  and  the  efien- 
tial  ihtereft  of  his  kingdoms,  con¬ 
trary  to  the  molt  lolemn  alfurances, 
fubverfive  of  the  law  of  nations, 
and  injurious  to  the  rights  of  every 
fovereign  power  in  Europe. 

His  Majefty,  relying  with  the 
firmeft  confidence  on  ihe  zealous 
arid  affectionate  fupport  of  his 
faithful  people,  is  determined  to 
be  prepared  to  exert,  if  it  fhall  be¬ 
come  neceftary,  all  the  force  and 
refources  of  his  kingdoms ;  which 

he 


STATE 

hetrufts  will  be  found  adequate  to 
repel  every  infult  and  attack,  and 
to  maintain  and  uphold  the  power 
and  reputation  of  this  country. 

G.  R. 

*The  Declaration  mentioned  in  the 
Mtjjage  ox  as  as  follows . 

*  THE  under-figned  AmbafTa- 
dor  of  his  Moft  Christian  Ma- 
jelly  has  received  exprefs  orders 
to  make  the  following  declaration 
to  the  court  of  London  ; 

*  The  United  States  of  North- 
America,  who  are  in  full  poffcffion 
of  independence,  as  pronounced  by 
them  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776, 
having  propofed  to  the  King  to 
confolidate,  by  a  formal  conven¬ 
tion,  the  connexion  begun  to  be 
eftablilhed  between  the  two  na¬ 
tions,  the  refpeblive  Plenipoten¬ 
tiaries  have  iigned  a  treaty  of 
friendship  and  commerce,  defigned 
to  ferve  as  a  foundation  for  their 
mutual  good  cori efpondence. 

“  His  Majefty,  being  deter¬ 
mined  to  cultivate  the  good  under- 
ftanding  fubfiiling  between  France 
and  Great  Britain,  by  every  means 
Compatible  with  his  dignity,  and 
the  good  of  his  fubje&s,  thinks  it 
neceifary  to  make  his  proceeding 
known  to  the  court  of  London, 
and  to  declare  at  the  fame  time, 
that  the  contratfting  parties  have 
paid  great  attention  not  to  ilipp- 
late  any  exclufive  advantages  in 
favour  of  the  French  nation;  and 
that  the  United  States  have  referred 
the  liberty  of  treating  with  every 
nation  whatever,  upon  the  lame 
footing  of  equality  and  recipro¬ 
city. 

‘  In  making  this  communication 
to  the  court  of  London,  the  King 
is  firmly  perfuaded  it  will  find 


PAPERS.  [2c,9 

I  ' 

new  proofs  of  his  Majefty’s  con- 
flan  t  and  fincere  dilpoiition  for 
peace  ;  and  that  his  Britannic  Ma- 
jelly,  animated  by  the  fame  fenti- 
ments,  will  equally  avoid  every 
thing  that  may  alter  their  good 
harmony  ;  and  that  he  will  par¬ 
ticularly  take  effedual  meafures  to 
prevent  the  commerce  between  his 
lViajefty?s  fubjedls  and  the  United 
States  of  North- America  from  be¬ 
ing  interrupted,  and  to  caufe  all 
the  ufages  received  between  com¬ 
mercial  nations  to  be,  in  this  re- 
fped,  obferved,  and  all  thofe  rules 
which  can  be  faid  tofubfift  between, 
the  two  crowns  of  France  and 
Great  Britain. 

‘  In  this  juft  confidence,  the 
underfigned  Ambaftador  thinks  it 
fuperfluous  to  acquaint  the  Britifh 
IVlinifter,  that,  the  King  his  mailer 
being  determined  to  p  oteft  effec¬ 
tually  the  lawful  commerce  of  his 
fubjefls,  and  to  maintain  the  dig¬ 
nity  of  his  flag,  his  Majefty  has, 
in  confequence,  taken  eventual 
meafures,  in  concert  with  the  Unit- 
*ed  States  of  North  America. 

Signed, 

Le  M.  De  Noailles.* 

London,  March  13,  x 77S. 


Hu?nble  Addrefs  of  the  Lords  Spi-  i - 
tual  and  ~T emporal  in  Parliament 
ajfernhied . 

Moft  gracious  Sovereign. 

\  fj  £,  your  Majeily’s  moft  d  u- 
f  v  tiful  and  lo .  al  fubject  ,  the 
Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  in 
parliament  afternblcd,  return  our 
humble  thanks  to  your  Majefty  for 
the  communication  of  the  paper 
prefen  ted  to  the  Lord  Vifcount 
Weymouth  by  the  order  of  the 


l 


goo]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


French  King,  and  for  acquainting 
us,  that  in  confequence  of  this  of- 
fen  five  declaration,  your  Majefty 
has  thought  proper  to  order  your 
Am  ballad  or  to  withdraw  from  the 
court  of  France.  And  we  beg 
leave  to  a fi'ure  your  Majefty,  that 
k  is  with  the  utmoft  difficulty  we 
can  reftrain  the  ftrongeft  expreffions 
pi  the  refen  tment  and  indignation 
which  we  feel  for  this  unjuft  and 
unprovoked  aggreffion  on  the  ho¬ 
nour  of  your  Majefty’s  crown,  and 
the  effential  interefts  of  your  king¬ 
doms,  contrary  to  the  law  of  na¬ 
tions,  and  injurious  to  the  rights 
and  pofleffions  of  every  fovereign 
power  of  Europe. 

1  he  good  faith  and  uprightnefs 
of  your  Maje  fly’s  condud;  towards 
foreign  powers,  and  the  fincerity 
of  your  intentions  to  preferve  the 
general  tranquillity,  muft  be  ac¬ 
knowledged  by  all  the  world  ;  and 
your  Majefty  cannot  be  confidered 
as  refponfible  for  the  difturbance 
of  this  tranquillity,  if  you  fhould 
find  yourfelf  called  upon  to  refill; 
the  enterprifes  of  that  reftlefs  and 
dangerous  fpirit  of  ambition  and 
aggrandifement,  which  has  fo  of¬ 
ten  invaded  the  rights  and  threat¬ 
ened  the  liberties  of  Europe. 

We  fhould  be  wanting  in  our 
duty  to  your  Majefty  and  to  our- 
felves,  if  we  did  not  give  your 
Majefty  the  ftrongeft  a'fTurances  of 
our  moft  zealous  afliftance  and  fup- 
port.  Every  fentiment  of  loyalty 
to  your  Majefty,  and  of  love  to 
our  country,  will  animate  us  to 
fraud  forth  in  the  public  defence, 
and  to  promote  every  meafure  that 
ill  all  be  found  neceffary  for  enab¬ 
ling  your  Majefty  to  vindicate  the 
honour  of  your  crown,  and  to 
pro te£l  the  juft  rights  and  effential 
interefts  of  thefe  kingdoms. 


An  addrefs  in  the  fame  terms, 
was  prefen  ted  by  the  Commons. 

PROTEST  of  the  LORDS.  ■ 
Die  Luna>  Dec.  y,  1778. 

Moved, 

^¥~^HAT  an  humble  addrefs  be 

JL  prefe-nted  to  his  Majefty,  to 
exprefs  to  his  Majefty  the  difplea- 
fure  of  this  Houle  at  a  certain  ma- 
nifefto  and  proclamation,  dated 
the  third  day  of  Odfcober,  1778, 
and  publifhed  in  America  under 
the  hands  and  feals  of  the  Earl 
of  Carlisle,  Sir  Henry  Clinton, 
Knight  of  the  Bath,  and  William 
Eden,  Efq.  Commiffioners  for  re- 
ftoring  peace  to  the  colonies,  and 
countersigned  by  Adam  Fergufon, 
Efq.  Secretary  to  the  comm iffion  ; 
the  faid  manifefto  containing  3  de¬ 
claration  of  the  following  tenour: 

*  If  there  be  any  perfons  who, 
divefted  of  miftaken  refentments, 
and  uninfluenced  byfeliifh  interefts, 
really  think  it  is  for  the  benefit  of 
the  colonies  to  feparate  themfelves 
from  Great  Br/tain,  and  that  fo 
feparated  they  will  find  a  conftitu- 
tion  more  mild,  more  free,  and 
better  calculated  for  their  profpe- 
ri'ty,  than  that  which  they  hereto¬ 
fore  enjoyed,  and  which  we  are 
empowered  and  difpofed  to  renew 
and  improve  ;  with  fuch  perfons 
vve  will  not  difpute  a  pofition  which 
feems  to  be  fufficiently  con  trad  ufted 
by  the  experience  they  have  had. 
But  we  think  it  right  to  leave 
them  fully  aware  of  the  change' 
which  the  maintaining  fuch  a  po¬ 
fition  muft  make  in  the  whole  na¬ 
ture  and  future  condudl  of  this 
war,  more  Specially  when  to  this 

pofition 


STATE 

position  is  added  the' pretended  al¬ 
liance  with  the  court  of  France. 
The  policy,  as  well  as  the  bene¬ 
volence  of  Great  Britain,  have  thus 
far  checked  the  extremes  of  war, 
when  they  tended  to  diftrefs  a  peo¬ 
ple,  ft  ill  coniidered  as  our  fellow- 
fubjeets,  and  to  defolate  a  country, 
ihorrly  to  become  again  a  iource 
of  mutual  advantage  :  but,  when 
that  country  profeftes  the  unna¬ 
tural  deiign  not  only  of  elfranging 
herfelf  from  us,  but  of  mortgaging 
herfelf,  and  her  refources,  to  our 
enemies,  the  whole  conteft  is 
changed,  and  the  quehion  is,  how 
far  Great  Britain  may,  by  every 
means  in  her  power,  dellroy  or 
render  ufelefs  a  connection  con¬ 
trived  for  her  ruin,  and  for  the 
aggrandifement  of  France.  Un¬ 
der  fuch  circumftances,  the  laws 
of  felf- prefervation  mult  dirett  the 
conduit  of  Great  Britain  ;  and,  if 
the  Britilh  colonies  are  to  become 
an  accefiion  to  France,  will  diredt 
her  to  render  that  accellion  od  as 
little  avail  as  poffible  to  her  ene¬ 
mies.’ 

To  acquaint  his  Majefty  with 
the  fenfe  of  this  Houfe,  that  the 
faid  Commiilioners  had  no  autho¬ 
rity  whatfoever,  under  the  act  of 
parliament  in  virtue  of  which  they 
were  appointed  by  his  Majefty,  to 
make  the  faid  declaration,  or  to 
make  any  declaration  to  the  fame, 
or  to  the  like  purport  ;  nor  can 
this  Houfe  be  eafily  brought  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  the  faid  Conimifiioners 
derived  any  fuch  authority  from 
his  Majefty’s  inltructions. 

Humbly  to  befeech  his  Majefty, 
that  fo  much  of  the  faid  manifefto 
as  contains  the  faid  declaration  be 
forthwith  publickly  difavowed  by 
his  Majefty,  as  containing  matter 


PAPERS.  [jat 

inconfiftent  with  the  humanity  and 
generous  courage  which,  at  all 
times,  have  diftinguiffied  the  Bri¬ 
tilh  nation,  fubverfive  of  the  max¬ 
ims  which 'have  been  eftablilhed 
among  chriftian  and  civilifed  com¬ 
munities,  derogatory  to  the  dignity 
of  the  crown  of  this  realm,  tending 
to  debafe  the  fpirit  and  fubvert  the 
difcipline  of  his  Majefty’s  armies, 
and  to  expofe  his  Majefty’s  inno¬ 
cent  fubjeds,  in  all  parts  of  his 
dominions,  to  cruel  and  ruinous 
retaliations. 

Which  being  objected  to,  after 
long  debate,  the  queitioa  was  pat 
thereon. 

It  was  refolved  in  the  negative. 


Contents 

34 

Proxies 

.  3 

Non-contents 

55 

Proxies 

1 6 

Diflentient, 

i  ft,  Becaufe  the  public  law  ofna- 
tions  in  affirmance  of  the  dictates  of 
nature  and  the  precepts  of  revealed 
religion,  forbids  us  to  refort  to  the 
extremes  or  war  upon  our  own  opi¬ 
nion  of  their  expediency,  or  in 
any  cafe  to  carry  on  war  for  the 
purpole  of  defolation.  We  know 
that  the  rights  of  war  are  odious* 
and,  inftead  of  being  extended 
upon  loofe  conftrudtions  and  fpe- 
culations  of  danger,  ought  to  be 
bound  up  and  limited  by  all  the 
reftraints  of  the  moil  rigorous  con- 
ftruction.  We  are  (hocked  to  fee 
the  hrft  law  of  nature,  felf- pre¬ 
fer  vation,  perverted  and  abu fed 
into  a  principle  deftru&ive  of  all 
other  laws  ;  and  a  rule  laid  down, 
by  which  our  own  iafety  is  ren¬ 
dered  incompatible  with  the  prof- 
perity  of  mankind.  Thofe  ob¬ 
jects  of  war,  which  cannot  be 

com  palled 


302]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  j778. 


compafted  by  fair  and  honourable 
hoftilicy,  ought  not  to  be  compafted 
at  all.  An  end  that  has  no  means* 
but  fuih  as  are  unlawful,  is  an  un¬ 
lawful  end.  The  manifefto  ex- 
prefsly  founds  the  change  it  an¬ 
nounces  from  a  qualified  and  miti¬ 
gated  war,  to  a  war  of  extremity 
and  defolation,  on  the  certainty 
that  the  provinces  mud  be  inde¬ 
pendent,  and  mult  become  an  ac 
cefficm  to  the  ftrength  of  an  ene¬ 
my.  In  the  midft  of  the  calamities, 
by  which  Our  lofs  of  empire  has 
been  preceded  and  accompanied  ; 
?n  the  midft  of  our  apprehenfions 
for  the,  farther  calamities  which 
impend  over  us,  it  is  a  matter  of 
freih  grief  and  accumulated  fhame 
to  fee,  from  a  'com million  under 
the  great  leal  of  this  kingdom,  a 
declaration  for  defolating  a  vaft 
eontihent,  folely  becaufe  we  had 
not  the  wifdpm  to  retain,  or  the 
power  to  fubdue  it. 

adly.  Becaufe  the  avowal  of  a 
deliberate  purpofe  of  violating  the 
law  of  nations  mull  give  an  alarm 
to  every  fate  in  Europe.  All  com¬ 
monwealths  have  a  concern  in 
that  iavv,  and  are  its  natural 
avengers.  At  this  time,  furround- 
ed  by  enemies  and  deftitute  of  all 
allies,  it  is  not  neceftary  to  Iharpen 
and  embitter  the  hoftility  of  declared 
foes,  or  to  provoke  the  enmity 
of  neutral  Hates.  We  trull  that 
by  the  natural  ftrength  of  this 
kingdom  we  are  fecured  from  a  fo¬ 
reign  con qu eft,  but  no  nation  is 
fecured  from  the  invafton  and  in- 
curftons  of  enemies.  And  ir  feems 
to  us  the  height  of  frenzy,  as  well 
as  wickednels,  to  expofe  this  coun¬ 
try  to  cruel  depredations,  and 
other  outrages  too  fhockin.g  to 
mention  (but  which  are  all  con¬ 
tained  in  the  idea  of  the  extremes 


of  war  and  defolation)  by  efia" 
blifiii ng  a  falfe,  fhameful,  and 
pernicious  maxim,  that,  where  we^ 
have  no  interefts  to  preferve,  we 
are  called  upon  by  necelfity  to  de- 
llroy.  This  kingdom  has  long  en  • 
joyed  a  profound  internal  peace, 
and  has  fiourifhed  above  ail  others 
in  the  arts  and  enjoyments  of  that 
happy  ftate.  It  has  been  the  ad¬ 
miration  of  the  world  for  its  culti¬ 
vation  and  its  plenty  •  for  the  com¬ 
forts  of  the  poor,  the  fplendourof 
the  rich,  and  the  content  and  pro- 
fperity  of  all.  This  fituation  of 
fafety  may  be  attributed  to  the 
greatnefs  of  our  power.  It  is  more 
becoming,  and  more  true,  that  we 
ought  to  attribute  that  fafety,  and 
the  power  which  procured  it,  to 
the  ancient  juftice,  honour,  huma¬ 
nity,  and  generoftty  of  this  king¬ 
dom,  which  brought  down  the 
blefting  of  providence  on  a  people 
who  made  their  profperity  a  bene¬ 
fit  to  the  world,  and  interefted  all 
nations  in  their  fortune,  whofe  ex¬ 
ample  of  mildnefs  and  benignity 
at  once  humanifed  others/  and 
rendered  itfelf  inviolable.  In  de¬ 
parting  from  thofe  folid  principles, 
and  vainly  trailing  to  the  fragi¬ 
lity  of  human  force,  and  to  the 
efficacy  of  arms,  rendered  impo¬ 
tent  by  their  perverfion,  we  Jay 
down  principles,  and  furiiifh  ex¬ 
amples  of  the  moft  atrocious  bar¬ 
barity.  We  are  to  dread  that  all 
our  power,  peace,  and  opulence, 
fnould  v?ani(h  like  a  dream,  and 
that  the  cruelties  which  we  think 
fafe  to  exercife,  becaufe  their  im¬ 
mediate  objedt  is  remote,  may  be 
brought  to  the  coafts,  perhaps  to 
the  bofom  of  this  kingdom. 

3dly.  Becauie,  if  the  explana¬ 
tion  given  in  debate  be  expreffive 
of  the  true  fenfe  of  the  article  in 

the 


8 


STATE 

the  manifefto,  fuch  explanation 
ought  to  be  made,  and  by  as  high 
authority  as  that  under  which  the 
exceptionable  article  was  original¬ 
ly  publilhed.  The  natural  and 
*  * 

obvious  fenie  indicates,  that  the 
extremes  of  war  had  hitherto  been 
checked  :  that  his  Majefty’s  Gene¬ 
rals  had  hitherto  forborne  (upon 
principles  ofbenignity  and  policy) 
to  defolate  the  country  ;  but  that 
the  whole  nature,  and  future  con¬ 
duct  of  the  vvar?  muft  be  changed, 
in  order  to  render  the  American  ac- 
ceilion  of  as  little  avail  to  France 
as  poffible.  This,  m  our  appre¬ 
hensions,  conveys  a  menace  of  car¬ 
rying  the  war  to  extremes,  and  to 
defolation,  or  it  means  nothing. 
And,  as  fome  fpeeches  in  the 
Houfe  (however  pailiated)  and  as 
fome  adts  of  fingular  cruelty,  and 
perfe&ly  conformable  to  the  ap¬ 
parent  ideas  in  the  manifefto,  have 
lately  been  exercifed,  it  becomes 
the  more  neceffary,  for  the  ho¬ 
nour  and  fafety  of  this  nation,  that 
this  explanation  fhould  be  made. 
As  it  is  refufed,  we  have  only  to 
clear  ourfelves  to  our  confciences, 
to  our  country,  to  our  neighbours, 
and  to  every  individual  who  may 
fuffer  in  confequence  of  this  atro¬ 
cious  menace,  of  all  part  in  the 
guilt,  or  in  the  evils  that  may  be¬ 
come  its  punilhment.  And  we 
chufe  to  draw  ourfelves  out,  and 
to  diftinguilh  ourfelves  to  polle- 
rity,  as  not  being  the  firft  to  re¬ 
new,  to  approve,  or  to  tolerate  the 
return  of  that  ferocity  and  barba^ 
rifm  in  war,  which  a  benificent 
religion,  enlightened  manners,  and 
true  military  honour,  had  for  a 
long  time  banifhed  from  the  Chri-* 
ftian  world. 

Camden,  Rockingham, 

Abingdon,  Tankerville, 


A  P  E  R  S. 

Fitzvvilliam, 

Ponfonby, 

Fortefcue, 

Derby, 

Grafton, 

Manchefter, 

Craven, 

Portland, 

J.  St.  Afaph, 

Beaulieu, 

Richmond, 

Harcourt, 

Bolton, 

Efnngham, 

Radnor, 

W  ycombe. 

Egremont, 

Scarborough, 

Abergavenny, 

C  holmondley. 

Coventry, 

Devon  (hire. 

De  Ferrars, 

Foley, 

Ferrers, 

Spencer. 

Stanhope, 

P'he  King' s  Speech  at  proroguing  the 
Parliament . 


My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 
FTER  fo  long  and  labo- 

o 

rious  an  application  to  the 
public  bufinefs,  1  think  it  proper 
at  this  feafon  of  the  year  to  give 
you  fome  recefs.  I  come  at  the 
fame  time  to  return  you  my  par¬ 
ticular  thanks  for  the  zeal  you 
have  fhewn  in  fupporting  the  ho¬ 
nour  of  my  crown,  and  for  your 
attention  to  the  real  interefts  of  alt 
my  fubje&s,  in  the  wife,  juft,  and 
humane  laws  which  have  been  the 
refult  of  your  deliberations,  and 
which,  hope,  will  be  attended 
with  the  molt  falutary  efte&s.  in 
every  part  of  the  Britifh  empire. 

My  defne  to  preferve  the  tran¬ 
quillity  of  Europe  has  been  uni¬ 
form  and  fincere ;  I  refledf  with 
great  fatisfa&ion,  that  l  have  made 
the  faith  of  treaties  and  the  law  of 
nations  the  rule  of  my  conduct, 
and  that  it  has  been  my  conftant 
care  to  give  no  juft  caufe  of  offence 
to  any  foreign  povVer  ;  let  that 
power,  by  whom  this  tranquillity 
fhall  be  difturbed,  anfwer  to  their 
fubje&s  and  to  the  world  for  all  the 
fatal  confequences  of  war. 

The 


3o4]  ANNUAL  RE 

The  vigour  and  firmnefs  of  my 
parliament  have  enabled  me  to  be 
prepared  for  fuch  events  and  emer¬ 
gencies  as  may  happen  ;  and  I 
truft  that  the  experienced  valour 
and  difcipline  of  my  fleets  and  ar¬ 
mies,'  and  the  loyal  and  united 
ardour  of  the  nation,  armed  and 
animated  in  the  defence  of  every 
thing  that  is  dear  to  them,  will  be 
able,  under  the  profeftion  of  Divine 
Providence,  to  defeat  all  the  en- 
terprizes  which  the  enemies  of  my 
crown  may  prefume  to  undertake, 
and  convince  them  how  dangerous 
it  U  to  provoke  the  fpirit  and 
ilrength  of  Great  Britain. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Houfe  of 
Commons, 

I  thank  you  for  the  chearfulnefs 
with  which  you  have  granted  the 
large  and  ample  *  -{applies  for  the 
fervice  of  the  current  year,  and  for 
your  care  in  railing  them  in  a  man¬ 
ner  the  mod  effectual  and  the  lead 
burthenfome  ;  and  my  warmed  ac¬ 
knowledgements  are  due  to  you  for 
the  provifi'on  you  have  enabled  me 
to  make  for  the  more  honourable 
fupport  of  my  family. 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

Your  prefence  in  your  refpeclive 
counties  may  at  this  time  be  of 
great  public  advantage.  It  is  un- 
neceffary  for  me  to  recommend  to 
you  to  do  your  duty  in  your  feve- 
ral  dations  :  on  my  part,  I  have 
no  other  wifh  or  objefl  but  to  de¬ 
serve  the  confidence  of  my  parlia¬ 
ment,  and  the  affedlions  of  my 
people. 

And  afterwards  the  Lord  Chan¬ 
cellor,  by  his  Majedy’s  command, 
laid,  T 


GISTER,  1 778.-. 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen,’ 

.  It  is  his  Majefty’s  royal  will  and 
plfeafure,  that  this  parliament  be 
prorogued  to  Tuefday  the  14th 
day  of  July  next,  to  be  then  here 
hoiden  ;  and  this  parliament  is 
accordingly  prorogued  to  Tues¬ 
day  the  14th  day  of  July 
nexti 


The  Speech  of  his  Excellency  John 
Earl  of  Buckinghamshire,  Lord 
Lieutenant-General  and  General 
Governor  of  Ireland,  to  both 
Houfes  of  Parliament ,  at  Dublin, 
on  Friday  the  \^th  Day  of  Au- 
guf,  1778. 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

qp  H  E  bufinefs  of  the  fedicn 
Jw  being  concluded,  I  am  hap¬ 
py  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  re- 
leafe  you  from  a  very  long  and  fa¬ 
tiguing  attendance.  It  is  time 
that  your  refpe&ive  counties,  af¬ 
ter  having  fhared  the  advantage 
of  your  public  labours,  fhould 
avail  themfelves  of  your  private 
virtues,  fhould  enjoy  the  benefit 
of  your  prefence,  and  profit  by 
your  more  immediate  and  particu¬ 
lar  attentions. 

The  zealous  unanimity  manL 
feded  by  both  Houfes  of  parlia¬ 
ment  for  the  fupport  of  his  Ma- 
jedy’s  crown  and  dignity,  and  the 
defence  of  thefe  realms,  whild 
they  evince  the  loyalty  and  mag¬ 
nanimity  of  this  kingdom,  mud 
necefi'arily  tend  $o  the  difeourage- 
ment  of  our  enemies,  and  are  high¬ 
ly  acceptable  to  his  Majedy,  as 
inconteltable  proofs  of  an  affec¬ 
tionate  duty  to  him,  and  a  fin- 
cere  attachment  to  your  coun¬ 
try. 


Gentlemen 


state 

Gentlemen  of  the  Houfe  of 

Commons. 

I  am  to  thank  you,  in  his  Ma- 
jefty’s  name,  for  the  fupplies 
which  you  have  granted,  and  for 
the  provilion  which  you  have  made 
for  putting  and  maintaining  this 
kingdom  in  a  ftate  of  defence. 
Thofe  grants  lhall  be  faithfully 
applied,  and  it  (hall  be  my  en¬ 
deavour,  that  the  welfare  and  fe- 
curity  of  the  people  may  amply 
compenfate  for  thole  charges  which 
the  exigency  of  public  affairs  has 
unavoidably  occasioned. 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

I  flatter  mvfelf,  that  the  regu¬ 
lations,  which  have  taken  place 
this  feflion,  will  prove  effentially 
ferviceable  to  that  valuable  branch 
of  commerce,  the  fifheries  of  Ire¬ 
land.  It  is  with  pleafure  that  I  fee 
an  ad  pafled  for  eflablifhing  a  mi¬ 
litia,  which  by  enabling  his  Ma¬ 
jefty,  when  he  (hall  think  proper 
to  call  forth  that  part  of  the  na¬ 
tional  ftrength,  may  materially 
contribute  to  the  protection  and 
defence  of  the  kingdom.  The  law 
for  relieving  the  Roman  Catholics 
from  fome  of  thofe  difabilities, 
under  which  they  have  hitherto 
laboured,  will,  I  hope,  attain  the 
deflrable  end  of  promoting  and 
eflablifhing  good-will  and  mutual 
confidence  among  his  Majefty’s 
fubjeds,  and,  by  rendering  us 
more  united  at  home,  make  us 
more  formidable  to  our  enemies 
abroad.  I  congratulate  with  you 
on  the  late  extenfion  of  the  trade 
and  commerce  of  this  kingdom  ; 
it  is  a  circurr, fiance  peculiarly  for¬ 
tunate  to  me,  that  an  event,  which 
promifed  fuch  advantages  to  Ire¬ 
land,  fhould  have  taken  place  dur¬ 
ing  my  adminiftration. 

Vol.  XXI. 


PAPERS.'  [305 

While  you  juflly  enjoy  the  ap¬ 
probation  and  gratitude  of  your 
country,  for  having  prcmoted  fo 
many  ufeful  laws,  I  am  perfuaded 
you  will  not  forget  what  is  due  to 
the  paternal  care  of  an  affedio.n- 
ate  Sovereign,  and  the  kind  dif- 
poiition  of  Great  Britain  towards 
this  country  ;  and  that  you  will  cul¬ 
tivate  jointly,  as  in  found  policy 
they  are  infeparable,  the  true  in- 
terefts  of  both  kingdoms. 

Your  kind  approbation  of  my 
condud  affords  me  a  fatisfadion, 
which  I  can  the  more  truly  enjoy, 
becaufe  I  am  confcious  of  having 
endeavoured  to  deferve  it.  In. 
adopting  a  different  line  of  con- 
dud,  I  fhould  have  been  wanting 
in  that  trufl  repofed'  in  me  by  my 
Sovereign,  who  wifhes  nothing  fo 
earneftly  as  the  prosperity  of  his 
people.  I  am  happy  in  being  able 
to  reprefen t  to  his  Majefty,  that 
his  royal  and  beneficent  attention 
meets  a  full  and  fuitable  return, 
in  the  grateful  loyalty  and  affec¬ 
tionate  duty  of  his  fubjeds  of  this 
kingdom. 

r 

After  which  the  Lord  Chancel¬ 
lor,  by  his  Excellency's  command, 
faid, 

e  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

*  It  is  his  Excellency  the  Lord 
Lieutenant’s  pleafure,  that  this 
parliament  be  prorogued  to  Tues¬ 
day  the  2 2d  day  of  September 
next,  to  be  then  here  held.  And 
this  parliament  is  accordingly  pro¬ 
rogued  to  Tuefday  the  22d  day  of 
September  next.’ 


T 0  the  King's  moft  excellent  Majefty . 

fhe  humble  Addrefs  and  Petition  of 
the  Lord  Mayor,  Aldermen ,  and 
r  U 1  Commons 


o6]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


Commons  of  the  City  of  London, 
in  Common  Council ajfemb Led.  ( C re- 
Jen!  ed  March  13,  1778.^ 

Moil  gracious  Sovereign, 

\  ¥  J  E  your  Majefty’s  moil  dud- 
foi  and  loyal  fubjedts,  the 
I  ord  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Com¬ 
mons  of  the  city  of  London,  in 
common  council  afiembled,  attach¬ 
ed  to  your  M  a  jelly’s  royal  ho  life  by 
principle,  to  your  perfon  byt  he 
trued  afredlion,  and  to  the  honour 
and  profperity  of  your  government 
by,,  ■  every  intereli,  which  can  be 
dear  to  the  heart  of  man  ;  in  this 
prefen  t  deplorable  hate  of  the  af¬ 
fairs  of  this  once  great  and  dourifn- 
ing  country,  with  mod  profound 
humility  implore  leave  to  lay  our- 
felves  at  your  Maje'fty’s  feet,  to 
reprefent  to  your  Majcfty  the  fen- 
timents  and  willies  of  a  fakhful  and 
$filicled  people. 

,  When  this  civil  war  was  fir  fit 
threatened,  your  loyal  city  of 
London,  in  concurrence  with  the 
fenfe  of  many  other  refpediable 
public  bodies  of  your  kingdom, 
and  many  of  the  wife  If  and  beft  of 
your  iubjedls,  did  molt  hu.mbly 
deprecate  this  evil,  foreboding  but 
too  truly  the  charges,  calamities, 
and  difgraces  of  which  it  has  been 
hitherto  productive,  and  the  greater 
to  which  it  is  Hill  likely  to  fubjecl 
this  kingdom. 

Your  faithful  people,  on  that 
becafion,  had  the  misfortune  to 
receive  from  your  Majeily  an  an¬ 
swer  more  fili table  to  the  imperfeCl 
manner  in  which  (they  fear)  they 
expreffed  fentimerits  full  of  duty, 
than  to  your  M  aye  fly’s  own  moil 
gracious  difpofidon,  their  inviola¬ 
ble  reverence  to  their  Sovereign, 
and  their  unfiraken  zeal  '  for  his 
true  glory.  They  retired  in  a 


mournful  and  refpe.dlful  filence, 
patiently  awaiting  the  difpofmon 
of  providence,  and  the  return  of 
your  Majefiy’s  favour  arid  counte¬ 
nance,  whenever  experience  fhould 
fully  difclofe,  in  its  true  light,  the 
well-founded  nature  of  their  ap¬ 
prehensions,  and  the  fatal  tendency 
of  thofe  counfels  by  which  the  na¬ 
tion  has  been  milled. 

For  milled  and  deceived  your 
Majeily,  and  many  of  your  fub- 
jefls  have  been.  No  pains  have 
been  omitted  to  hide  from  both  the 
true  nature  of  the  bufinefs  in  which 
we  are  engaged  s'  no  arts  have 
been  left  untried  to  itimul&te  the 
paiiions  of  your  fubjedls  in  th it 
kingdom  ;  and  we  are  confident 
that  infinitely  more  {kill  and  at¬ 
tention  have  been  ufed  to  engage 
us  in  this  war,  than  have  been 
employed  to  con  duel  it  to  honour 
or  advantage,  if  honour  or  advan¬ 
tage  could  be  obtained  by  any  con- 
dud  in  fuch  a  war/  We  have 
been  induiirioufly  taught  to  fufpedt 
the  profefiions  and  to  defpife  the 
refinance  of  our  brethren,  (Eng** 
lilhmen  like  ourfelves)  whom  we 
had  no  fort  of  reafon  to  think  de¬ 
ficient  in  the  fmcerity  and  courage 
which  have  ever  dillinguilhed  that 
name  and'  race.  Their  inclina¬ 
tions  have  been  mifreprefented, 
their  natural  faculties  depreciated, 
their  refources  mifcalculated,  their 
feelings  infulted,  until  fury  and 
defpair  fupplied  whatever  might 
be  defedive  in  force.  We  have 
feen  a  whole  army,  the  flower  of 
the  trained  military  firength  of 
Great  Britain  and  her  allies,  fa^ 
milling  in  the  wildern efs  of  Ame¬ 
rica,  laying  down  their  arms,  and 
owing  their  immediate  refeue  from 
death  to  thofe  very  men  whom  the 
murders  and  rapines  cf  the  favages 

(unhap- 


STATE  PAPERS. 


[307 


(Unhappily  employed)  had  forced 
from  hufbandmen  into  foldiers, 
and  who  had  been  painted  in  fuch 
colours  of  contempt  as  to  take 
away  all  confolation  from  cur  ca¬ 
lamity. 

We  have  feen  another  army, 
equally  brave,  and  equally  well 
commanded,  for  two  years  in  an 
almoil  continued  courfe  Of  .victory, 
by  which  they  have  only  walled 
their  own  numbers,  w’th'6'uf  de» 
creafing  'the Strength  of  the  refill¬ 
ing  power,  without  leading  to  any 
fort  of  fo bmiliion ,  or  bringing  to 
your  Majelly’s  obedience'  even. the 
fmalleft  and  'weakeil  of  thirteen 
revolted  provinces.  The  union  of 
thofeprovinces  amongft  themielves, 
and  their  animofuy  to  your  Ma- 
jefly’s  adminiftrat’ion,  have  only 
been  increafed  by  the  injudicious 
methods  taken  to  break  the  one, 
and  co  fubdue  the  other.  Fleets 
and  armies  are  maintained  in  num¬ 
bers  almoil  equal,  and  at  an  ex- 
pence  comparatively  far  fupefibr, 
to  whatever  has  been  employed  in 
the  moil  glorious  and  fuccefsful 
ilruggles  of  this  country  againft  a 
combination  of  the  mod  ancient 
and  formidable  monarchies  of  Eu¬ 
rope.  A  few  inconliderable  de¬ 
tached  iflands,  and  one  deferted 
town  on  the  continent,  where  your 
Majelly’s  combined  army  has  a  pe¬ 
rilous  and  infecure  footing,  are  the 
only  fruits  of  an  expence  exceed* 
ing  twenty  millions,  of  ninety- 
three  (hips  of  war,  and  (ixty  thou- 
fand  of  the  bell  foldiers  which 
could  be  procured  either  at  home 
or  abroad,  and  appointed  for  that 
fpecial  fervice.  Your  Majefty’s 
forces,  both  by  fea  and  land,  have 
(we  are  told)  done  all  that  could 
be  expeCled  from  the  moil  accom- 
plifhed  difcipline,  and  the  moil 


determined  courage  ;  and  yet  the 
fatal  defeat  of  fom'e  of  thefe  forces 
and  the  ineffectual  victories  of 
’others,  have  almoil  equally  con- 
fpired  to  the  deilruClion  of  your 
power.,  and  the  difmemberment  of 
your  empire.  We  {liould  be  un- 
pardonably  negligent  of  our  duty 
to  your  M -jelly,  to  ourfelves,  and 
to  our  country,  if  we  did  not  thus 
folemnly  exprsfs  our  feelings  upon, 
this  dreadful  and  decifive  proof  of 
the  mad nefs  with  which  this  at¬ 
tempt  was  originally  made,  and 
which,  faithfully  following  it  thro*1 
every  ftep  of  its  progrefs,  Jan  cl 
every  meafure  for  it£  execution, 
has  compleated,  by  uniform  inif- 
conduCt^  the  mifehiefs  which  were 
commenced  in  total  ignorance. 
We  are  convinced  that  not  the 
delulionsof  artful  and  deligning 
men,  (which,  like  every  thing 
falls,  cannot  be  permanent.)  but 
the  ecneral  fenfe  of  the  whole 
American  people  is  fet  and  deter¬ 
mined  againil  the  plans  of  coer¬ 
cion,  civil  and  military,  which 
have  been  hitherto  employed 
againil  them  ;  a  whole,  united, 
and  irritated  peopje  cannot  be  con¬ 
quered.  If  the  force  now  employed 
cannot  do  it,  no  force  within  our 
abilities  will  do  it. 

The  wealth  of  this  nation  is 
great,  and  our  difpofition  would- 
be  to  pour  it  out  with  the  moll  un~ 
referved  and  chearful  liberality, 
for  the  fuppprt  of  the  honour  and 
dignity  of  your  crown:  but  do- 
meftic  peace  and  domellic  cecono- 
my  are  the  only  means  of  fupplying 
expence  for  war  abroad  :  in  this 
conteft  our  refources  are exhausted, 
whilll  thofe  of  our  rivals  are 
fpared,  and  we  are,  every  year 
of  the  continuance  of  this  war, 
altering  the  balance  of  our  pub- 
[Uj  'a  l|b 


3oS]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


lie  ftrength  and  riches  in  their  fa¬ 
vour. 

We  think  ourfelves  bound,  moil 
dread  fovereign,  to  exprefs  our 
fears  and  apprehenfions  to  your 
Majefty,  that  at  a  time  when  your 
Majedy’s  gracious  fpeech  from  the 
throne  has  hinted,  and  your  vaft 
naval  preparations  in  a  ftyle  much 
more  explicit  announce  to  us  and 
the  world,  the  critical  date  in 
which  we  ftand  with  regard  to  the 
great  neighbouring  powers,  we 
have  not  the  comfort  to  learn  from 
that  fpeech,  from  any  afturance  of 
your  Majefty’s  fervants,  or  even 
from  common  fame,  that  any  al¬ 
liance  whatever  has  been  made 
with  the  other  great  dates  of  Eu¬ 
rope,  in  order  to  cover  us  from 
the  complicated  perils  fo  m ani¬ 
le  it ] y  imminent  over  this  nation. 
We  have  as  little  reafon  to  be  cer¬ 
tain  that  alliances  of  the  mod  dan¬ 
gerous  kind  are  not  formed  againd 
10s. 

In  this  date  of  anxious  doubt 
and  danger,  we  have  recourfe  to 
the  clemency  and  wifdom  of  your 
Majefty ;  the  tender  parent  and 
vigilant  guardian  of  your  people, 
that  you  will  gracioufly  take  fuch 
meafures  as  may  redore  internal 
peace,  and,  (as  far  as  the  miferable 
circumftances  into  which  the  late 
deftrudtive  courfes  have  brought 
us  will  permit)  reunite  the  Britifh 
nation,  in  fonie  happy,  honour¬ 
able,  and  permanent  conjunction; 
left  the  colonies,  exafperated  by 
rigours  of  continued  war,  fhould 
become  totally  alienated  from  their 
parent  country ;  led  every  re¬ 
maining  fpark  of  their  affedh'on 
ih  oil  Id  be  extinguilhed  in  habits  of 
mutual  daughter  and  rapine  ;  and 
left  in  feme  evil  hour,  they  who 
have  hitherto  been  the  great  fup- 


port  of  the  Britifh  drength,  fhould 
become  the  mod  formidable  and 
lading  acceffion  to  the  conftant 
enemies  of  the  power  and  pro- 
fperity  of  your  kingdoms. 

We  humbly  hope  and  trud,  that 
your  Majefty  will  give  all  due  effi¬ 
cacy  to  the  conceffions  (we  wifh 
thofe  conceffions  may  not  have  come 
too  late)  which  have  been  propofed 
in  parliament  ;  and  we  have  that 
undoubted  reliance  on  the  magna¬ 
nimity  of  your  Majedy’s  enlarged 
and  kingly  affe&ions,  that  we  are 
under  no  apprehenfions  of  your 
Majefty  being  biafted  by  private 
partiality  to  any  fet  of  men,  in  a 
cafe  where  the  good,  where  the 
very  being  of  your  people  is  at 
fbke ;  and  with  an  humble  con¬ 
fidence  we  implore  and  fupplicate 
your  Majefty,  that  nothing  may 
ftand  in  the  way  of  thofe  arrange¬ 
ments,  in  your  councils  and  exe¬ 
cutive  offices,  which  may  bed  for¬ 
ward  the  great,  neceffary,  and 
bleffed  work  of  peace,  and  which, 
may  tend  to  refeue  your  affairs  from 
unwife  and  improvident  manage¬ 
ment,  and  which  may  obtain,  im¬ 
prove,  and  fecure  the  returning 
confidence  of  all  your  people.  In 
fuch  meafures  and  fuch  arrange¬ 
ments,  and  for  fuch  an  end,  your 
citizens  of  London  will  never  fail 
to  give  your  Majeily  their  mod  af¬ 
fectionate  and  fteady  fupport. 

To  which  his  Majefty  was  graci- 
oufly  pleafed  to  anfvver, 

**  I  ,can  never  think  that  the  zeal 
of  my  fubjedts,  the  refources  of  my 
kingdoms,  and  the  bravery  of  my 
fleets  and  armies,  can  have  been 
un wifely  and  im providently  exert¬ 
ed,  when  the  objedl  was  to  main¬ 
tain  the  conditutional  fubordina- 

tion 


STATE 

tion  which  ought  to  prevail  through 
the  feveral  parts  of  my  dominions, 
and  is  efiential  to  the  profperity  of 
the  whole  :  but  I  have  always  la¬ 
mented  the  calamities  inseparable 
from  a  ftate  of  war  ;  and  {hall  moft 
earneftly  give  all  the  efficacy  in  my 
power  to  thofe  meafures  which  the 
legillarure  has  adopted  for  the  pur- 
pole  of  reftoring,  by  fome  happy, 
honourable,  and  permanent  conci¬ 
liation,  the  bleffings  of  peace,  com¬ 
merce,  affedion,  and  confidence 
between  the  mother  country  and 
the  colonies.,, 


Friday,  May  i* 

fhe  following  Addrefs  of  the  Reman 
Catholic  Peers  and  Commoners  of 
Great  Britain ,  was  prejented  to 
his  Majefly  by  the  Earl  op  Surry , 
and  the  Right  Hon  the  Lords  Lin¬ 
ton  and  Petre ,  and  was  moft  gra- 
cioujly  received. 

fo  the  King's  moft  excellent  Majefly . 

fhe  humble  Addrefs  of  the  i'oman 
Catholic  Peers  and  Commoners  of 
Great  Britain. 

Moft  gracious  Sovereign, 

E,  your  Majefty’s  dutiful 
and  loyal  fubjeds,  the 
Roman  Catholic  Peers  and  Com¬ 
moners  of  your  kingdom  of  Great 
Britain,  moft  humbly  hope,  that 
it  cannot  be  offenfive  to  the  cle¬ 
mency  of  your  Majefty’s  nature,  or 
to  the  maxims  of  yourjuft  and  wife 
government,  that  any  part  of  your 
fubjeds  fhould  approach  your  royal 
prelence,  to  allure  yourMajefty  of 
the  refpedful  affedion  which  they 
bear  to  your  perfbn,  and  their  true 
attachment  to  the  civil  conltitution 
of  their  country;  which  having  been 


PAPERS.  [*309 

perpetuated  through  all  changes  of 
religious  opinions  and  eftablifh- 
ments,  has  been  at  length  perfect¬ 
ed  by  that  Revolution  which  has 
placed  your  Majefty’s  illuftrious 
houfe  on  the  throne  of  thefe  king¬ 
doms,  and  infeparably  united  your 
tide  to  the  crown,  with  the  laws  and 
liberties  of  your  people. 

**  Our  exclufion  from  many  of 
the  benefits  of  that  conftitution, 
has  not  diminilhed  our  reverence 
to  it.  We  behold  with  Jatisfac- 
tion,  the  felicity  of  our  fellow-fub- 
jeds  ;  and  we  partake  of  the  gene¬ 
ral  pr'ofperity  which  refults  from 
an  inftitution  fo  full  of  wifdom. 
We  have  patiently  fubmitted  to 
fuch  reftridions  and  difeourage- 
ments  as  the  legillature  thought 
expedient.  We  have  thankfully 
received  fuch  relaxations  of  the 
rigour  of  the  laws,  as  the  mildnefs 
of  an  enlightened  age,  and  the  be¬ 
nignity  ot  your  Majefty’s  govern¬ 
ment,  h  *ve  gradually  produced  : 
and  v/e  fubmiffively  wait,  witnout 
prefuming  to  fuggeft  either  time  or 
meafure,  forfuen  other  indulgence 
as  thole  happy  caules  cannot  fail, 
in  their  own  feafon,  to  erred. 

“  We  beg  leave  to  alfujre  your 
Majefty,  that  our  diftent  from  the 
legal  eftablilhment,  in  matters  of 
religion,  is  purely  confcientious  ; 
that  we  hold  no  opinions  adverfe 
to  your  Majefty’s  government,  or 
repugnant  to  tne  duties  of  good  ci¬ 
tizens.  And  we  truft,  that  this 
has  been  Ihewn  more  decisively  by 
our  irreproachable  condud  for 
many  years  paft,  under  circum- 
ftances  of  public  dilcountenance 
and  difpleafure,  than  it  can  be  ma- 
nifefted  by  any  declaration  what¬ 
ever. 

“  In  a  time  of  public  danger, 
when  your  Majefty’s  fubjeds  can 
[U ]  3  have 


sic]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i778. 

nave  but  one  intereft,  and  ought  to  Majefty’s  fervice,  and  the  defence 
have  but  one  wifh,  and  one  lent!-  of  our  country,  think  bur  (elves  in- 
inert,  we  humbly  hope  it  will  not  difpenfably  bound  by  our  duty  to 
be  deemed  improper  to  adore  your  that  ferviceand  that  country,  with 
Ivlajeily  of  our  unreferved  airebiion  all  poffible  humility,  to  reprefent 
to  your  government,  of  cur  tonal-  to  your  wifdom  and  iullice, 
terable  attachrnenf'ta  the  caufe  and 
welfare  of  this  our  common  coun¬ 
try,  and  our  utter  deteftation  of 
tilededgns  and  views  of  any  foreign 
power  again!!  the  dignity  of  your 
Ma jelly’s  crowif,  the  fafety\  and 
tranquillity  of  your  Majerlty’s  fub- 
jedts. 

The  delicacy  of  our  fituation 
|s  fucn,  tnatwe  do  not  prefume  to  Lord  High  Admiral  of  Great  Bri 
point  out  the  particular  means  by  tain, 
which  we  may  be  allowed  to  teftify 
our  zeal  to  your  Majefty,  and  our 
wilhes  to  ferve  our  country  ;  but 
we  in  treat  leave  faithfully  to  a  fibre 
yourMajefty,  that  we  (hall  be  per¬ 
fectly  ready,  on  every  occahon ,  to  fuppoied  offences  committed,  until, 


That  Sir  Hugh  Pallifer,  Vice- 
admiral  of  the  Blue,  lately  ferving 
under  the  command  of  the  honour¬ 
able  Auguflus  Keppcl,  did  prefer 
certain  articles  of  accufation,  con¬ 
taining  feveral  matters  of  heinous 
offence,  again!!  his  faid  Comman¬ 
der  in  Chief,  to  the  Lords  GomnsiL 
doners  for  executing  the  office  of 


he  the  faid  Sir  Hugh  JPallifer 
being  himfelf  a  Commiffioner  in 
the  faid  commiffion  This  accu- 
fation  he  the  faid  Sir  Hugh  Palli- 
ler  withheld  from  the  twenty-fe- 
vetith  of  July  lad,  the  time  of  the 


give  fueh  proofs  of  bur  fidelity,  and 
the  purity  of  our  intentions,  as 
your  M-ajeftyds  wifdom,  and  the 
fenfe  of  the  nation,  (hall  at  any 
time  deem  expedient.** 


The  above  addrefs  was  figned 
by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  Lords 


the  ninth  day  of  this  prefent  De¬ 
cember,  and  then  brought  forward 
for  the  purpofe  of  recrimination 
again f!  charges,  conjedured by  him 
the  faid  Sir  FI  ugh  Pallifer,  but 
which,  in  fad,  were  never  made. 

That  the  Commiffioners  of  the 
Admiralty,  near  five  months  after 


Lurry  and  Shrewfbury,  Linton  for  the  pretended  offences  aforefaid, 
the  Scotch,  Stourton,  retre,  Arun-  did  receive  from  their  faid  colleague 
dej,  Dormer,  ieynhani,  Clifford,  in  office,  the  charge  made  by  him 
and  163  Commoners.  again!!  his  faid  commander,  and 

- -  - without  taking  into  confideration. 


■  -  _  the  relative  fituation  of  the  accufer 

A  l\j.emsrial presented  to  his  Majefly  and  the  party  accuied,  or  attending 


by  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  B  ol  ton  < 

•To  the  ICLNG. 

H[  \  7  L  the  fubfcribing  Admirals 
•"V  V  of  your  Maj  > fly’s  royal  na¬ 
vy,  having  hitherto,  on  a'l  occa- 
fions,  ferved  your  Majef  y  tvith  z  'al 
and  fideljtyy  and  being  defirous  of 


to  the  avowed  motives  of  the  accu- 
fation,  or  the  length  of  time  of 
withholding,  or  the  occafion  of 
making  the  fame,  and  without  any 
other  deliberation  whatfoever,  did, 
on  the  very  fame  clay  on  which  the 
charge  was  preferred,  and  without 
previous  notice  to  the  party  accufed 


devoting  every  adlion  of  our  lives,  of  an  intention  of  making  a  charge 
and  our  lives  thernfelves,  to  your  again!!  him,  give  notice  of  their 


intending 


STATE 


PAPERS. 


intending  that  a  court  martial 
fhould  be  held  on  the  laid  admiral 
Keppel,  after  forty  years  of  merito¬ 
rious  fervice,  and  a  variety  of  ac¬ 
tions  in  which  he  had  exerted  emi¬ 
nent  courage  and  conduct,  by  which 
the  honour  and  power  of  this  na¬ 
tion,  and  the  glory  of  the  Britifh 
hag,  had  been  maintained  and  en- 
creafed  in  various  parts  of  the 
world. 

We  beg  leave  to  expre  fs  to  your 
Majefty  our  concern  at  this  pro¬ 
ceeding,  and  to  reprefen t  our  ap- 
prehenfions  of  the  difficulties  and 
difcouragements  which  will  inevi¬ 
tably  arife  to  your  fervice  there¬ 
from  ;  and  that  it  will  not  be  eafy 
for  men,  attentive  to  their  honour, 
to  ferve  your  Majefty,  particularly 
in  fituationsof  principal  command, 
if  the  pra&ice  now  hated  to  your 
Majefty  be  countenanced,  or  the 
principles  upon  which  the  fame 
has  been  fupported,  fhali  prevail 
with  any  Lord  High  Admiral,  or 
with  any  commiffioner- for  execut¬ 
ing  that  office. 

We  are  humbly  of  opinion ,  that 
a  criminal  charge  againft  an  officer 
(rifing  in  importance  according  to 
the  rank  and  command  of  that  of¬ 
ficer)  which  fufpends  his  fervice  to 
your  Majefty,  perhaps  in  the  moft 
critical  exigencies  of  the  public 
affairs,  which  calls  his  reputation 
into  doubt  and  difcuffion,  which 
puts  him  on  trial  for  his  life,  pro- 
feffion  and  reputation,  and  which, 
in  its  confequences,  may  caufe  a 
fatal  ceftacion  in  the  naval  exer¬ 
tions  of  the  kingdom,  to  be  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  the  moft  ferious  nature,  and 
never  to  be  made  by  authority,  but 
on  folid  ground,  and  on  mature  de¬ 
liberation.  The  honour  of  an  of¬ 
ficer  is  the  moft  precious  pofteffion, 
and  beft  qualification  ;  the  public 


l>ii 

have  an  intereft  in  it;  and  vvhilft 
thofe  under  whom  we  ferve  coun¬ 
tenance  accufation,  it  is  often  im- 
poffible  perfedly  to  reftore  military 
fame  by  the  mere  acquittal  of  a 
court  martial.  Imputations  made 
bv  high  authority  remain  long,  and 
affect  deeply.  The  fphere  of  action 
of  couwnanders  in  chief  is  large, 
and  their  bufinefs  intricate,  and 
fubjed  to  great  variety  of  opinion  ; 
and,  before  they  are  to  be  put  on 
the  judgment  of  others  for  ads  done 
upon  their  difcretion,  the  greateff 
difcretion  ought  to  be  employed. 

Whether  the  board  of  admiralty 
hath  by  law  any  fuch  difcretion, 
we,  who  are  not  of  the  profeffion 
of  the  law,  cannot  pofitively  affert ; 
but  if  we  had  conceived  that  this 
board  had  no  legal  ufe  of  their 
reafon  in  a  point  of  fuch  delicacy 
and  importance,  we  fhould  have 
known  on  what  terms  we  ferved. 
But  we  never  did  imagine  it  pof- 
Tible  that  we  were  to  receive  orders 
from,*  and  to  be  accountable  to 
thofe  who,  by  law,  were  reduced 
to  become  paffive  inftruments  to 
the  poffible  malice,  ignorance,  or 
treafon  of  any  individual  who  might 
think  fit  to  difarm  his  Majefty’s 
navy  of  its  beft  and  higheft  officers.  , 
We  conceive  it  difrefpedful  to  the 
laws  of  our  country  to  fuppofe  them 
capable  of  fuch  manifelt  injuftice 
and  abfurdity. 

We  therefore  humbly  rep  refen  t* 
in  behalf  of  public  order,  as  well 
as  of  the  difcipline  of  the  navy,  to  , 
your  Majefty,  the  dangers  of  long 
concealed,  and  afterwards  preci¬ 
pitately  adopted  charges,  and  of 
all  recriminatory  accufations  ✓of 
fubordinate  officers  againft  their 
commanders  in  chief;  and  particu¬ 
larly  the  mifchief  and  fcandal  of 

.  .  i 

permitting  men,  who  are  at  once 

IU]  4  in 


3 1  a]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


in  high  civil  office*  and  in  fubor- 
dinate  military  command,  previous 
to  their  making  fuch  accufations, 
to  attempt  to  corrupt  the  public 
judgment,  by  the  publication  of 
libels  on  their  officers  in  a  common 
news-paper,,  thereby  exciting  mu¬ 
tiny  in  your  Majefty’s  navy,  as 
well  as  prejudicing  the  minds  of 
thofe  who  are  to  try  the  merits  of 
the  accufation  again II  the  faid  fu- 
perior  officer. 

Hawke, 

John  Moore, 

Bolton, 

Samuel  Graves, 
Hugh  Pi  got, 

Robert  Harland, 
Briftol, 

James  Young, 
Matthew  Barton, 
Francis  Geary, 
Shuldham, 

Clark  Gayton. 

(Copy.) 

)  •/ 


Copy  of  the  Petition  of  the  Wef  India 
Planters  and  Merchants ,  prefented 
to  the  King ,  Dec.  16,  1778. 

fo  the  King’s  moji  excellent  Majejly . 

Whe  humble  Addrefs  and  Petition  of 
the  Planters  and  Proprietors  inyour 
Majefty' s  Sugar  Colonies,  and  of 
the  Merchants  trading  to,  and  con¬ 
nected  with  the faid  Colonies ,  rwhofe 
Karnes  are  hereunto  Juhfcribed ,  in 
hehalf  of  tbemfelves  and  others  in? 
ierefed  therein. 

Mod  gracious  Sovereign, 

\  A7  ^  your  Maje*iy’s  du» 

VV  tiful  and  loyal  fubjedls, 
the  planters  and  proprietors  in  your 
Majefty ’s  fugar  colonies,  and  the 


merchants  trading  to,  ,and  con¬ 
nected  with  the  faid  colonies,  whofe 
names  are  hereunto  fubfcribed,  in 
behalf  of  ourfelves  and  others  in- 
terefted  therein,  humbly  approach 
your  royal  prefence,  with  all  af- 
furances  of  fidelity  to  your  perfon 
and  government ;  and,  with  the 
utmoft  humility,  reprefent  to  your 
Majefty  : 

That,  on  the  commencement  of 
the  unhappy  divifions  between  this 
kingdom  and  the  colonies  in  North 
America,  your  petitioners,  impreiT- 
ed  with  a  proper  fenfe  of  duty  to 
your  Majefty,  and  of  the  circum- 
ftances  of  their  fituation,  did  re¬ 
prefent  to  your  Majefty’s  minifters 
their  apprehensions  of  the  dangers 
and  diftreftes  to  which  the  iugar 
iftands  were  neceftarily  expofed. 

That  the  fatal  confequences, 
thus  apprehended  by  your  petiti¬ 
oners,  have  been  in  a  great  meafure 
unhappily  experienced  during  the 
three  laft  years,  by  a  general  fear- 
city  of  prpvifions  in  all  the  iftands, 
in  fome  of  them  nearly  approach¬ 
ing  to  famine,  and  by  a  want  of 
almoft  every  article  eftential  to  the 
culture  of  their  plantations ;  fo  that 
their  eftates  and  property  have 
been  conftderably  impaired  in  va¬ 
lue,  and  continue  expofed  to  fur«» 
ther  diminution  :  whilft  their  effects 
have  been  captured  on  the  high 
feas,  to  a  very  great  amount. 

That  although  your  petitioners 
had  early  and  anxioufly  reprefented 
to  your  Majefty;s  minifters  the  me- 
ceffity  of  an  adequate  protection  for 
the  iftands,  they  have  now  to  la¬ 
ment,  from  the  lofs  of  Dominica, 
and  the  imminent  danger  of  the 
other  iftands,  that  the  frequent  ap« 
plications  which  they  have  made 
for  prote&ion,  have  not  Bad  their 
deftred  effedt. 

That 


STATE 

That  your  petitioners  are  now 
in  the  moft  anxious  (late  of  fuf- 
pence,  from  the  delay  of  the  fuc- 
cours  fent  from  New-York  to  the 
Leeward  Iflands,  which  have  been 
fp  unfeal'onably  afforded,  as  to 
leave  all  thofe  iflands  expofed  to 
the  further  hoftile  attempts  of  the 
enemy.  And  though  the  aflur- 
ances  of  protection,  given  to  your 
petitioners  by  one  of  your  Ma- 
jefty’s  Minifters,  in  fome  meafure 
tend  to  remove  their  immediate 
apprehenftons,  yet  they  appear  too 
general  and  precarious,  to  quiet 
their  minds,  as  to  the  future  fafety 
of  the  Leeward  Iflands ; — whilft 
the  important  ifland  of  Jamaica 
has  been  alinoft  left  to  its  own  ef¬ 
forts  ;  which,  from  the  compara¬ 
tively  fmall  number  of  white  inha¬ 
bitants,  are  become  particularly 
fevere,  and,  joined  to  the  fulpen- 
ficn  of  culture,  neceflariiy  confe- 
quenc  on  military  duty,  mult,  in 
time,  prove  ruinous  :  a  naval  force 
being  the  firft  and  principal  fecu- 
rity  of  the  iflands  in  general. 

Labouring  under  the  weight  of 
thefe  calamities,  your  petitioners 
cannot  avoid  further  humbly  ex¬ 
prefling  to  your  Majefty  their  me¬ 
lancholy  apprehenflon,  left  the  de¬ 
feating  fyftem  which  appears  to 
them  to  have  lately  been  denounced 
by  your  Majefty’s  commiftioners  in 
North- America,  may  be  produc¬ 
tive  of confequences  to  your  petiti¬ 
oners,  at  prelent  not  fully  forefeen, 
nor  fufficiently  attended  to,  by 
your  Majefty’s  fervants. 

Your  petitioners  would  wifh. 
Sire,  to  fupprefs  thofe  emotions, 
which  the  calamities  of  war,  thqs 
aggravated  by  indifcriminate  and 
unbounded  defolation,  mull  na¬ 
turally  create  in  their  minds ;  and, 
confining  themfelves  to  the  ini- 


PAPERS.  [313 

mediate  objedt  of  their  own  prefer- 
vation,  they  humbly  fubmit  to  your 
Majefty’s  wifdom,  that  the  late  de¬ 
claration  of  your  Majefty’s  Com- 
miflioners,  if  carried  into  effedt, 
may  provoke  the  fevereft  retaliati¬ 
on  ,  from  an  irritated  people,  inti¬ 
mately  acquainted  with  the  fixa¬ 
tion  of  the  iflands,  their  weak  and 
acceftible  parts:  and  that  the  ra¬ 
vages  which  may  be  committed, 
even  by  a  Imall  force,  may  be  fuf- 
iicient  to  reduce  any  illand  to  fo 
vvafte  a  condition,  as  not  to  admit 
of  its  being  reftored  to  its  former 
ftate,  without  an  enormous  expence, 
and  the  labour  of  years. 

Molt  gracious  Sovereign, 

We  feel  ourlelves  indifpenfably 
called  upon  to  lay  this  reprefenta- 
tion  before  your  Majefty,  the  con- 
ftitutionai  guardian  of  the  property 
of  all  your  fubjedts  :  that  we  may 
not  appear  to  have  negledted  our 
doty,  by  omitting  to  apprize  your 
Majefty  of  thefe  important  and 
melancholy  truths. 

Thus  circumftanced,  we  reft  our 
prefent  fecurity  on  your  Majefty’s 
paternal  care  of  the  interefts  of 
your  fubjedts  at  large,  for  a  fufli- 
cient  protection  againftthe  dangers 
that  threaten  the  property  of  your 
petitioners  in  the  Weft  -  India 
iflands:  and  we  humbly  pray,  your 
Majefty  will  be  gracioully  pleafed 
to  take  into  your  royal  confldera- 
tion  the  unavoidable  refuit  of  thefe 
calamities,  which  we  apprehend 
mull  extend  themieives  to  your 
Majefty’s  revenue,  to  your  mari¬ 
time  power,  and  to  the  manufac¬ 
tures,  commerce,  and  wealth  of 
your  fubjedts  in  general. 


fhp  following  is  Lord  Suffolk’s  An- 
fwer,  bj  tbs  King's  order,  to 

the 

"v 


3:4]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177S. 


the  Rdprefentation  of  Count  Wel- 
deren,  Envoy  Extraordinary  from 
their  Hi  h  Mightineffes  the  States 
General/?/' the  United  Provinces, 

,S  I  R, 

Have  had  the  honour  to  prefent 
to  the  King  the  memorial 
which  you  have  addrelfed  to  his 
Majefty,  by  order  of  their  High 
Mightineffes,  the  28th  pah  %  which 
having  been  considered  with  all 
the  attention  which  the  import¬ 
ance  of  the  different  fubj-ett- mat¬ 
ters  in  it  contained  doth  merit, 
the  King  orders  me  to  inform 
you,  that  it  is  with  a  very  fenfibie 
pleafure  that  his  Majeflyha  h  feen 
tjbe  j u it i ce  w h ich  £ h e  1  r  H i g h  M igh~ 
tineffes  render  to  his  deilre  of 
giving  unequivocal  proofs  of  his 
friendlhip  and  affection  for  his  an¬ 
cient  arid  faithful  allies,  the  States 
General  of  the  United  Provinces, 
and  that  they  have  placed  in  the 
.true  point  of  view,  his  Majefty’s 
orders  for  the  releafement  of  the 
veffels  fpecified  in  your  memorial. 
The  fame  principles  have  induced 
the  King  to  give  orders,  that  ail 
the  veffels,  with  unexceptionable 
cargoes,  appertaining  to  the  fub- 
jefts  of  their  High  Mightlneffes, 
and  brought  into  the  ports  of 
Great  Britain  by  his  IViajefty’s 
Ihips,  may  be  releafed  ;  and  that 
henceforth  the  King’s  officers  do 
not  give  any  hindrance  or  inter¬ 
ruption  to  4  he  lava fui  commerce  of 
the  lubjecfts  of  their  High  Might!- 
neffes.  His  Majefty  would  wifh 
to  have  it  in  his  power  to  remove 
even  the  fmalleft  reafbn  of  com¬ 
plaint  of  the  fub'«edfs  o-  their  High 
Mightinefips  :  but  they  know  too 
much  of  the  inseparable  events  of 
war,  to  believe  it  polHble  for  him 


fo  to  do,  even  with  all  the  difpo/K 
tions  to  render  juftice,  and  to  pay 
attention  to  the  interefts  of  the 
fubjedts  of  his  good  allies,  which 
tiis  Majefty  poifeffes,  and  which 
their  High  Mightineffes  ackiiow- 
ledge  in  him. 

His  Majefty,  without  any  pro¬ 
vocation  on  his  part,  and  by  a 
train  of  inildious,  unjuft  proceed¬ 
ings  on  the  part  of  the  court  of 
France,  finds  himfelf  actually  en¬ 
gaged  in  hoftilities  againft  the  rooft 
Chriftian  King,  w'ho,  as  ail  Eu¬ 
rope  ought  to  have  feen  with  afto- 
n  iff  men  t  and  indignation,  in  the 
midft  of  the  aioft  formal  and  of¬ 
ten  repeated  affurahces  of  the  mojf 
perfect  amity,  and  moft  pacific  cliff 
pefitions,  hath  violated  the  public 
faith  and  the  rights  of  Sovereigns, 
by  declaring  the  rebellious  fubjedts 
of  another  power,  to  be  Indepen¬ 
dent  States,  merely  becaufe  thole 
fubjedb  have  thought  proper  to 
call  themfelves  fuch,  and  to  in¬ 
vite  the  powers  difpofed  to  profit 
by  their  rebellion,  tojoin  in  confe¬ 
deracy  with  them. 

This  unju’ft  aggrefilon,  repre- 
fented  by  the  court  of  France  as 
being  a  natural  and  advantageous 
advance  towards  the  intereft  of  her 
commerce,  hath  been  followed  by 
hoftilities  ftill  more  violent,  (till 
more  public,  namely,  by  fending  a 
fleet  to  America  in  fupport  of  his 
IV?  a  jelly’s  .rebellious  fubjedls,  and 
that  too  before  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  had  taken  any  other  ftep 
but  that  of  calling  his  AmbaiTador 
from  Paris. 

But  the  King,  animated  by 
principles  altogether  different,  and 
de firing  to  give  on  all  cccalions 
proofs  of  his  moderation,  and  of 
the  rettuude  of  his  fentimentsjand 

intentions 


STATE 

intentions  towards  their  High 
Mightinefies,  hath  ordered  me  to 
declare  in  his  name,  at  a  time 
when  even  the  principles  of  felf- 
defence and  felf  prefervation oblige 
him  to  prevent  (as  much  as  is 
pofiible)  all  provifions  of  naval 
and  military  ftores  from  being 
tranfported  into  the  French  ports; 
yet  his  Majelly  will  obferve  all 
pofiible  regard  for  the  rights  of 
their  High  Mightinefies,  and  will 
adhere  in  the  ftrongeft  manner  to 
the  ftipulations  (as  far  as  it  fhall 
be  practicable)  and  to  the  fpirit 
of  the  treaties  between  him  and 
their  High  Mightuneifes. 

After  this  exbofition  of  the  fen- 

i 

timents  of  the  invariable  amity 
and  affedtion  of  his  Majeilv  for 
their  High  Mightinefies,  and  of 
the  prelent  fituation  of  affairs  be¬ 
tween  the  King  and  his  Moft 
Chriftian  Majefty,  it  remains  for 
me  to  execute  the  King’s  orders, 
by  informing  you,  Sir,  that  his 
Maj  efly,  fenfible  of  the  extraordi¬ 
nary  manner  in  which  he  hath  been 
fuddenly  engaged  in  an  actual  war, 
and  of  the  Ihort  notice  vvljich  the 
fubjects  of  their  High  Mightinefies 
could  have  of  this  event,  as  it  is 
alledged,  is  difpofed  and  ready  to 
purchafe,  at  a  fair  valuation,  the 
naval  fiores,  which  have  been  cap¬ 
tured  and  are  adlually  in  the  dif¬ 
ferent  ports  of  Great  Britain,  on 
board  vefiels  appertaining  to  the 
fubjects  of  the  Republic,  to  pay 
the  freight  of  the  cargoes,  and  to 
indemnify  the  proprietors  in  all 
their  juft  expences  and  damages 
occafioned  by  the  detention  of 
their  vdfels  :  and  his  Majefiy  will 
give  inftruflions  to  his  Ambafla- 
dor,  to  enter  upon  a  negociation 
with  the  Minifiers  of  the  kepublic, 
to  the  end  that  an  arrangement  be 


PAPERS.  fji5 

made  for  the  future,  upon  the 
principles  of  equity  and  friendfhip, 
fuah  as  is  meet  between  fuch  good 
and  ancient  allies. 

His  Majefty  always  relies  upon  the 
afiu  ranee's  of  amity  and  attachment 
which  he  has  received  on  fo  many 
occafions  from  their  High  Mighti- 
nefies ;  and,  in  making  this  open 
and  equitable  communication  of 
his  fentirneuts  and  intentions 
the  prefent  cri  s,  cannot  but  recai 
to  the  reflections  of  their  High. 
Mightinefies  the  reciprocal  en¬ 
gagements  eon t raffed  between  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain  and  thr 
Republic,  during  the  continuance 
of  a  whole  century.  The  articles 
of  thefe  engagements  are  clear  and 
precife  :  and,  although  the  mode¬ 
ration  of  his  Majefty,  and  his  fin- 
cere  defire  to  extend,  as  little  as 
poifible,  the  horrors  of  war,  have 
hindered  him  to  the  prefent  hour 
from  demanding  the  accomplifh- 
ment  of  thefe  treaties,  yet  his  Ma¬ 
jefty  doth  not  think  thefe  engage** 
ments  lefs  obligatory  than  they 
formerly  were  ;  and  he  will  nor 
fuffer  hi mfelf  either  to  vvifh,  or  to 
admit,  any  diminution  of  the  re¬ 
ciprocal  intereft  which  hath  unit¬ 
ed  for  fo  long  a  time  the  two 
nations,  and  which  his  Majefty 
defires  on  his  fide  to  perpe¬ 
tuate. 

As  his  Majefty  hath  not  received 
any  advice  of  complaints  againffc 
the  conduft  of  the  Captains  of  the 
King’s  fhips  towards  the  territories 
of  their  High  Mightinefies  ih  A- 
merica,  and  particularly  upon 
the  rivers  of  Effequebo  and  Dense- 
r ary,  before  the  date  of  the  Me¬ 
morial  which  J  have  had  the  ho¬ 
nour  to  prefent  to  his  Majefty  ;  he 
hath  ordered  me  to  procure  him 
the  moft  exact  informations  rela¬ 
tive 

/ 

)' 


i 


si6]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


live  to  what  is  therein  alledged, 
and  to  affure  you  that  his  Majefty 
will  not  fail  to  punifti  the  guilty 
in  an  exemplary  manner. 

I  have  the  honour,  &c, 
(Signed)  Suffolk. 

St.  James's,  03.  19,  1778. 


Mantfejio ,  or  J)e duration  of  the 
Motives  vohich  engage  his  Majefty 
the  King  of  Pruffia  to  make  War 
againft  the  Emperor  of  Germany. 

HI  S  Majefty  the  King  of 
Pruflia  was  in  hopes,  ever 
since  the  treaty  of  peace  of  Hu- 
bertfburgh,  to  live  in  con  Rant 
harmony  with  the  court  of  Vienna, 
and  with  that  view  his  Majefty  has 
employed  ail  poffible  means  to  cul¬ 
tivate  the  friendftffp  and  affection 
of  their  Imperial  and  Royal  Ma¬ 
kefiles  the  Emperor,  and  the  £m- 
prefs  Queen  of  Hungary.  It  is 
therefore  with  the  greateft  grief 
and  concern,  that  his  Majefty 
finds  this  good  harmony  difturbed 
by  the  unexpected  difmembering 
of  the  Electorate  of  Bavaria,  un¬ 
dertaken  by  the  court  of  Vienna, 
after  the  death  of  the  late  Elector 
of  that  country.  His  Majefty 
could  not  help  immediately  con* 
fidering  thefe  proceedings  as  di- 
redly  oppofite  to  all  juftice,  and 
the  known  rights  of  the  neareft 
heirs  to  the  dominions  and  allo¬ 
dials  of  Bavaria  ;  but  alfo  contrary 
to  the  fafety,  liberty,  laws,  and 
conftitution  of  the  German  em¬ 
pire  ;  and  therefore  caufed  feveral 
well-grounded,  friendly,  and  re¬ 
peated  reprefentations  to  be  made 
to  their  Imperial  Majefties,  in  or¬ 
der  to  engage  them  to  defift  from 


th  eir  undertaking.  From  hence 
have  refulted  explications,  difcuf- 
fions,  and  negotiations  of  long 
duration,  which  at  laft  have  pro¬ 
duced  nothing  but  a  general  ar¬ 
mament  throughout  all  the  Au- 
ftrian  dominions  ;  and  things  be¬ 
ing  thus  carried  to  the  utmoft  ex¬ 
tremity,  without  any  plaufible  rea- 
fon  offered  by  the  court  of  Vienna 
for  its  proceedings  in  this  affair, 
his  Pruffian  Majefty  cannot  defift 
any  longer  from  offering  to  the 
different  powers  of  Europe,  to  the 
refpective  ftates  of  the  German 
Empire,  as  well  as  to  the  public 
in  general,  the  juft  motives,  which 
have  induced  him  to  oppofe  the 
difmembering  of  the  electorate  of 
Bavaria,  and  to  affift,  with  all 
poffible  zeal,  the  parties  thereby 
oppreffed.  To  this  his  Majefty 
finds  himfelf  in  duty  bound,  as  a 
guarantee  of  the  treaty  of  Weft- 
phalia,  as  an  Eledlor  and  Prince 
of  the  Empire,  whofe  affiilance 
has  been  claimed  and  required  by 
his  friepds  and  allies,  the  aggriev¬ 
ed  Princes,  and  only  legitimate 
heirs  to  the  Bavarian  dominions 
and  allodials  ;  and  laftly  as  a  mo¬ 
narchy  effentialiy  interefted  in  the 
confervation  of  the  rights  and  pri¬ 
vileges,  as  well  as  the  undifturbed 
poffeffion  of  the  refpe&ive  domi¬ 
nions  of  each  member  of  the  Ger¬ 
man  Empire ;  and  consequently 
obliged  to  oppofe  the  difmember¬ 
ing  of  one  of  the  molt  confiderable 
Electorates,  the  rights  and  titles  to 
which,  in  virtue  whereof  the  court 
of  Vienna  has  taken  poffeffion  of 
the  greateft  part  of  the  faid  elec¬ 
torate,  have  in  the  courfe  of  this 
long  negociation  been  amply  and 
forcibly  proved  to  be  groundiefs, 
and  founded  only  on  the  following 
frivolous  pretences,  viz. 

i*  Upon 


STATE 

j.  Upon  a  pretended  inveftiture 
granted  the  ioth  of  March,  1426, 
to  Albert  Duke  of  Aultria,  by  the 
Emperor  Sigifmond,  who,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  conftitution  of  the  Em¬ 
pire  had  neither  right  nor  power 
to  grant  it,  and  who  for  thefe  very 
reafons,  and  with  full  knowledge 
of  the  caufe,  was  obliged  to  re¬ 
voke  it  in  the  moll  folemn  man¬ 
ner,  in  an  alTembly  of  the  Princes 
and  Ambaffadors  from  the  differ¬ 
ent  ftates  of  the  Empire,  holden 
for  that  purpofe  at  Prefburg  in 
Hungary,  on  the  26th  oi  Aprii, 
2429. 

2.  Upon  an  agreement  made 
between  the  Paid  Emperor  Sigif¬ 
mond  and  the  faid  Duke  Albert  of 
Aultria,  his  fon-in-law,  on  the 
2 1 11  of  March,  1426,  which  was 
alfo  rendered  void  by  the  revoca¬ 
tion  of  the  abovementioned  invef- 
titure,  upon  the  validity  of  which 
only  it  was  grounded. 

3.  Upon  a  reverlion  of  thefe 
Bavarian  dominions,  granted  to  the 
houfe  of  Aultria,  in  the  year  1614, 
by  the  Emperor  Matthias,  who, 
after  the  example  of  the  Emperor 
Sigifmond,  was  obliged  to  revoke 
and  annihilate  the  fame  in  the 
year  1618. 

4.  Upon  a  convention  of  the 
third  of  January,  1778,  extorted  by 
force  from  his  Serene  Highnefs  the 
prefent  Elector  Palatine  ;  which, 
though  it  had  been  made  with  his 
free  confent,  would  be  of  no  vali¬ 
dity  notwithllanding,  lince  that 
Prince  has  neither  the  right  to  vio¬ 
late  the  laws  of  the  German  con- 
fti tu tion ,  nor  the  family  compacts 
of  his  houfe,  nor  that  of  difpofing 
of  his  hereditary  dominions  to  the 
prejudice  of  his  heirs  and  fuccef- 
fors.  In  Ihort,  a  convention  which 
is  direCtly  contrary  to  the  capitu- 


PAPERS.  [317 

lation  of  his  prefent  Imperial  Ma- 
jefty  ;  to  the  guarantee  of  his  own 
houfe  to  the  treaty  of  Munller  ; 
to  the  Golden  Bull;  to  the  trea¬ 
ties  of  Pavia  in  1329  and  1529; 
to  that  of  Ofnabruckin  i62o;and 
to  the  treaty  of  Weftphalia  in. 
1648;  as  alfo  to  the  different  fa¬ 
mily  compa&s  between  the  houfes 
of  Bavaria  and  Palatine  made  in 
the  years  1425,  1524,  1724,  1746, 
1766,  1771,  and  1774,  all  of 

which  were  founded  upon  the  trea¬ 
ty  of  Pavia,  and  approved  and  con¬ 
firmed  by  the  different  Emperors 
and  Electors,  agreeable  to  the  laws 
and  conftitution  of  the  empire. 

It  is  confequently  in  conlidera- 
tion  of  thefe  manifeft  contraven¬ 
tions  of  the  court  of  Vienna,  that 
his  Pruffian  Majefty  has  done  all 
that  lay  in  his  power  to  engage 
his  Imperial  Majefty  peaceably  to 
evacuate  the  Bavarian  dominions, 
and  to  fubmit  his  claims  and  pre- 
tenfions,  comformably  to  the  laws 
and  conftitution,  to  a  legal  deci- 
fion  of  the  Princes  and  members 
of  the  Empire.  But  all  his  efforts 
and  reafonable  propofitions,  far 
from  making  any  impreflion  upon 
the  minds  of  their  Imperial  Ma- 
jefties,  have  had  no  other  effeCt 
than  an  offer  made  by  the  court 
of  Vienna,  that  in  cafe  his  Pruffian 
Majefty  would  not  oppofe  their  dif- 
membering  the  electorate  of  Ba¬ 
varia,  the  Houfe  of  Auftria,  from 
a  fenfe  of  gratitude,  would  make 
no  oppofition  to  the  re-uniting  of 
the  Margraviate  of  Anfpach-Ba- 
reith  to  the  electorate  of  Brande- 
burgh,  after  the  deceafe  of  the  pre¬ 
fent  reigning  Margrave.  This 
propofition  leads  to  three  different 
important  obfervations.  1.  Itclear- 
ly  demonftrates  that  the  court  of 
Vienna  is  fenfible  of  the  illegality 

of 


REGISTER,  177S 


318]  ANNUAL 

of  its  taking  pcfTeflion  of  the  Ba¬ 
varian  territories,  as  otfrerwife  it 
would  not  offer  a  pretended  indem¬ 
nification  to  the  King  of  Prulha, 
who,  as  their  Imperial  M  a  jellies 
pretend,  has  ro  right  to  control 
them  in  their  projects,  2.  it  in¬ 
timate^  an  intention  in  the  court 
cf  Vienna-,- to  qu'eftion  the  natural 
slights,  univerfady  acknowledged 
as  inccnte-ftable,  of  the  legitimate 
fiiecelSon  of  the  hovjfe  of  :  ran  de¬ 
ls  urgh  to  the  Margraviate  of  Ain* 
fpach~Bare;th  ;  a  doubt,  which 
pertoeiied  injuftice  1  ic if*  would 
hardly  dare  to  exprefs.  3,  Fhat 

If  even  the  r  ewer  don  of  Anfracb- 

* 

Bareith  to  the  houie  ■  f  B  ran  de- 
burgh  was  man-ifeftly  unjift,  their 
Imperial  Majefties  would,  be,  not¬ 
withstanding,  ready  to  acknow¬ 
ledge  and  fuppo.re  the  fame  by 
force/to  the  prejudice  of  the  par¬ 
ties  that  might* be  interefted  there¬ 
in,  provided  thFy  were  left  uncon¬ 
trolled  in  their  preterit  uTurpatiOn 
of  Bavaria.  But  this  being  unjuft, 
could  not  be  admitted  by  the  King 
of  PruxTia,  and  therefore  their  Im¬ 
perial  MajefUes  declared  as  their 
final  refblution,  That  they  would 
not  abfolutely  evacuate  any  part  of 
the  B-ava  tan  territories ;  that  his 
P ruffian  Majefiy  Jhould  acknowledge 
their  rights  without  any  further  ex¬ 
amination,  hut  be  ' fat  i  spied  with  the 
manner  in  which  they  have  exp  led 
the  fame.  The  King  has  there¬ 
upon  thought  proper,  after  the  ex¬ 
ample  of  the^ccurt  of  Vienna, -to 
break  off  all  further  negotiation 
upon  this  affair. 

It  would  therefore  be  again!!  all 
reafon  to  luppofe  his  P  ruff  an  Ma- 
jefty  to  be  the  aggieffor  in  the 
war,  which  he  finds  himfelf  under 
the  neceffitv  to  undertake,  as  it 
has  beea  fufliciently  proved  that 

6 


the  court  of  Vienna  has  began  thtf 
aggreffion,  by  invading  the  Ba¬ 
varian  dominions  without  any 
right  or  title,  and  wreffing  from  the 
Palatine  houfe  the  juft  reversion  of 
its  patrimony.  His  Majefty  there¬ 
fore  hereby  declares,  that  his  foie 
objedt  in  this  meafure  is  to  fupport 
the  laws  and  confutation  of  the 
V  man  Emp're,  which  have  been 
injured  in  the  moft  arbitrary  man¬ 
ner  by  the  very  Prince,  who,  from 
has  quality  as  chief  of  the  Em¬ 
pire,  ought  to  have  been  their  moil 
fbrenuous  protecior  ,  to  affift  thofe 
Princes,  his  fiends  and  allies,  who 
are  thereby  iuju  ed  and  oppreffed  3 
and  that  he  has  no  ether  parti¬ 
cular  views  therein,  than  his  own 
fecaffty  and  the  cbfervation  of  the 
fyftem  ol  the  Empire,  having,  for 
this  purpofe.  given  inany  repeated 
and  convincing  proofs  of  his  difin- 
terefteanefs,  during  the  whole 
cotirfe  of  this  lonp-  nep'oeiation. 

O  O 

His  Pruftian  Majefty  confequently 
flatters  himfelf,  that  not  only  the 
different  ftates  of  the  Empire,  but 
alio  all  the  refpedtive  powers  of 
Europe,  and  especially  thofe  which 
are  guarantees  to  the  treaty  of 
Weftphalia,  or  which  otherwife  are 
interefted  in  the  integral  conferva- 
tion  of  the  great  and  refpeftable 
Germanic  body,  on  which,  in  a 
great  meafure,  depends  the  hap- 
pinefs  of  all  Europe;  that  thefe 
powers  and  ftates  will  acknowledge 
the  j uf  ice  of  the  war ,  which  the 
King  fi  nds  himfelf  obliged  hereby  to 
declare  againfi  the  houje  of  Auftria  * 
and  that  far  from  oppofing  him 
in  his  undertaking,  the  faid  pow¬ 
ers  and  ftates  will  rather  ioin  and 
aflift  him  by  fuch  means  as  their 
wifdom  fhall  fuggeft,  to  oblige  the 
court  of  Vienna  to  defift  from  its 
ufurpation  of  the  Bavarian  domi¬ 
nions,. 


STATE 

nions,  to  maintain  the  treaty  of 
Weftphalia,  and  to  reltore  and  pre- 
ferve  the  original  fyftem  and  fun- 
damental  conllitution  of  the  Ger¬ 
man  Empire. 

Berlin ,  July  7,  1778. 

Pubiilhed  by  order  of  the  King. 


Manifejlo  of  her  Imperial ,  Royal  and 
Apofolick  Majefy  the  Emprefs  of 
Germany,  and  Queen  of  Hun¬ 
gary  and  Bohemia,  lAc.  &c,  and 
Declaration  to  all  the  refpedii've 
Princes  and  States  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  concerning  the  illegal  and 
hojlite  Enterprises  of  his  Majefy 
the  King  of  Pruflja,  in  opposition 
to  her  natural  and  legitimate  Rights 
to  the  Succejfon  of  Lower  Bava¬ 
ria. 

HE  R  Imperial,  Royal,  and 
Apoltolick  Majelty,  the  Em¬ 
prefs  Queen,  thinks  proper,  not 
to  hefitate  any  longer  to  lay  be- 
*  fore  all  the  refpeftive  Princes  and 
Hates  of  the  Empire,  a  true  and 
exaft  expofition  of  her  rights  to 
the  fucceliion  of  Bavaria  #,  and  of 
the  meafures  which  have  been 
adopted,  on  her  own  part,  to  prove 
her  pretenfions,  and  to  profecute 
the  fame  in  the  molt  legal  and 
peaceable  manner  poffible.  The 
publication  of  this  prefent  mani¬ 
festo  would  not  have  been  thus 
delayed,  and  nothing  would  have 
hindered  her  Imperial,  Royal,  and 
Apoltolick  Majelty  to  refute  im¬ 
mediately,  in  a  convincing  man¬ 
ner,  the  ihallow  motives  by  which 
his  Majesty  the  King  of  Pruffia 
thinks  himfelf  obliged  to  oppofe 


PAPERS.  [3 1 9 

the  pretended  unjult  difmember- 
ing  of  the  eleftorate  of  Bavaria, 
had  not  her  Imperial,  Royal, 
and  Apoltolick  Majelty  been  de- 
firous  firlt  to  try,  and  to  exhauft 
all  poflibie  means  of  reconcilia¬ 
tion,  which  her  molt  ardent  defire 
to  preferve  the  public  peace  could 
fugged. 

The  court  of  Berlin  has  endea¬ 
voured,  by  all  means  imaginable, 
to  reprefent  her  Imperial,  Royal, 
and  Apoltolick  Majelty’s  rights, 
and  pretenfions,  and  the  meafures 
adopted  to  profecute  the  fame, 
under  the  afpe<5l  of  invalidity  and 
injultice.  It  has  fucceededfo  far, 
as  the  cleared:  and  bell  fupported 
proofs  and  arguments  will  admit 
cf  being  embroiled,  and  rendered 
'  odious,  by  an  unavailing  contra¬ 
diction,  the  only  motive  whereof 
is  a  formed  delign  to  contradiT 
every  thing  without  the  fhadow  of 
reafon  ;  but  the  illufion  will  foon 
difappear,  whenever  the  true  date 
of  this  affair,  which  will  here  be 
laid  open  in  a  few  words,  is  ex¬ 
amined  without  partiality,  or  pre¬ 
judice. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  his  late 
Serene  Highnefs  the  Elector  of 
Bavaria,  her  Imperial,  Royal,  and 
Apoltolick  Majelty  had,  in  due 
manner,  laid  before  his  Serene 
Highnefs  the  Ejector  Palatine,  as 
next  and  univerfal  heir  to  the  laid 
late  Elector,  her  rights  and  pre¬ 
tenfions  to  the  fucceliion  of  Bava¬ 
ria.  His  faid  Serene  Highnefs  has 
in  like  manner  communicated  to 
her  Majelty  his  rights,  and  titles; 
and  the  validity  and  jultice  of  the 
claims  from  both  fides  have  been 
reciprocally  acknowledged  with  the 


*  This  manifelto  is  accompanied  by  a  number  of  teltiinonial  pieces,  confin¬ 
ing  of  genealogical  tables,  ancient  documents,  titles,  &c« 

greateft 


320]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i77S 


greateft  friendfhip  and  confidence 
imaginable.  And  in  order  to  fe- 
cure  both  parties  from  all  unfore- 
feen  events  that  might  happen, 
they  found  it  conformable  to  their 
Intereft,  to  make  a  formal  con¬ 
vention,  by  mutual  confent,  in 
order  to  prevent  all  farther  dif- 
cuftion  and  altercation  upon  this 
point. 

Two  oppofers  to  this  conven¬ 
tion  have  ftnce  arofe,  namely, 
bis  Serene  Highnefs  the  Duke  of 
Deuxponts,  and  the  Elector  of 
Saxony. 

As(to  the  firft,  her  Imperial, 
Royal,  and  Apoftolick  Majefty  has 
publicly  invited  him  to  produce 
in  a  legal  manner,  and  conform¬ 
able  to  the  conflitution  of  the  Em¬ 
pire,  the  claims  which  he  pretends 
to  have,  in  order  that  they  may 
be  examined  jointly  with  the  pre- 
tenfions  of  her  Majefty,  that  judg¬ 
ment  be  pronounced  thereupon, 
and  that  the  Emperor,  as  well  as 
all  the  refpe&ive  Princes,  and 
Hates  of  the  Empire,  and  even 
fome  foreign  powers,  be  invited 
to  become  guarantees  to  the  exe¬ 
cution  thereof. 

And  concerning  the  claims  of 
the  fecond  oppofer,  her  Imperial, 
Royal,  and  Apoftolick  Majefty 
has  formerly  declared,  during  the 
negociation  with  the  court  of  Ber¬ 
lin,  that  her  Majefty  confented  to 
give  up  her  right  of  regrefs  ;  and 
that  in  regard  to  the  allodial  pre- 
tenfions,  her  Majefty  was  ready 
and  willing  to  give  ample  fatisfac- 
tion,  for  as  much  as  might  con¬ 
cern  that  part  of  Bavaria,  which 
has  fallen  to  her  (hare.  And  her 
Imperial,  Royal,  and  Apoftolick 
Majefty  has  farther  declared,  con¬ 
cerning  thefe  allodial  pretenftons, 
that  fof  wha£  regards  the  principal 


heir  to  Bavaria,  her  Majefty  not 
only  offered  her  good  oftices  to 
bring  about  an  equitable  accom¬ 
modation,  but  even  her  efficacious 
affiftance  to  infure  its  fuccefs. 

Her  Imperial,  Royal,  and  Apo- 
ftolick  Majefty  here  appeals  to  the 
impartial  judgment  of  all  the  re- 
fpedtive  Princes  and  Hates  of  the 
Empire,  if  any  thing  contrary  to 
the  laws  and  conflitution  of  the 
Roman  Empire  can  be  found  in 
fuch  a  conduct,  and  if  fuch  a  fitu- 
ation  of  affairs  can  furnifh  the 
lead:  apparent  pretext,  to  counte¬ 
nance  the  pretended  griefs  of  their 
Serene  Highneffes  the  Duke  of 
Deuxponts,  and  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  and  to  juftify  the  violent 
meafure  of  difturbing  the  public 
peace,  and  to  have  recourfe  to 
arms.  It  is  however  to  fuch  vio¬ 
lence  that  his  Majefty  the  King  of 
Pruffia  arbitrarily  thinks  himfelf 
authorifed  to  refort,  as  an  Elector 
and  Prince  of  the  Empire,  as  a  con¬ 
tracting  party,  and  in  that  quality 
as  a  guarantee  of  the  treaty  of 
Weftphalia,  of  the  imperial  capi¬ 
tulation,  and  of  all  the  Germanic 
conflitutions ;  and  laftly,  as  a 
friend  and  ally  of  their  Serene 
Highneffes  the  Elector  of  Saxony, 
and  the  Dukes  of  Deuxponts,  and 
of  Mecklenburg. 

But  can  it  be  fuppdfed  that  the 
treaty  of  Weftphalia,  the  imperial 
capitulation,  and  all  the  conftitu- 
tions  of  the  German  Empire  are 
infringed,  becaufe  her  Imperial, 
Royal,  and  Apoftolick  Majefty, 
and  his  Serene  Highnefs  the  Elec¬ 
tor  Palatine,  have  in  a  legal  and 
friendly  manner,  and  with  mu¬ 
tual  confent,  fettled  and  acknow¬ 
ledged  their  reciprocal  rights  and 
pretenftons,  by  a  formal  and  ami¬ 
cable  convention? 

/  Can 


STATE 

Can  his  Highnefs  the  Duke  of 
Deuxponts  require  any  thing  more 
than  what  has  been  already  of¬ 
fered  to, him  ;  which  is  drift  juf- 
tice,  and  which  he  hath  been  pub- 
lickly  intreated  to  accept? 

Can  his  Serene  Highnefs^  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  have  the  lead 
fnadow  of  any  further  legitimate 
fubjeft  of  complaint,  after  what 
her  Imperial,  Royal,  and  Apollo- 
lick  Majefty  has  formerly  declared, 
during  the  negociation  with  the 
court  of  Berlin 3  in  regard  to  the 
allodial  pretenfions  i 

And  as  to  their  Highnefles  the 
Dukes  of  Mecklenburgh,  have  they 
any  thing  to  claim,  or  have  they 
ever  as  yet  claimed  any  thing  irom 
her  Imperial,  Royal,  and  Apofto- 
lick  Majelty  ? 

And  further,  is  not  the  formal 
convention  entered  into  with  his 
Serene  Highnefs  the  Elector  Pala¬ 
tine,  which  was  founded  on  a  for¬ 
mal  avowal  and  acknowledgment 
of  the  rights  of  the  Houfe  of  Au- 
ftria  to  the  fucceffion  of  Bavaria, 
fufncient  to  judify  her  imperial. 
Royal,  and  Apoftolick  Majefty’s  le¬ 
gitimate  poffeillon  of  the  faid  ter¬ 
ritories  ;  at  lead  during  the  life  of 
his  prefent  Serene  Highnefs  the 
Elector?  And  does  not  the  Duke 
of  Deuxponts  obtain  beforehand 
an  entire  fecurity,  by  the  guaran¬ 
tee  of  the  Emperor,  of  the  refpec- 
tive  Princes  and  dates  of  the  Em¬ 
pire,  and  even  of  lome  foreign 
powers,  which  has  been  offered  to 
him,  in  cafe  that  her  Imperial 
Majefty’s  rights  and  preteniions 
ihould,  in  a  legal  manner,  and 
conformable  to  the  laws  and  con- 
ftitutions  of  the  German  Empire, 
be  declared  void  and  invalid  ? 

It  is  upon  the  examination  and 
impartial  judgment  of  the  forego- 
Vol.  XXI. 


PAPERS.  [321 

ing  fimple  quedions,  that  depends 
the  decifion  of  the  following  im¬ 
portant  one,  in  which  the  whole 
is  comprized,  viz.  could  his  Ma* 
jefty  the  King  of  Pruflia,  in  any 
of  the  abovementioned  qualities* 
which,  he  aferibes  to  himfelf,  be 
authorized  to  take  up  arms  againft 
her  Imperial  Majefty  ?  - —  And  if 
none  of  thefe  faid  qualifications 
can  aufhorife  him  to  have  recourfe 
to  fuch  violence,  has  he  not  made 
himfelf  culpable  of  repeated  per¬ 
turbation  and  didurbance  of  the 
public  peace  in  Germany  •  and 
has  he  not  himfelf  manifedly  in¬ 
fringed  the  treaty  of  Wedphalia, 
as  well  as  the  laws  and  ccuiditu- 
tions  of  the  Empire  ? 

But  her  Majedy  the  Empreis 
Queen  has  not  limited  her  endea¬ 
vours,  to  preferve  the  public  tran¬ 
quillity,  to  what  has  been  already 
related  ;  far  more  has  been  done 
on  her  part  than  what  the  fimple 
dilates  of  equity  could  fugged, 
and  to  give  proofs  of  the  full  ex¬ 
tent  of  her  condefcenfion,  of  her 
real  pacific  difpofition,  and  of  her 
invariable  attention  for  the  wel¬ 
fare  of  the  whole  German  Em¬ 
pire,  her  Imperial,  Royal,  and 
Apodolick  Majedy  has  finally  and 
formally  declared  to  his  Majedy, 
the  King- of  Pruffia,  that  her  faid 

o 

Majedy  was  ready  and  willing  to 
evacuate  all  didrifts  and  territories 
in  Bavaria,  cf  which  her  Majedy 
has  taken  poffeiTion,  in  virtue  of 
the  abovementioned  convention,  of 
the  3d  of  January  lad,  and  to  re¬ 
indate  his  Serene  Highnefs  the 
Elector  Palatine  in  the  pofiefilcn 
thereof  ;  as  alfo  to  difengage  his 
faid  Serene  Highnefs,  his  heirs  and 
fuccedors,  from  all  obligations 
whatfoever;  but  on  condition  only 
fine  qua  non,  that  his  Majedy  the 
[A]  '  King 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778.' 


King  of  Pruffia  will  engage  and 
promife  on  his  part,  for  himfelf, 
his  heirs  and  fucceffors,  to  obferve 
In  every  refpedt  the  regulation  and 
pragmatic  fandlion  edablifhed  in 
the  Houfe  of  Brandenburgh,  and 
to  maintain  the  order  of  fucceffion 
to  the  two  Margravites  of  Anfpach 
and  Bayreuth,  in  favour  of  the 
younger  Princes  of  the  Houfe  of 
Brandenburgh  ;  which  regulation 
has  been  confirmed  by  the  Em¬ 
peror,  and  has  thus  acquired  the 
force  of  a  law  of  the  Empire. 

But  even  this  generous,  and  more 
than  equitable  offer  has  been  pe¬ 
remptorily  refufed  by  the  King  of 
Pruffia  ;  and  this  Prince,  notwith- 
Eanding,  continues,  under  the 
mod  futile  pretexts,  the  mod  un- 
jud  war  and  defolation  in  the 
Empire  of  Germany,  of  which  he 
pretends  to  be  a  protestor. 

Her  Majedy  theEmprefs  Queen 
would  think  herfelf  to  be  wanting 
In  point  of  confidence,  with  which 
the  enlightened  fentiments  and 
known  equity  of  the  refpedlive 
Princes  and  dates  of  the  Empire 
ought  to  infpireher,  if  her  Ma¬ 
jedy  was  to  fuppofe  it  neceffary  to 
add  any  further  explanations  or 
proofs  to  this  fimple  expedition  of 
fads,  which  is  hereby  laid  before 
them ;  and  which  upon  mature 
coniideration,  as  her  Majedy  flat¬ 
ters  herfelf,  will  fufficiently  juflify 
her  condudl,  and  alfo  fet  that  of 
the  court  of  Berlin  in  its  proper 
light. 

Her  Imperial,  Royal,  and  Apo- 
dolick  Majedy  therefore  anxioully 
intreats  all  her  coedates,  and  re- 
fpedtive  Princes  of  the  Empire,  to 
confider  the  prefent  fituation  of  af¬ 
fairs  with  all  the  attention  which 
the  importance  of  the  objedl  re¬ 
quires,  It  is  here  the  common 


caufe  of  the  whole  German  Em¬ 
pire,  and  its  principal  cbjedl,  to 
preferve  the  political  balance  of 
power,  and  the  a&ual  conditution. 
of  the  Circle  of  Franconia,  and  its 
neighbouring  dates ;  as  alfo  to 
prevent  the  dangerous  confequen- 
ces  of  an  increafe  of  power  at  the 
court  of  Berlin  ;  which  would  un¬ 
avoidably  arife,  if  his  prefent  Pruf- 
fian  Majedy  fhould  fucceed  to  rea¬ 
lize  his  views,  by  arbitrarily  de¬ 
priving  the  younger  Princes  of  the 
Houfe  of  Brandenburgh  of  their 
legitimate  rights,  to  which  they 
have  a  jud  claim,  conformable  to 
a  pragmatic  fandtion,  formally 
condituted  a  law  of  the  Empire. 

In  order  then  to  obviate  thefe 
dangerous  confequences,  as  well  as 
many  others,  which  upon  cool  re¬ 
flection  will  prefent  themfelves  at 
fird  fight,  her  Imperial  Majedy 
has  condefcended  to  renounce,  and 
to  give  up  all  her  rights  and  pre- 
tendons  to  the  fucceffion  of  Ba¬ 
varia,  and  to  annul,  and  to  de¬ 
clare  void  the  convention  made 
with  his  Serene  Highnefs  the  Elec¬ 
tor  Palatine.  But  her  Majedy  can¬ 
not  ?avoid  obferving  at  the  fame 
time,  that  as  her  Majedy  is  ready 
to  make  this  facrifice  to  the  gene¬ 
ral  welfare  of  Germany,  and  as 
her  Majedy  hereby  publicly  and 
folemnly  repeats,  before  the  whole 
German  Empire,  her  declaration 
made  on  this  point  to  his  Majedy 
the  King  of  Pruffia,  her  Majedy 
alfo  thinks  herfelf  thereby  autho- 
rifed  to  requed,  to  exhort,  and  to 
invite  all  the  refpedlive  Princes 
and  dates  of  the  Empire,  to  unite 
in  one  body,  and  to  form  ahd  ad- 
drefs  to  his  Pruffian  Majedy  fuch 
efficacious  reprefentations  and  re- 
mondrances,  as  may  engage  his 
faid  Majedy  immediately  to  defid 

from 


I 


STATE  PAPERS.  [323 


from  his  illegal  and  hoftile  pro¬ 
ceedings  ;  and  further,  that  they 
will  join  her  Imperial  and  Apodo- 
lick  Majefty  in  maintaining  a  drift 
obfervation  of  the  inviolable  prag¬ 
matic  fanftion  edablilhed  in  the 
Houfe  of  Brandenburgh,  and  by  a 
ifrenuous  affidance  make  a  com¬ 
mon  caufe  with  her  faid  Majef¬ 
ty,  to  oppofe  the  didurbance  of  the 
public-peace,  and  the  infringement 
of  the  laws  and  conditutions  of 
the  German  Empire,  as  well  as 
the  treaty  of  Wedphalia  ;  and  alfo 
to  claim  publicly,  and  in  a  be¬ 
coming  manner,  the  affiilance  of 
the  two  powers  which  are  gua¬ 
rantees  to  the  faid  treaty  of  Weft¬ 
phalia. 

Publilhed  by  order  of  her  Imperial, 
Royal,  and  Apoltolick  Majelty. 

Kaunitz  Ritberg. 
Vienna ,  Sept.  24,  1773. 


Copy  of  the  Commifjion  granted  by 
his  Majefly  to  the  Right  Hon .  Fre- 
derick Earl  of  Carlille,  the  Right 
Hon.  Richard  Lord  Vi  fount 
Howe,  Sir  William  Howe,  Wil¬ 
liam  Eden,  Efq.  and  George 
John  Hone,  Efq.  for  the  quieting 
and  extinguifhing  of  di-vers  fea- 
loufees  and  Apprehenfions  of  Dan¬ 
ger  in  the  Americans. 

George  the  Third,  by  the  Grace  of 
God,  of  Great  Britain,  France, 
and  Ireland,  King,  Defender  of 
the  Faith,  See. 

To  our  trufty  and  right  well  be¬ 
loved  Coufin  and  Counfellor  Fre¬ 
derick  Earl  of  Carlille,  Knight 
of  the  moll  ancient  Order  of  the 
Thillle  :  our  right  trudy  and 
well  beloved  Coulin  and  Coun¬ 
fellor,  Richard  Lord  Vifcount 


Howe,  of  our  kingdom  of  Ire¬ 
land  ;  our  trudy  and  well  be¬ 
loved  Sir  William  Howe,  Knight 
of  the  mod  Honourable  Order 
of  the  Bath,  Lieutenant  Gene¬ 
ral  of  our  forces,  General  and 
Commander  in  Chief  of  all  and 
fingular  our  forces  employed,  or 
to  be  employed,  v/ithin  our  Co¬ 
lonies  in  North  America,  lying 
upon  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  from 
Nova  Scotia  oti  the  North  to 
Wed  Florida  on  the  South,  both, 
inclufive  ;  William  Eden,  Efq, 
one  of  our  Cbm  million  ers  for 
Trade  and  Plantations;  and 
George  Johnftone,  Efq;  Captain 
in  our  royal  navy. 


Greeting  * 

WHEREAS,  in  and  tryout* 
commiffion  and  letters  pa¬ 
tent  under  our  Great  Seal  of  Great; 
Britain,  bearing  date  on  or  about 
the  6th  day  of  May,  in  the  1 6th. 
year  of  our  reign,  we  did,  out  of  at* 
earned  delire  to  deliver  all  our  fub- 
jects  and  every  part  of  the  domi¬ 
nions  belonging  to  our  crown  from 
the  calamities  of  war,  and  to  re- 
dore  them  to  our  proteftion  and 
peace,  nominate  and  appoint  our 
right  trufty  and  well-beloved  cou¬ 
fin  and  counfellor,  Richard  Lord 
Vifcount  Howe,  of  our  kingdom 
of  Ireland,  and  our  trudy  and 
well  beloved  William  Howe,  Efq., 
now  Sir  William  Howe,  Knight  of 
the  Bath,  Lieutenant-General  of 
our  forces  in  North  America  only* 
and  each  of  them  jointly  and 
feverally,  to  be  our  Commiffioner 
and  Commiffioners  on  that  be¬ 
half,  to  fo  perform  and  execute 
all  the  powers  and  authorities  in 
and  by  the  faid  commiffion  and  let¬ 
ters  patent  entrulled  and  commit¬ 
ted  to  them,  and  each  of  them, 
{.AT]  2  according 


3a4]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


according  to  the  tenor  of  fuch  let¬ 
ters  patent,  and  of  fuch  further  in- 
firuflions  as  they  fhould  from  time 
to  time  receive  under  our  (igtiet  or 
fign  manual,  to  have,  hold,  exe¬ 
cute,  and  enjoy  the  faid  office  and 
place,  offices  and  places  of  our 
Commilfionef  and  Commiffioners, 
as  therein  mentioned,  with  all 
rights,  members,  and  appurte¬ 
nances  thereunto  belonging,  to¬ 
gether  with  all  and  Angular  the 
powers  and  authorities  thereby 
granted  unto  them,  the  faid  Lord 
Yifcount  Howe,  and  General  Sir 
William  Howe,  and  each  of  them, 
for  and  during  our  will  and  plea- 
fure,  and  no  longer,  in  fuch  man¬ 
ner  and  form,'  as  in  and  by  our 
laid  recited  commiffion  and  let¬ 
ters  patent,  relation  being  there¬ 
unto  had,  may,  among  divers 
.other  things  therein  contained, 
more  fully,  and  at  large  appear. 
And  whereas  for  the  quieting  and 
extinguilhing  of  divers  jealoufies 
and  apprehenfions  of  danger  to 
their  liberties  and  rights,  which 
have  alarmed  many  of  our  fubjefh 
in  the  Colonies,  Provinces,  and 
.Plantations  of  New  -  Hampfhire, 
Maffachufetts  Bay,  Rhode  1(1  and, 
Conne&icut,  New  -  York,  New- 
.j.erfey,  Pen  fyl  vania,  with-  die 
three  Lower  Counties  on  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North-Caro- 
Kna,  South-Carolina,  and  Geor¬ 
gia,  and  for  a  fuller  raanifeftation 
of  our  juft  and  gracious  purpoifs, 
and  thofe  of  our  parliament,  to 
maintain  and  fecure  all  our  fub- 
J ects  in  the  clear  and  perted.  en¬ 
joyment  of  their  liberties,  and 
rights,  it  is  in  and  by  a  certain 
a£f  made  and  pafled  in  this  prefent 
feifions  of  parliament,  in  titled, 
“  An  A6t  to  enable  his  Majefly  to 
appoint  Commiffioners,  with  fuf- 


ficient  powers  to  treat,  confult, 
and  agree  upon,rthe  means  of  quiet¬ 
ing  the  diforde*s  now  fubfiivng  in 
certain  of  the  Colonies,  Planta¬ 
tions,  and  Provinces  in  North 
America,”  among  other  things 
enafted,  that  it  (hall  and  may  be 
.  lawful  for  his  Majefly,  from  time 
to  time,  by  letters  patent  under 
the  Great  Seal  of  Great  Britain, 
to  authorize  and  empower  five 
able  and  fufficient  perfons,  or  any 
three  of  them,  to  do  and  perform 
fuch  ads  and  things,  and  to  ufe 
and  execute  fuch  authorities  and 
powers  as  in  the  faid  aft  are  for 
that  purpofe  mentioned,  provided, 
and  created.  And  whereas  we  are 
earneflly  defirous  to  carry  into  full 
and  perfect  execution  the  feveral 
juft  and  gracious  purpofes  above- 
mentioned  :  Now  know  ye,  that 
we  have  revoked  and  determined, 
and  by  thefe  prefents  do  revoke 
and  determine  our  faid  recited 
commiffion  and  letters  patent,  and 
ail  and  every  power,  authority, 
claufe,  article,  and  thing  therein 
contained.  And  further  know  ye, 
that  we,  repofing  efpeciai  truft 
and  confidence  in  your  wifdom, 
loyalty,  diligence  and  circumfpec- 
tion  in  the  management  of  the  af¬ 
fairs  to  be  hereby  committed  to 
your  charge,  have  nominated  and 
appointed,  conftituted  and  align¬ 
ed,  and  by  thefe  prefents  we  do 
nominate,  appoint,  conftitute  and 
affign  you,  the  faid  Frederick  Earl 
of,  Carlisle,  Richard  Vifcount 
Howe,  Sir  William  Howe,  Wil¬ 
liam-  Eden,  and  George  John- 
ftone,  or  any  three  of  you,  to  be 
our  Commiffioners  in  that  be¬ 
half,  f.o  ufe  and  exercife  all  and 
every  the  powers  and  authorities 
hereby  entrufted  and  commit¬ 
ted  to  you,  the  faid  Frederick 

Earl 


STATE 


Earl  of  Carli{le,  Richard  Vifcount 
Howe,  Sir  William  Howe,  Wil¬ 
liam  Eden,  George  Johnftone,  or 
any  three  of  you,  and  to  fo  per¬ 
form  and  execute  all  other  matters 
and  things  hereby  enjoined  and 
committed  to  your  care,  during 
ear  will  and  pleafure,  and  no 
longer,  according  to  the  tenor  of 
thefe  our  letters  patent,  and  of 
fuch  further  inftru&ions  as  you 
fhall  from  time  to  time  receive 
under  our  fignet  or  fign  manual. 
And  it  is  our  royal  will  and  plea¬ 
fure,  and  we  do  hereby  authorife, 
empower,  and  require  you,  the 
faid  Frederick  Earl  of  Carlifle, 
Richard  Vifcount  Howe,  Sir  Wil¬ 
liam  Howe,  William  Eden,  George 
Johnftone,  or  any  three  of  you,  to 
treat,  confult  and  agree  with  fuch 
body  or  bodies  politic  and  corpo¬ 
rate,  or  with  fuch  affembly  or  af- 
femblies  of  men,  or  with  fuch  per- 
fon  or  perfons  as  you,  the  faid 
Frederick  Earl  of  Carlifle,  Richard 
Vifcount  Howe,  Sir  William  Howe, 
William  Eden,  George  johnftone, 
or  any  three  of  you  fhall  think  meet 
and  Efficient  for  that  purpofe,  of 
and  concerning  any  grievances, 
or  complaints  of  grievances,  exift- 
ing,  or  fuppofed  to  exift,  in  the 
government  of  any  of  the  Colonies, 
Provinces  or  Plantations  above- 
mentioned  refpe&ively,  or  in  the 
laws  and  ftatutes  of  this  realm,  re- 
fpedting  them  or  any  of  them,  or 
of  and  concerning  any  aids  or  con¬ 
tributions  to  be  furnifhed  by  any 
of  the  faid  Colonies,  Provinces, 
or  Plantations  refpe&ively,  for  the 
common  defence  of  this  realm,  and 
the  dominions  thereunto  belong¬ 
ing  ;  and  of  and  concerning  any 
other  regulations,  provifions,  mat¬ 
ters  and  things,  neceflary  or  con¬ 
venient  for  the  honour  of  us  and 


PAPERS.  (325 

our  parliament,  and  for  the  corn" 
mon  good  of  all  our  fubjetts* 
And  it  is  our  further  will  and  plea" 
fure.  That  every  regulation,  pro- 
vifion,  matter,  or  thing,  which 
fhall  have  been  agreed  upon  be¬ 
tween  you,  the  faid  Frederick  Earl 
of  Carlifle,  Richard  Vifcount 
Howe,  Sir  William  Howe,  Wil¬ 
liam  Eden,  George  Johnftone,  or 
any  three  of  you,  and  luch  per¬ 
fons  or  bodies  politic  as  aforefaid, 
whom  you  or  any  three  of  you 
have  judged  meet  and  fufficient  to 
enter  into  fuch  agreement,  fhall 
be  fully  and  diftin&ly  let  forth  in 
writing,  and  authenticated  by  the 
hands  and  feals  of  you  or  any 
three  of  you  on  one  fide,  and  by 
fuch  feals  and  other  fignature  on 
the  other  as  the  occafion  may  re¬ 
quire,  and  as  may  be  fuitable  to 
the  character  and  authority  of  the 
body  politic  or  other  perfon  fo 
agreeing  ;  and  fuch  inftruments  fo 
authenticated  fhall  be  by  you  or 
any  three  of  you  transmitted  to  one 
of  our  principal  Secretaries  of  State, 
in  order  to  be  laid  before  our  par¬ 
liament,  for  the  further  and  more 
perfect  ratification  thereof ;  and  un¬ 
til  fuch  ratification,  no  fuch  regu¬ 
lation,  provifion,  matter  or  thing, 
fhall  have  any  other  force  or  ef¬ 
fect,  or  be  carried  further  into  ex¬ 
ecution  than  is  hereafter  mention¬ 
ed.  And  we  do  hereby  further 
authorife  and  empower  you,  the 
faid  Frederick  Earl  of  Carlifle, 
Richard  Vifcount  Howe,  Sir  Wil¬ 
liam  Howe,  William  Eden,  and 
George  Johnftone,  or  any  three  of 
you,  from  time  to  time,  as  you  or 
any  three  of  you  fhall  judge  con¬ 
venient,  to  order  and  proclaim  a 
cefl’ation  of  hofti  1  i ties  pn  the  part 
of  our  forces  by  fea  or  land,  for 
fuch  time,  and  unde,r  fuch  condi- 
[J]  3  tiofl-s* 


3 2 6]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778.' 


tions,  reflriftions,  or  other  qualifi¬ 
cations  as  in  your  difcretions 
fhall  be  thought  requiiite,  and 
iuch  order  and  proclamation  to 
revoke  and  annul  in  the  fame 
manner  and  form.— -And  it  is  our 
further  will  and  pleafure,  and  we 
do  hereby  require  and  command 
all  our  officers  and  minifters,  civil 
and  military,  and  all  other  our 
loving  fubjefts  whatfoever,  to  ob- 
ferve  and  obey  all  fuch  proclama¬ 
tions  refpeclively.  And  we  do 
hereby,  in  further  purfuance  of 
•the  faid  aft:  of  parliament,  and  of 
the  provifions  therein  contained, 
authorife  and  empower  you  the 
faid  Frederick  Earl  of  Carlifle, 
Richard  Vifcount  Howe,  Sir  Wil¬ 
liam  Howe,  William  Eden,  and 
George  Johnflone,  or  any  three  of 
you,  by  proclamation  under  your 
xefpeftive  hands  and  feals,  from 
time  to  time,  as  you  fhall  fee  con¬ 
venient,  to  fufpend  the  operation 
and  effeft  of  a  certain  aft  of  par¬ 
liament,  made  and  palled  in  the 
16th  year  of  our  reign,  for  prohi¬ 
biting  all  trade  and  intercourfe 
with  certain  Colonies  and  Planta¬ 
tions  therein  named,  and  for  the 
other  purpofes  therein  alfo  men¬ 
tioned,  or  any  of  the  provifions  or 
relfriftions  therein  contained,  and 
therein  to  fpecify  at  what  time  and 
places  refpeftively,  7and  with  what 
exceptions  and  reflriftions,  and 
tinder  what  paffes  and  clearances, 
in  lieu  of  thofe  heretofore  direfted 
by  any  aft  or  afts  of  parliament, 
for  regulating  the  trade  of  the  Co¬ 
lonies  and  Plantations,  the  faid 
fufpenfion  fhall  take  effeft,  and 
the  faid  fufpenfion  and  proclama¬ 
tion  in  the  fame  manner  and  form 
to  annul  and  revoke.  And  we  do 
hereby  further  authorife  and  em¬ 
power  you,  the  faid  Frederick  Earl 


of  Carlifle,  Richard  Vifcounfr 
Howe,  Sir  William  Howe,  Wil¬ 
liam  Eden  and  George  johnflone, 
or  any  three  of  you,  from  time  to 
time,  as  you  fhall  judge  conve¬ 
nient,  to  fufpend  in  any  places, 
and  for  any  time  during  the  con¬ 
tinuance  of  the  faid  firfl  recited 
aft,  the  operation  and  effeft  of 
any  aft  or  afts  of  parliament  which 
have  paffed  fince  the  10th  day  of 
February,  1763.  and  which  relate 
to  any  of  our  Colonies,  Provinces, 
or  Plantations  aboyementioned  in 
North  America,  fo  far  as  the  fame 
relate  to  them,  or  any  of  them,  or 
the  operation  and  effect  of  any 
claufe,  or  any  provifion  or  other 
matter  in  fuch  afts  contained,  fo 
far  as  fuch  claufes,  provifions,  or 
matters,  relate  to  any  of  the  faid 
Colonies,  Provinces,  or  Planta¬ 
tions.  And  we  do  hereby  further 
authorize  and  impower  you,  the 
faid  Frederick  Earl  of  Carlifle, 
Richard  Vifcount  Howe,  Sir  Wil¬ 
liam  Howe,  Williain  Eden,  and 
George  Johnftone,  or  any  three  of 
you,  to  grant  a  pardon,  or  par-, 
dons,  to  any  number  or  descrip¬ 
tion  of  perfons  within  the  faid  Co¬ 
lonies,  Provinces,  or  Plantations. 
And  we  do  hereby  further  autho¬ 
rize  and  empower  you,  the  faid 
Frederick  Earl  of  Carlifle,  Richard 
Vifcount  Howe,  Sir  William  Howe, 
William  Eden,  and  George  John- 
llone,  or  any  three  of  you,  in  any 
of  our  Colonies,  Provinces,  and 
Plantations  aforefaid  refpeftively, 
wherein  we  have  ulually  heretofore 
nominated  and  appointed  a  Go¬ 
vernor,  to  nominate  and  appoint, 
from  time  to  time,  by  any  inftru- 
ment  under  your  hands  and  feals, 
or  the  hands  and  feals  of  any  three 
of  you,  a  proper  perfon,  to  be  the 
Governor  and  Commanderin  Chief 

in 


t 


STATE 

in  and  for  fuch  Colony,  Province, 
or  Plantation  refpe&ively,  to  have, 
hold,  and  exercife  the  faid  office 
of  Governor  and  Commander  in 
Chief  in  and  for  fnch  Colony, 
Province,  or  Plantation  refpedlive- 
ly,  with  all  fuch  powers  and  au¬ 
thorities  any  Governor  of  fuch  Pro¬ 
vince,  heretofore  appointed  by  us, 
might  or  could  have  exercifed,  in 
as  full  and  ample  manner  and 
form  as  if  fuch  Governor  and  Com¬ 
mander  in  Chief  had  been  nomi¬ 
nated  and  appointed  by  our  letters 
patent  heretofore  granted  for  ap¬ 
pointing  any  fuch  Governor  and 
Commander  in  Chief.  Whereas, 
by  certain  letters  patent  under  our 
great  feal,  bearing  date  on  the 
29th  day  of  April,  in  the  lixteenth 
year  of  our  reign,  we  have  ccnfti- 
tuted  and  appointed  you,  the  faid 
Sir  William  Howe,  to  be  General 
and  Commander  in  Chief  ©f  all 
and  fingular  our  forces  employed, 
or  to  be  employed,  within  our  Co¬ 
lonies  of  North  America,  lying 
upon  the  Atlantic  ocean,  from 
Nova-Scotia  on  the  North,  to 
Weft-Florida  on  the  South,  both 
inclulive,  to  have,  hold,  exercife, 
and  enjoy  the  faid  office  during 
our  will  and  pleafure  ;  and  in  cafe 
you,  the  faid  Sir  William  Howe, 
Ihould,  by  death,  or  any  other 
manner,  be  difabled  from  exer- 
cifing  the  faid  command,  it  was 
our  will  and  pleafure,  therein  ex- 
preffed,  that  the  fame,  with  all 
authorities,  rights,  and  privileges, 
contained  in  that  our  faid  commif- 
fion,  fhould  devolve  upon  the  per- 
fon  who  ihould  be  next  in  rank  to 
the  faid  Sir  William  Howe.  And 
whereas  our  trufty  and  well  belov¬ 
ed  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  Knight  of 
the  molt  honourable  Order  of  the 
Bath,  Lieutenant-General  of  our 


PAPERS.  [327 

forces,  and  General  of  our  forces 
in  our  army  in  America  only,  now 
adlually  bears  our  commiffion,  and 
is  next  in  rank  to  you,  the  faid 
Sir  William  Howe  :  know  it  is 
our  w^ll  and  pleafure,  and  we 
do  hereby  order  and  appoint, 
that  whenever  the  faid  command 
in  the  faid  letters  patent  mention¬ 
ed  fhall,  in  purfuance  thereof,  de¬ 
volve  upon  the  faid  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  all  and  every  the  powers 
and  authorities  hereby  entrufted  and 
committed  to  you  the  faid  Sir  Wil¬ 
liam  Howe,  fhall  forthwith  ceafe 
and  determine,  and  the  faid  pow¬ 
ers  and  authorities,  and  every  of 
them,  fhall  from  thenceforth  be 
entrufted  and  committed,  and  are 
hereby  entrufted  and  committed, 
to  the  faid  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  ta 
ufe  and  exercife  the  fame  powers 
and  authorities,  and  to  perform 
and  execute  all  other  the  matters 
and  things  as  aforefaid,  in  as  full 
and  ample  extent  and  form,  and 
no  other,  as  you,  the  faid  Sir  Wil¬ 
liam  Howe,  are  hereby  authorifed 
to  ufe  and  exercife,  do,  perform, 
and  execute  the  fame.  And  we 
do  hereby  require  and  command 
all  our  officers,  civil  and  military, 
and  all  other  our  loving  fubjefts 
whatfoever,  to  be  aiding  and  affift- 
ing  unto  you,  the  faid  Frederick 
E^rlcf  Carlifle,  Richard  Vifcount 
Howe,  Sir  William  Howe,  Wil¬ 
liam  Eden,  and  George  Johnftone, 
in  the  execution  of  this  our  com¬ 
miffion,  and  of  the  powers  and  au¬ 
thorities  therein  contained.  Pro¬ 
vided  always,  and  we  do  hereby 
declare  and  ordain,  that  the  feveraf 
offices,  powers,  and  authorities 
hereby  granted,  fhall  ceafe,  deter¬ 
mine,  and  become  utterly  null  and 
void,  on  the  lft  day  of  June,  which, 
fhall  be  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
[X]  4  W79> 


328]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


1779,  although  we  {hall  not  other- 
wife  in  the  mean  time  have  revoked 
and  determined  the  fame.  In  wit- 
nefs  whereof,  we  have  caufed  thefe 
our  letters  to  be  made  patent. 
Witnefs  ourfeif,  at  Weftminfter, 
the  13th  day  of  April,  in  the  1 8th. 
year  of  our  reign. 

By  the  King  Kimfelf, 

YORK. 


1/ldnifeJio  and  Proclamation  by  his 
Majejiy' s  American  Commijjioners . 

J  'j  AVING  amply  and  repeat*, 
|  edly  made  known  to  the 
Congrefs,  and  having  alfo  pro¬ 
claimed  to  the  inhabitants  of  North 
America  in  general,  the  benevo¬ 
lent  overtures  of  Great  Britain  to¬ 
wards  are-  union  and  coalition  with 
her  colonies,  we  do  not  think  it 
confident  either  with  the  duty  we 
owe  fo  our  country,  or  with  a  juft: 
regard  to  the  characters  we  bear, 
to  perfift  in  holding  out  offers  which 
in  on  ellimation  required  only  to 
be  known  to  be  moil  gratefully 
accepted;  and  we  have  according¬ 
ly,  excepting  only  the  commander 
in  chief,  who  will  be  detained  by 
military  duties,  refolved  to  return 
to  England  a  few  weeks  after  the 
date  of  this  manifeito  and  procla¬ 
mation- 

Previous  however  to  this  decisive 
Hep,  we  are  led  by  a  juft  anxiety 
for  the  great  objects  of  our  million, 
to  enlarge  on  fome  points  which 
may  not  have  been  fufficien tly  tin- 
derftood,  to  recapitulate  to  our  fel¬ 
low -fubjefts  the  bleftings  which  we 
are  empowered  to  confer,  and  to 
warn  them  of  the  continued  evils 
to  which  they  are  at  prefeiu  blind¬ 


ly  and  obftinately  expofing  them* 
felves. 

To  the  members  of  the  congrefs 
then,  we  again  declare  that  we  are 
ready  to  concur  in  all  fatisfa&ory 
and  juft  arrangements  for  fecuring 
to  them  and  their  refpediive  confti- 
teents  the  re  eliablilhxnent  of  peace, 
with  the  exemption  from  any  im- 
pofition  of  taxes  by  the  parliament 
of  Great  Britain,  and  the  irrevo¬ 
cable  enjoyment  of  every  privilege 
confident  with  that  union  of  inte- 
refts  and  force  on  which  our  mu¬ 
tual  profperity,  and  the  fafety  of 
our  common  religion  and  liberties 
depend.  We  again  affert  that  the 
members  of  the  congrefs  were  not 
authorifed  by  their  conftituents, 
e  i  t  h  e  r  t  o  r  e j  e  £ t  o  u  r  o  ffe  r  s  w  i  t  h  o  u  1 1  h  e 
previous  coniideradon  and  confent 
of  the  feveral  affemblies  and  con¬ 
ventions,  their  conftituents,  or  to 
refer  us  to  pretended  foreign  trea¬ 
ties,  which  they  know  were  delu- 
iively  framed  in  the  fir  ft  inftance, 
and  which  have  never  yet  been 
ratified  by  the;  people  of  this  con¬ 
tinent.  And  we  once  more  remind 
the  members  of  the  congrefs,  that 
they  are  refponfible  to  their  coun¬ 
trymen,  to  the  world,  and  to  God, 
for  the  continuance  of  this  war,  and 
for  all  the  miferies  with  which  it 
mull:  be  attended. 

To  the  general  affemblies  and 
conventions  of  the  different  colo¬ 
nies,  plantations,  and  provinces 
abovementioned,  we  now  feparate- 
ly  make  the  offers  which  we  origi¬ 
nally  tranfmitted  to  the  congrefs  ; 
and  we  hereby  call  upon  and  urge 
them  to  meet  exprefsly  for  the  pur- 
pofe  of  confidering  whether  every 
motive,  political  as  well  as  moral, 
fhould  not  decide  their  refolutiop 
to  embrace  the  occafion  pf  cement7 

|Bg 


STATE 

ing  a  free  and  firm  coalition  with 
Great  Britain.  It  has  not  been, 
nor  is  it  our  wifh,  to  feek  the  ob¬ 
jects  which  we  are  commiflioned  to 
purfue  by  fomenting  popular  divi- 
fionsand  partial  cabals ;  we  think 
fuch  conduct  would  be  ill  fuited  to 
the  eenerous  nature  of  the  offers 

O  #  .  .  ,  , 

made,  and  unbecoming  the  digni¬ 
ty  of  the  king,  and  the  date  which 
make  them.  But  it  is  both  our 
wifh  and  our  duty  to  encourage  and 
fupport  any  men,  or  bodies  of  men, 
in  their  return  of  loyalty  to  our  So¬ 
vereign,  and  affection  to  our  fel¬ 
low  fubjecls. 

To  all  others,  free  inhabitants 
of  this  once  happy  empire,  we  alfo 
addrefs  ourfelves.  Such  of  them 
as  are  actually  in  arms,  of  whatfo- 
ever  rank  or  defcription,  will  do 
well  to  recolledl,  that  the  grievan¬ 
ces,  whether  real  or  fuppofed,  which 
led  them  into  this  rebellion,  have 
been  for  ever  removed,  and  that 
the  juft  occafion  is  arrived  for  their 
returning  to  the  clafs  of  peaceful 
citizens.  But  if  the  honours  of  a 
military  life  are  become  their  ob¬ 
ject,  let  them  feek  thofe  honours 
under  the  banners  of  their  rightful 
fbvereign,  and  in  fighting  the  bat¬ 
tles  of  the  united  Britifh  empire, 
againft  our  late  mutual  and  natu¬ 
ral  enemies. 

To  thofe  whofe  profeflion  it  is 
to  exercile  the  functions  of  religion 
on  this  continent,  it  cannot  finely 
be  unknown,  that  the  fovereign 
power  with  which  the  congrefs  is 
endeavouring  to  conned  them,  has 
ever  been  averfe  to  toleration,  and 
inveterately  oppofed  to  the  intereft 
and  freedom  of  the  places  of  wor¬ 
ship  which  they  ferve ;  and  that 
Great  Britain,  from  whom  they  are 
for  the  prefent  fepara ted,  mult,  both 
from  the  principles  of  her  conltitu- 


PAPERS.  [329 

tion  and  of  proteftantifm,  be  at  all 
times  the  belt  guardian  of  religious 
liberty,  and  moll  difpofed  to  pro¬ 
mote  and  extend  it. 

To  all  thofe  who  can  eftimate  the 
bleffings  of  peace,  and  its  influence 
over  agriculture,  arts,  and  com¬ 
merce,  who  can  feel  a  due  anxiety 
for  the  education  and  eftabliftiment 
of  their  children,  or  who  can  place 
a  juft  value  on  domeftic  fecurity, 
we  think  it  fufficient  to  obferve, 
that  they  are  made  bytheir  leaders 
to  continue  involved  in  all  the  ca¬ 
lamities  of  war,  without  having 
either  a  juft  object  to  purfue,  or  a 
fubfifting  grievance  which  may  not; 
inftantly  be  redrefted. 

But  if  there  be  any  perfons  who 
divefted  of  miftaken  refentments, 
and  uninfluenced  by  felfifti  inte- 
refts,  really  think  that,  it  is  for  the 
benefit  of  the  colonies  to  feparate 
themfelves  from  Great  Britain, 
and  that  fo  feparated  they  will  find 
a  conftitution  more  mild,  more  free, 
and  better  calculated  for  their 
profperity,  than  that  which  they 
heretofore  enjoyed,  and  which  we 
are  impowered  and  difpofed  to  re¬ 
new  and  improve;  with  fuch  per¬ 
fons  we  will  not  difpute  a  pofitioa 
which  feems  to  be  f efficiently  con¬ 
tradicted  by  the  experience  they 
have  had.  But  we  think  it  right 
to  leave  them  fully  aware  of  the 
change,  which  the  maintaining  of 
fuch  a  pofitlon  mull;  make  in  the 
whole  nature  and  future  conduct 
of  this  war,  more  efpecially  when 
to  this  pofition  is  added  the  pre¬ 
tended  alliance  with  the  court  of 
France.  “  The  policy,  as  well  as 
the  benevolence  of  Great  Britain, 
have  thus  far  checked  the  extremes 
of  war,  when  they  tended  to  diftrefs 
a  people  Hill  confidered  as  our  fel-. 
low-fubje&s,  and  to  defolate  a 

country 


$3o]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177S 


country  fhortly  to  become  again  a 
fource  of  mutual  advantage;  but 
when  that  country  profefTes  the  un¬ 
natural  defign  not  only  of  edranging 
herfelf  from  us,  but  of  mortgaging 
berfelfand  her  refources  to  our  ene¬ 
mies,  the  whole  canted  is  changed ; 
and  the  queftion  is,  how  far  Great 
Britain  may,  by  every  means  in  her 
power,  deftroy  or  render  ufelefs  a 
connection  contrived  for  her  ruin, 
and  for  the  aggrandizement  of 
France.  Under  fuch  circumdances, 
the  laws  of  felf  prefervation  mutt 
diredt  the  conduCt  of  Great  Britain, 
and  if  the  Britilh  colonies  are  to 
become  an  acceffion  to  France,  will 
direCt  her  to  render  that  acceffion 
of  as  little  avail  as  podible  to  her 
enemy.’* 

If,  however,  there  are  any  who 
think  that  notwithdanding  thefe 
reafonings  the  independence  of  the 
colonies  will  in  the  refult  be  ac¬ 
knowledged  by  Great  Britain,  to 
them  we  anfwer,  without  referve, 
that  we  neither  poffefs  nor  expeCt 
powers  for  that  purpofe  :  and  that 
If  Great  Britain  could  ever  have 
funk  fo  low  as  to  adopt  fuch  a  mea- 
fure,  we  fhould  not  have  thought 
ourfelves  compellable  to  be  the  in- 
ilruments  in  making  a  conceffion 
which  would,  in  our  opinion,  be 
calamitous  to  the  colonies,  for 
whom  it  was  made,  and  difgraceful, 
as  well  as  calamitous,  to  the  coun¬ 
try  from  which  it  is  required.  And 
we  think  proper  to  declare,  that  in 
this  fpirit  and  fentiment  we  have 
regularly  written  from  the  conti¬ 
nent  to  Great  Britain. 

It  will  now  become  the  colonies 
In  general  to  call  to  mind  their  own 
folemn  appeals  to  heaven,  in  the 
beginning  of  this  conted,  that  they 
took  arms  only  for  the  redrefs  of 
grievances,  and  that  it  would  be 


their  wifh,  as  well  as  their  intereff, 
to  remain  for  ever  connected  with 
Great  Britain.  We  again  afk  them, 
whether  all  their  grievances,  real 
or  fuppofed,  have  not  been  amply 
and  fully  redreffed  ;  and  we  infid: 
that  the  offers  we  have  made,  leave 
nothing  to  be  wifhed  in  point  either 
of  immediate  liberty,  or  permanent 
fecurity  ;  if  thofe  offers  are  now 
rejeCled,  we  withdraw  from  the 
exercifeof  a  commiffion  with  which 
we  have  in  vain  been  honoured  ; 
the  fame  liberality  will  no  longer 
be  due  from  Great  Britain,  nor 
can  it  either  in  judice  or  policy  be 
expeCted  from  her. 

In  fine,  and  for  the  fuller  mani- 
fedation  as  well  of  the  difpofition 
we  bear,  as  of  the  gracious  and 
generous  purpofes  of  the  commif- 
iion  under  which  we  aCt,  we  hereby 
declare,  that  whereas  his  Majedy, 
in  purfuance  of  an  aCt,  made  and 
paffed  in  the  lad  feflion  of  parli¬ 
ament,  intituled,  ii  An  aCtto  ena¬ 
ble  his  Majedy  to  appoint  commifli- 
oners  with  fufhcient  powers  to  treat, 
confult,  and  agree  upon  the  means 
of  quieting  the  diforders  now  fub- 
fiding  in  certain  of  the  colonies, 
plantations,  and  provincesin  North 
America,’*  having  been  pleafed  to 
authorife  and  impower  us  to  grant 
a  pardon  or  pardons  to  any  number 
or  defcription  of  perfons  within  the 
colonies,  plantations,  and  provin¬ 
ces  of  New  Hampfhire,  Maffachu- 
fetts  Bay,  Rhode  Ifland,  Connec¬ 
ticut,  New  York,  New  Jerfey* 
Penfylvania,  the  three  lower  coun¬ 
ties  on  Delaware,  Maryland,  Vir¬ 
ginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Ca¬ 
rolina  and  Georgia.  And  whereas 
the  good  effeCts  of  the  faid  authori¬ 
ties  and  powers  towards  the  people 
at  large,  would  havelongfmce  taken 
place,  if  a  due  ufe  had  been  made 


state 

of  oar  firft  communications  and 
overtures ;  and  have  thus  tar  been 
fruitrated  oniy  by  the  precipitate  re- 
folution  of  the  members  of  the  con- 
grefs  not  to  treat  with  us,  and  by 
their  declining  to  confult  with  their 
conftituents,  we  now,  in  making  our 
appeal  to  thofe  conllituents,  and 
to  the  free  inhabitants  of  this  con¬ 
tinent  in  general,  have  determined 
to  give  them  what  in  our  opinion 
fhould  have  been  the  firft  objedt  of 
thofe  who  appeared  to  have  taken 
the  management  of  their  interefts, 
and  adopt  this  mode  of  carrying  the 
faid  authorities  and  powers  into 
execution.  We  accordingly  here¬ 
by  grant  and  proclaim  a  pardon  or 
pardons  of  all,  and  all  manner  of 
treafons  or  mifprifion  of  treafons, 
by  any  perfon  or  perfons,  or  by  any 
number  or  defcription  of  perfons 
within  the  faid  colonies,  planta¬ 
tions  or  provinces,  counfelled,  com¬ 
manded,  adted,  or  done,  on  or  be¬ 
fore  the  date  of  this  manifeito  and 
proclamation. 

And  we  further  declare  and  pro¬ 
claim,  that  if  any  perfon  or  per¬ 
fons,  or  any  number  or  defcription 
of  perfons  within  the  faid  colonies, 
plantations  and  provinces,  now  ac¬ 
tually  ferving  either  in  a  military 
or  civil  capacity  in  this  rebellion, 
lhall,  at  any  time  during  the  con¬ 
tinuance  of  this  manifeito  and  pro¬ 
clamation,  withdraw  himfelf  or 
themfelves  from  fuch  civil  or  mili¬ 
tary  fervice,  and  fhall  continue 
thenceforth  peaceably,  as  a  good 
and  faithful  fubjedt  or  fubjedts  to 
his  Majefty  to  demean  himfelf  or 
themfelves,  fuch  perfon  or  perfons, 
or  fuch  number  and  defcription  of 
perfons,  (hall  become  and  be  fully 
entitled  to,  and  hereby  obtain,  all 
the  benefits  of  the  pardon  or  par¬ 
dons  hereby  granted ;  excepting 
only  from  the  faid  pardon  or  par- 


PAPERS.  [331 

dons  every  perfon,  and  every  num¬ 
ber  or  defcription  of  perfons,  who, 
after  the  date  of  this  manifeito  and 
proclamation,  fhall,  under  the  pre¬ 
text  of  authority,  as  judges,  jury¬ 
men,  minifters,  or  officers  of  civil 
juftice,  be  initrumental  inexecuting; 
and  putting  to  death  any  of  his 
Majefty’s  fubjedts  within  the  faid 
colonies,  plantations,  and  provin¬ 
ces. 

And  we  think  proper  further  to 
declare,  that  nothing  herein  con¬ 
tained  is  meant,  or  fhall  be  con- 
ftrued,  to  fet  at  liberty  any  perfon 
or  perfons  now  being  prifoner  or 
prifoners,  or  who  during  the  con¬ 
tinuance  of  this  rebellion,  fhall  be¬ 
come  a  prifoner  or  prifoners. 

And  we  offer  to  the  colonies  at 
large,  or  feparately,  a  general  or 
feparate  peace,  with  the  revival  of 
their  ancient  government,  fecured 
againft  any  future  infringements* 
and  protedted  forever  from  taxation 
by  Great  Britain.  And  with  re- 
fpedt  to  fuch  further  regulations, 
whether  civil,  military,  or  com¬ 
mercial,  as  tfyey  may  wifh  to  be 
framed  and  eftablilhed,  we  promife 
all  the  concurrence  and  affiftance 
that  his  Majefty’s  commiftion  au- 
thorifes  and  enables  us  to  give. 

And  we  further  declare  that  this 
manifeito  and  proclamation  fhall. 
continue  and  be  in  force  forty 
days  from  the  date  hereof ;  that  is 
to  fay,  from  the  third  day  of  Odlo- 
ber,  to  the  eleventh  day  of  Novem¬ 
ber,  both  inclufive. 

A  nd  in  order  that  the  whole  con¬ 
tents  of  this  manifefto  and  procla¬ 
mation  may  be  more  fully  known, 
we  fhall  diredt  copies  thereof,  both 
in  the  Engliffi  and  German  lan¬ 
guage,  to  be  tranfmitted  by  flags  of 
truce  to  the  congrefs,  the  general 
affemblies  or  conventions  of  the 
colonies,  plantations  and  provinces. 


•322]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778: 


and  to  feveral  perfons  both  in  civil 
and  military  capacities  within  the 
faid  colonies,  plantations  and  pro¬ 
vinces.  And  for  the  further  fecu- 
ri ty  in  times  to  come  of  the  feveral 
perfons,  or  numbers  or  defcriptlons 
of  perfons,  who  are  or  may  be  the 
©bjefts  of  this  manifeilo  and  procla¬ 
mation,  we  have  fet  our  hands  and 
ieals  to  thirteen  copies  thereof,  and 
liave  tranfmitted  the  fame  to  the 
thirteen  colonies,  plantations  and 
provinces  aboyementioned,  and  we 
are  willing  to  hope  that  the  whole  of 
this  manifeilo  and  proclamation 
will  be  fairly  and  freely  pubiilhed 
and  circulated,  for  the  immediate, 
general,  and  mod  ferious  confide- 
ration  and  benefit  of  all  his  Majef- 
ty’s  fubjeCls  on  this  continent. 
And  we  earneftly  exhort  all  perfons 
who  by  this  inllrument  forthwith 
receive  the  benefit  of  the  king’s 
pardon,  at  the  fame  time  that  they 
entertain  a  becoming  fenfe  of  thofe 
lenient  and  affectionate  meafures 
whereby  they  are  now  freed  from 
many  grievous  charges  which  might 
have  rifen  in  judgment,  or  have 
been  brought  in  queftion  againll 
them,  to  make  a  wife  improve¬ 
ment  of  the  fituatjon  in  which  this 
manifeilo  and  proclamation  places 
them,  and  not  only  to  recoiled 
that  a  perfeverance  in  the  prefent 
rebellion,  or  any  adherence  to  the 
treafonable  connection  attempted  to 
be  framed  with  a  foreign  power, 
will,  after  the  prefent  grace  ex¬ 
tended,  be  confidered  as  crimes  of 
the  moll  aggravated  kind  ;  but  to 
vie  with  each  other  in  eager  and 
cordial  endeavours  to  fecure  their 
own  peace,  and  promote  and  elta- 
^  blilh  the  profperity  of  their  coun¬ 
trymen,  and  the  general  weal  of  the 
empire. 

And  purfuant  to  his  Majefty’s 
commiffion,  we  hereby  require  all 
n 


officers  civil  and  military,  and  all 
others  his  Majelty’s  loving  fubjeCls 
whatfoever,  to  be  aiding  and  af- 
filling  unto  us  in  the  execution  of 
this  our  manifeilo  and  proclama¬ 
tion,  and  of  all  the  matters  herein 
contained. 

Given  at  New  York,  this  third 

day  of  October,  1 778. 

CARLISLE  (L.  S.) 

H.  CLINTON  (L.  S.) 

Wjvf.  EDEN  (L.  S.) 

By  their  Excellency’s  Command* 
Adam  Ferguson,  Secretary. 


(['be  following  is  an  authentic  Copy  of 
the  InfiruMions  given  by  Congrefs 
to  the  American  Plenipotentiaries 
fent  to  the  feveral  Courts  of  Europe. 

In  CONGRESS,  Dec.  30,  1776. 

Refolved, 

^rllAT  commiffioners  be  fent 
j;  to  the  courts  of  Vienna, 
France,  Spain,.  Pruffia,  and  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Tufcany. 

That  the  feveral  Commiffioners 
of  the  United  States  be  infiruCted 
to  affure  the  refpeCtive  courts,  that 
notwithilanding  the  artful  and  infi- 
dioas  endeavours  of  the  court  of 
Great  Britain  to  reprefent  the  con¬ 
grefs  and  inhabitants  of  thefe  Hates 
to  the  European  powers,  as  having 
a  difpofition  again  to  fubmit  to  the 
fovereignty  of  the  crown  of  Great 
Britain,  it  is  their  determination, 
at  all  events,  to  maintain  their  in¬ 
dependence. 

That  the  commiffioners  be  re- 
fpeClively  directed  to  ufe  every 
mSans  in  their  power,  to  procure 
the  affiftance  of  the  Emperor  of 
Germany,  and  of  their  moll  Chrif- 
tian.  Catholic,  and  Prufiian  Majes¬ 
ties,  for  preventing  Ruffian,  Ger¬ 
man,  and  other  foreign  troops, 

from 


PAPERS. 


STATE 

from  being  fent  to  North  America 
for  hoftile  purpofes  againft  thei 
United  States,  and  for  obtaining  a 
recall  of  thofe  already  fent. 

That  his  moft  Chriftian  Majefty 
be  induced,  if  poftible,  to  aflift  the 
United  States  in  the  preient  war 
with  Great  Britain,  by  attacking 
the  Electorate  of  Hanover,  or  any 
part  of  the  dominions  of  Great  Bri¬ 
tain  in  Europe,  the  Eaft  or  Weft 
Indies.  - 

That  the  Commiflioners  be  fur¬ 
ther  empowered  to  ftipulate  with  the 
court  of  France,  that  all  the  trade 
between  the  United  States,  and  the 
Weft  India  Iflands,  fhall  be  car¬ 
ried  on  by  veflels  either  belonging 
to  the  fubjects  of  his  moft  chriftian 
majefty  or  thefe  ftates,  each  having 
liberty  to  carry  on  fuch  trade. 

That  the  Commiflioners  be  like- 
wife  inftruCted  to  a  fl  u  re  his  moft 
chriftian  majefty,  that  lhould  his 
forces  be  employed,  in  conjunction 
with  the  united  ftates,  to  exclude 
his  Britannic  Majefty  from  any 
fhare  in  the  cod  hlhery  of  Ame¬ 
rica,  by  reducing  the  iftands  of 
Newfoundland  and  (^ape  Breton  ; 
and  that  ftiips  of  war  be  furnilhed, 
when  required,  by  the  united  ftates 
to  reduce  Nova  Scotia,  the  fifhery 
iliall  be  enjoyed  equally,  and  in 
common,  by  the  fubjeCts  of  his 
moft  chriftian  majefty.  provided  the 
province  of  Nova  Scotia,  ifland  of 
Cape  Breton,  and  the  remaining 
part  of  Newfoundland,  be  annexed 
to  the  territory  and  government  of 
the  united  ftates. 

That  lhould  the propofals,  made 
as  above,  be  insufficient  to  pro 
dace  the  propofed  declaration  of 
war,  and  the  commiflioners  are 
convinced  that  it  cannot  otherwife 
be  accompl  fhed,  they  muft  aifure 
his  moft  chriftian  majefty,  that  fuch 
of  the  Britilh  Weft  India  iflands. 


[333 

as  in  the  courfe  of  the  war  fhall  be 
reduced  by  the  united  force  of 
France  and  thefe  ftates,  fhall  be 
yielded  an  abfolute  property  to  his 
moft  chriftian  majefty.  The  united 
ftates  engage,  on  timely  notice,  to 
furnifh  at  the  expence  of  the  faid 
ftates,  and  deliver  at  fome  -conve¬ 
nient  port  or  ports,  in  the  faid 
ftates,  provifions  for  carrying  an 
expedition  againft  the  faid  iflands, 
to  the  amount  of  two  millions  of 
dollars,  and  fix  frigates,  mounting 
not  lefs  than  twenty-four  guns 
each,  manned  and  fitted  for  fea  ; 
and  to  render  any  other  afliftance 
which  may  be  in  their  power,  as 
becomes  good  allies. 

That  the  Commiflioners  for  the 
courts  of  France  and  Spain  confuk 
together,  and  prepare  a  treaty  of 
commerce  and  alliance,  as  nearly 
as  may  be,  fimilar  to  the  fir  ft  pro¬ 
pofed  to  the  court  of  France,  and 
not  inconfiaent  therewith,  nor  dis¬ 
agreeable  to  his  moft  chriftian  ma¬ 
jefty,  to  be  propofed  to  the  court 
of  Spain  ;  adding  thereto. 

That  if  his  catholic  majelly  will 
join  with  the  united  ftates  in  a  war 
with  Great  Britain,  they  will  aflift 
in  reducing  to  the  pofleflion  of 
Spain,  the  town  and  harbour  of 
Penfacola,  provided  the  citizens 
-and  inhabitants  of  the  united  liates 
fhall  have  the, free  and  uninterrupt¬ 
ed  navigation  of  the  Miflifippi  and 
the  ufe  of  the  harbour  of  Penfa¬ 
cola;  and  will,  provided  it  fhall  be 
true  that  his  Portuguefe  majefty 
has  infukingjy  expelled  the  veftels 
of  thefe  fates  from  his  port?,  or 
has  con  ft  fca  ted  fuch  veftels,  declare 
war  againft  the  faid  king,  if  that 
meafure  fhall  be  agreeable  to,  and 
fupportcd  by  the  courts  of  France 
and  Spain. , 

That  the  Commiftioners  for  the 
court  of  Berlin,  confult  with  the 

comm  if- 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  ijyg; 


3%  4*1 

commiffioners  at  thecourt  of  France, 
and  prepare  fuch  treaty  or  treaties 
of  friendfhip  and  commerce  to  be 
propofed  to  the  king  of  Pruffia,  as 
fhall  not  be  difagreeable  to  their 
mo  ft  chriftian  and  catholic  majef- 
ties. 

Extra#  of  the  Minutes, 
Charles  Thompson, 
Secretary  of  the  Congrefs. 

By  Order  of  the  Congrefs, 
JOHN  HANCOCK,  Prefident. 

hi  General  AJJembly  of  Venfylvania , 
May  25,  1778. 

The  houfe  refumed  the  confidera- 
tion  of  the  refolves  refpeding  the 
draughts  of  the  two  bills  pro¬ 
pofed  in  the  Britifh  parliament, 
and,  after  confiderable  debates 
thereupon,  they  were  unanimouf- 
ly  adopted  as  follows,  viz. 

^ir^HE  houfe  having  taken  into 
j[  confideration  the  fpeech  of 
Lord  North,  in  theBritilh  houfe  of 
commons,  on  the  19th  of  F  ebruary 
laft,  and  the  two  bills  ordered  to 
foe  brought  in  by  him,  &c.  in  con¬ 
ference  thereof ;  the  one  intituled 
*4  A  bill  for  declaring  the  inten¬ 
tions  of  the  parliament  of  Great 
Britain,  concerning  the  exercife  of 
the  right  of  impofing  taxes  within 
his  inajefty’s  colonies,  provinces, 
and  plantations  in  North  Ameri¬ 
ca  the  other  intituled,  A  Bill 
to  enable  his  majefty  to  appoint 
commiflicmers,  with  fufficient  pow¬ 
er  to  treat,  confult,  and  agree  upon 
the  means  of  quieting  the  diforders 
now  fubfiitingin  certain  of  the  co¬ 
lonies,  plantations,  and  provinces 
in  North  America  together  with 
the  proceedings  of  congrefs  there¬ 
upon  on  the  2 2d  day  of  April  laft, 


as  publilhed  in  the  Penfylvania 
Gazette  of  the  24th  day  of  the  fame 
month  ;  and  having  maturely  con- 
iidered  the  fame,  came  to  the  fol¬ 
lowing  refolutions;  to  wit, 

1*  Refolved  unanimoully.  That 
the  delegates  or  deputies  of  the 
united  ftates  of  America,  in  con¬ 
grefs  aflembled,  are  invefted  with 
exclufive  authority  to  treat  with  the 
king  of  Great  Britain,  or  commif- 
lioners  by  him  duly  appointed,  re¬ 
fpeding  a  peace  between  the  two 
countries. 

2.  Refolved  unanimoully,  That 
any  man,  or  body  of  men,  who 
fhall  prefume  to  make  any  feparate 
or  partial  convention,  or  agreement 
with  the  king  of  Great  Britain,  or 
with  any  commiffioner  or  commif- 
floners  under  the  crown  of  Great 
Britain,  ought  to  be  confldered  and 
treated  as  open  and  avowed  ene¬ 
mies  of  the  united  ftates  of  Ame¬ 
rica. 

3.  Refolved  unanimoully.  That 
this  houfe  highly  approved  of  the 
declaration  of  congrefs;  (f  That 
thefe  united  ftates  cannot,  with 
propriety,  hold  any  conference  or 
treaty  with  any  commilTioners  on 
the  part  of  Great  Britain,  unlefs 
they  fhall,  as  a  preliminary  thereto, 
either  withdraw  their  fleets  and  ar¬ 
mies,  or  elfe  in  pofitive  and  exprefs 
terms  acknowledge  the  indepen¬ 
dence  of  the  faid  ftates.” 

4.  Refolved  unanimoufly,  That 
the  congrefs  have  no  power,  autho¬ 
rity,  or  right,  to  do  any  ad,  mat¬ 
ter,  or  thing  whatfoever,  that  may 
have  a  tendency  to  yield  up  or 
abridge  the  fovereignty  and  inde¬ 
pendence  of  this  ftate,  without  its 
confent  previoufly  obtained. 

5.  Refolved  unanimoufly.  That 
this  hobfe  wiil  maintain,  fupport, 
and  defend  the  fovereignty  and  in¬ 
dependence 


1 


STATE 

dependence  of  this  date  with  their 
lives  and  fortunes. 

6.  Refolved  unanimoufly,  That 
it  be  recommended  to  the  iupreme 
executive  council  of  this  date, 
forthwith  to  order  the  militia  to 
hold  themfelves  in  readinefs  to  a ft 
as  occafion  may  require. 

Extraft  from  the  minutes, 

JOHN  MORRIS,  jun. 

Clerk  of  the  General  Affembly. 

In  CONGRESS. 

June  13,  1778. 

N  exprefs  arrived  with  a  letter 
of  the  nth,  from  General 
Wafhington,  which  was  read,  and 
a  packet  in  which  it  was  inclofed, 
together  with  other  papers,  a  letter 
figned  c  Carlifle,  William  Eden, 
G.  Johndone,’  dated  ‘  Philadel¬ 
phia,  June  9,  1778,’  and  directed 
*  to  his  excellency,  Henry  Laurens, 
the  prefident,  and  other  members 
of  the  congrefs  ;  which  letter  was 
read  to  the  words,  (  infidious  in- 
terpofition  of  a  power,  which  has 
from  the  fird  fettlement  of  thefe 
colonies,  been  aftuated  with  enmity 
to  us  both;  and  notwithdanding 
the  pretended  date  or  form  of  the 
French  offers, *  inclufive;  where¬ 
upon  the  reading  was  interrupted, 
and  a  motion  was  made  not  to  pro¬ 
ceed  farther,  becaufe  of  the  offen- 
five  language  againd  his  mod 
chridian  majefly.  Debate  arifing 
thereon. 

Ordered,  that  the  confideration 
of  the  motion  be  poltponed,  and 
congrefs  adjourned  till  ten  o’clock 
on  Monday  June  16. 

Congrefs  refumed  the  confide¬ 
ration  of  the  motion  refpefting  the 
letter  from  the  commiffioners  of  the 
king  of  Great  Britain,  which  being 
pollponed. 


PAPERS.  [335 

A  motion  was  made,'  *  That  the 
letter  from  the  commiffioners  of 
the  king  of  Great  Britain,  lie  on  the 
table,’  Paffed  in  the  negative. 

On  the  motion — Refolved/  That 
the  letter,  and  the  papers  accom¬ 
panying  it,  be  read.*  Whereupon 
a  letter  of  the  9th,  and  one  dated 
June,  1778,  both  figned,  *  Car- 
life,  William  Eden,  G.  johnftone,* 
and  a  paper  indorfed,  *  Copy  of 
the  com  million  for  redoring  peace, 
&c.  to  the  Earl  of  Carlifle,  Lord 
Vifcount  Howe,  Sir  William  Howe, 
or  in  his  abfence.  Sir  Henry  Clin¬ 
ton,  William  Eden,  and  George 
Johndone,’  were  read,  and  alto 
three  afts  of  the  British  parliament, 
one  intitled,  e  An  aft  for  repealing 
an  aft  paffed  in  the  14th  year  of 
his  prefent  Majelly’s  reign,  inti¬ 
tled,  an  aft  for  the  better  regula¬ 
ting  the  government  of  the  pro¬ 
vince  of  Maffachufett’s  bay,  in 
New-England,’  the  other  two  the 
fame  as  the  bills  already  publilhed# 
The  letters  are  as  follow  ; 

To  his  excellency  Henry  Lau¬ 
rens,  the  Prefident,  and  other 
Members  of  Congrefs. 

Gentlemen,  With  an  earnefl  de¬ 
fire  to  Hop  the  further  effufion  of 
blood,  and  the  calamities  of  war, 
we  communicate  to  you,  with  the 
lead  poffible  delay  after  our  arrival 
in  this  city,  a  copy  of  the  commif- 
fion  with  which  his  Majedy  is 
pleafed  to  honour  us,  as  alfo  the 
afts  of  parliament  on  which  it  is 
founded  ;  and  at  the  fame  time  that 
we  affure  you  of  our  mod  earned 
defire  to  re-eftablilh,  on  the  bafis  of 
equal  freedom  and  mutual  fafety, 
the  tranquillity  of  this  once  happy 
empire,  you  will  obferve,  that  we 
are  veded  with  powers  equal  to  the 
purpofe,  and  fuch  as  are  even  un¬ 
precedented 


536}  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


prececlented  in  the  annals  of  our 
hiftory. 

In  the  prefen  t  ftate  of  our  affairs, 
though  fraught with  fu  jedsofmu- 
tual  regret,  ail  parties  may  draw 
fome  degree  of  confolation,  and 
even  an  aufpicious  hope  from  the 
recolledion  that  cordial  reconcile 
ation  and  affedion  have,  in  our 
own  and  other  empires,  fucceeded 
to  the  contentions  and  temporary 
divifions  not  lefs  violent  than  thofe 
we  now  experience. 

We  wifh  not  to  recall  fubjeds 
which  are  now  no  longer  in  eontro- 
verfy,  and  will  referve  to  a  proper 
time  of  difeeftion,  both  the  hopes  of 
mutual  benefit,  and  the  considera¬ 
tion  of  evils  that  may  naturally 
contribute  to  determine  your  refo- 
lutions,  as  well  as  our  own,  on  this 
important  eccafion. 

The  ads  of  parliament  which  we 
trattftnit  to  you,  having  paffed  with 
lingular  unanimity,  will  Efficiently 
evince  the  difpofition  of  Great  Bri« 
tain,  and  fhew  that  the  terms  of 
agreement,  in  contemplation  with 
liis  majefty,  and  with  his  parlia¬ 
ment,  are  fuch  as  come  up  to  every 
wifh  that  North  America,  either 
in  the  hour  of  temperate  delibera¬ 
tion,  or  of  the  utmoft  apprehen- 
Jion  of  danger  to  liberty,  has  ex- 
prefted. 

More  effedually  to  demonftrate 
cur  good  intentions,  we  think  pro¬ 
per  to  declare,  even  in  this  our  firft 
communication,  that  we  are  dif- 
pofed  to  concur  in  every  fatisfadory 
and  juft  arrangement  towards  the 
following,  among  other  purpofes  : 

e  To  confent  tq,  a  ceffation  of 
hoftilities,  both  by  fea  and  land. 
To  reftore  free  intercourfe,  to  re¬ 
vive  mutual  affedion,  and  reftore 
the  common  benefits  of  naturalifa- 
tion  through  the  feveral  parts  of 


this  empire.  To  extend  every  free** 
dom  to  trade  that  our  refpedive  in¬ 
terefts  can  require-.  To  agree  that 
no  military  force  fh all  be  kept  up 
in  the  different  Hates  of  North 
America,  without  the  confent  of 
the  general  congrefs,  or  particular 
aftemblies.  To  concur  in  meafures 
calculated  to  difcharge  the  debts  of 
America,  and  raife  the  value  and 
credit  of  the  paper  circulation. 

/  To  perpetuate  our  union,  by  a 
reciprocal  deputation  of  an  agent 
or  agents  from  the  different  ftates, 
who  fnall  have  the  privilege  of  a 
feat  and  voice  in  the  parliament  of 
Great  Britain  ;  or,  if  fent  from 
Britain,  to  have  in  that  cafe  a  feat 
and  voice  in  the  aftemblies  of  the 
different  ftates  to  which  they  may 
be  deputed  refpedively,  in  order 
to  attend  to  the  feveral  interefts  of 
thofe  by  whom  they  are  deputed. 

*  In  fhort,  to  eftabiifh  the  power 
of  the  refpedive  legiflatures  in  each 
particular  ftate,  to  fettle  its  reve-* 
nue,  its  civil  and  military  eftab- 
lifhment,  and  to  exercife  a  perfed: 
freedom  of  legiflaiion  and  internal 
government,  fo  that  the  Britifh 
ftates  throughout  North  America, 
ading  with  us  in  peace  and  war, 
under  our  common  fovereign.  may 
have  the  irrevocable  enjoyment  of 
every  privilege  that  is  fhort  of  a 
total  reparation  of  intereft,  or  con- 
ftftent  with  that  union  of  force,  on 
which  the  fafety  of  our  common 
religion  and  liberty  depends. 

In  our  anxiety  for  preferving 
thofe  facred  and  eftential  interefts, 
we  cannot  help  taking  notice  of  the 
inftduous  interposition  of  a  power, 
which  has  from  the  firft  fettlementi 
of  thefe colonies,  been  aduated  with 
enmity  to  us  both  And  notwith- 
ftanding  the  pretended  date,  or 
prelent  form,  of  the  French  offers  to 

1  America., 


-  STATE 

America,  yet  it  is  notorious,  that 
thefe  were  made  in  confequence  of 
the  plans  of  accommodation  previ¬ 
ously  concerted  in  Great  Britain, 
and  with  a  view  to  prevent  our  re¬ 
conciliation,  and  to  prolong  this 
deftrudtive  war. 

(  But  we  trufl  that  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  of  North-America,  connected 
with  us  by  the  nearell  ties  of  con- 
fanguinity,  fpeaking  the  fame  lan^ 
guage,  interelted  in  the  preserva¬ 
tion  of  Similar  inftitutions,  remem¬ 
bering  the  former  happy  intercourfe 
of  good  offices,  and  forgetting  re¬ 
cent  animofities,  will  ffirinkfrom 
the  thought  of  becoming  an  accef- 
fion  of  force  to  our  late  mutual 
enemy,  and  will  prefer  a  firm,  free, 
and  perpetual  coalition  with  the 
parent  ftate  to  an  inSincere  and  un¬ 
natural  foreign  alliance. 

*  This  difpatch  will  be  delivered 
to  you  by  Dr.  FerguSon,  the  Secre¬ 
tary  to  his  majefty’s  commiffion  ; 
and,  for  further  explanation  and 
difcuffion  of  every  fubjedt  of  dif¬ 
ference,  we  defire  to  meet  with  you, 
either  colledtively  or  by  deputa¬ 
tion,  at  New-York,  Philadelphia, 
York-Town,  or  fuch  other  place  as 
you  may  propofe.  We  think  it 
right,  however,  to  apprize  you, 
that  his  majefty’s  inltrudtions,  as 
well  as  our  own  defire,  to  remove 
from  the  immediate  feat  of  war,  in 
the  active  operations  of  which  we 
cannot  take  any  part,  may  induce 
us  fpeedily  to  remove  to  New-York; 
but  the  commander  in  chief  of  his 
majefty’s  land-forces,  who  is  joined 
with  us  in  this  commiffion,  will,  if 
it  ffiould  become  eligible,  either 
concur  with  us  in  a  fufpenfion  of 
hoftilities,  or  will  furniih  all  necef- 
fary  paffports  and  fafe  condudt,  to 
facilitate  our  meeting,  and  we  ffiall 
of'cotrfffi  expedt  the  fame  of  you. 
Vol.  XXI. 


PAPERS.  [337 

‘  If  after  the  time  that  may  be 
neceffary  to  confider  of  this  com¬ 
munication,  and  tranfmit  your  an- 
fwer,  the  horrors  and  devailations 
of  war  ffiould  continue,  we  call 
God  and  the  world  to  witneSs,  that 
the  evils  which  muft  follow  are  not 
to  be  imputed  to  Great  Britain  ; 
and  we  cannot,  without  the  moil 
real  forrow,  anticipate  the  profpedt: 
of  calamities  which  we  Seel  the  moil 
ardent  deSire  to  prevent.  We  are, 
with  perfect  refpedt.  Gentlemen, 
your  moil  obedient  and  molt  hum¬ 
ble  Servants, 

Carlifle,  W.  Eden,  G.  Johnftone. 

To  his  Excellency  Henry  Lau¬ 
rens,  Frefident,  and  other 
Members  of  Congrefs. 

Gentlemen,  The'  difpatch  in- 
clofed  with  this,  was  carried  this 
morning  to  the  nearefl  poft  of  Ge¬ 
neral  Washington’s  army  by  Dr. 
FerguSon,  Secretary  to  his  Ma- 
jelty’s  commiffion  for  reltoring 
peace,  &c.  but  he,  not  finding  a 
paiTport,  has  returned  to  this  place. 
In  order  to  avoid  every  unnecef- 
fary  delay,  we  now  again  fend  it 
by  the  ordinary  conveyance  of  your 
military  polls  :  as  foon  as  the  paff- 
port  arrives.  Dr.  Fergufon  ffiall 
wait  upon  you  according  to  our  Sir fb 
arrangement.  We  are,  with  per¬ 
fect  refpedt,  gentlemen,  your  moft 
obedient  and  moft"  humble  Ser¬ 
vants, 

Carlifle,  W.  Eden,  G.  Johnftone. 

Ordered,  that  they  be  referred 
to  a  committee  of  five! 

Eodem  Die,  P.  M.  The  com¬ 
mittee  to  whom  were  referred  the 
letters  and  papers  from  the  Earl  of 
Carlifle,  dec.  Commiffioners  from 
the  King  of  Great  Britain,  re¬ 
ported  the  draft  of  a  letter,  which 
was  read. 

\X]  Refolved, 


( 


338]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Refolded,  that  the  confederation 
thereof  be  poflponed  till  to-mor¬ 
row.  V 

Jane  17th,  1778.  Congrefs  re- 
fumed  the  confideration  of  the  draft 
of  the  letter,  in  anfwer  to  the  letter 
and  papers  received  from  the  Earl 
of  Carlifle,  & c.  I  ommiffioners 
from  the  King  of  Great  Britain, 
which  was  unanimoufly  agreed  to, 
and  is  as  follows  : 

To  their  Excellencies  the  Right 
Hon.  the  Earl  of  Carlifle, 
William  Eden,  and  George 
Johnfione,  Efqrs.  Commif- 
fioners  from  his  Britannic  Ma- 
jelly,  Philadelphia. 

*  I  have  received  the  letter  from 
your  Excellencies  of  the  9th  inflant, 
with  the  inclofure#,  and  laid  them 
before  Congrefs.  Nothing  but  an 
earned:  defire  to  fpare  the  farther 
effufion  of  human  blood  could 
have  induced  them  to  read  a  paper, 
containing  expreffions  fo  difrefpeft- 
ful  to  his  Moll  Chri'llian  MajeHy, 
the  good  and  great  ally  of  thefe 
Hates,  or  to  confider  propofitions 
fo  derogatory  to  the  honour  of  an 
independent  nation. 

‘  The  adts  of  the  Britifh  parlia¬ 
ment,  the  commiffion  from  your 
Sovereign,  and  your  letter,  fup- 
pofe  the  people  of  theft4  Hates  to 
l)e  fubjeds  of  the  crown  of  Great 
Britain,  and  are  founded  on  an 
idea  of  dependence,  which  is  ut¬ 
terly  inadmiffible. 

‘  I  am  further  diretled  to  in¬ 
form  your  Excellencies,  that  Con¬ 
grefs  are  inclined  to  peace,  not- 
withllanding  the  unjuH  claims  from 
which  this  war  originated,  and  the 
favage  manner  in  which  it  hath 
been  conducted  ;  they  will  there¬ 
fore  be  contented  to  enter  upon  a 
confideration  of  a  treaty  of  peace 


and  commerce,  not  inconfiflent 
with  treaties  already  fubfiftingi 
when  the  King  of  Great  Britain 
fh all  demonftrate  a  fincere  difpoli- 
tion  for  that  purpofe.  The  only 
folid  proof  of  this  difpofltion  will 
be  an  explicit  acknowledgment 
of  the  independence  of  thefe  Hates, 
or  the  withdrawing  his  fleets  and 
armies.  I  have  the  honour  to  be, 
your  Excellencies  molt  obedient  and 
humble  fervant, 

Henry  Laurens,  PrefldentC 
Tork-To^ivn,  July  17,  1778. 

Refolved  unanimoufly,  that  Con¬ 
grefs  approve  the  condud  of  Ge¬ 
neral  Walhington,  in  refuflng  a 
paflport  to  Dr.  Ftrgufon.  Publilh- 
ed  by  order  of  Congrefs. 

Charles  Thomson,  Sec* 

In  CONGRESS,  June  17, 

■77s- 

Whereas  many  letters  addref- 
fed  to  individuals  of  thefe  United 
States,  have  been  lately  received 
from  England,  through  the  con¬ 
veyance  of  the  enemy,  and  fome 
of  them  which  have  been  under 
the  infpedion  of  members  of  Con¬ 
grefs,  are  found  to  contain  ideas 
infldioufly  calculated  to  divide  and 
delude  the  good  people  of  thefe 
Hates : 

Refolved,  that  it  be,  and  is 
hereby  earneftly  recommended  to 
the  legillative  and  executive  au¬ 
thorities  of  the  feve^al  Hates,  to 
exercife  the  utmoft  care  and  vigi¬ 
lance,  and  take  the  moil  effedlual 
meafures  to  put  a  Hop  to  fo  dan* 
gerous  and  criminal  a  correfpon- 
dence, 

Refolved,  that  the  Commander 
in  Chief,  and  the  Commander  in 
each  and  every  military  department 

be. 


STATE  PAPERS.  [339 


be,  and  he  and  they  are  hereby  di¬ 
rected  to  carry  the  meafures  re¬ 
commended  in  the  above  refolu- 
tion  into  the  moil  effectual  execu¬ 
tion. 

ExtraCi  from  the  minutes. 

Charles  Thomson,  Sec. 

,  .  1  , 

Private  Letter  from  Governor 
johnilone  to  Henty  Laurens,  Efq. 

Philadelphia,  June  10, ,1778. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  beg  to  transfer  to  my  friend 
Doctor  Fergufon  the  private  civi¬ 
lities  which  my  friends  Mr.  Man- 
ning  and  Mr.  Ofwald  requeh  in  my 
behalf.  He  is  a  man  of  the  ut- 
mod  probity,  and  of  the  higheil 
eiteem  in  the  republic  ofletters. 

If  you  fhould  follow  the  example 
of  Britain  in  the  hour  of  her  info- 
lence,  and  fend  us  back  without 
a  hearing,  I  fhall  hope  from  pri¬ 
vate  friendfhip  that  I  may  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  fee  the  country,  and  the 
worthy  characters  fhe  has  exhibited 
to  the  world,  upon  making  the 
requeft,  in  any  way  you  may  point 
out.  I  am,  with  great  regard, 
dear  Sir,  your  moil  obedient  and 
moil  humble  fer want, 

George  Johnstone. 

To  his  Excellency, 

Henry  Laurens,  Congrefs. 

ANSWER. 

York-Town,  June  14,  1778. 

Dear  Sir, 

Yeflerday  I  was  honoured  with 
) our  favour  of  the  icth,  and  thank 
you  for  the  tranfmiflion  of  thoie 
from  my  dear  and  worthy  friends 
Mr.  Ofwald  and  Mr.  Manning, 
Had  Dr.  Fergufon  been  the  bearer 
of  thefe  papers,  I  fhould  have 


fhewn  that  gentleman  every  degree 
of  refpedi  and  attention  that  times 
and  circumilances  admit  of. 

It  is,  Sir,  for  Great  Britain  to 
determine,  whether  her  Commif- 
fioners  fhall  return  unheard  by  the 
Reprefentatives  of  thefe  United 
States,  or  revive  a  friendfhip  with 
the  citizens  at  large,  and  remain 
among  us  as  long  as  they  pleafe. 

You  are  undoubtedly  acquainted 
with  the  only  terms  upon  which 
Congrefs  can  treat  for  accomplifh- 
ing  this  good  end  ;  terms  from 
which,  although  writing  in  a  pri¬ 
vate  charaCler,  T  may  venture  to 
aflert  with  great  afiurance,  they 
never  will  recede,  even  admitting 
the  continuance  of  hoilile  attempts ; 
and  that,  from  the  rage  of  war, 
the  good  people  of  thefe  dates  fhall 
be  driven  to  commence  a  treaty 
vvedward  of  yonder  mountain.  And 
permit  me  to  add.  Sir,  on  my  hum¬ 
ble  opinion,  the  true  intereil  of 
Great  Britain,  in  the  prefent  ad¬ 
vance  of  our  conted,  will  be  found 
in  confirming  our  independence. 

Congrefs  in  no  hour  have  been 
haughty  ;  but  to  fuppofe,  that 
their  minds  are  lefs  firm  in  the  pre¬ 
fent,  than  they  were,  when  defti- 
tute  of  all  foreign  aid,  even  with¬ 
out  expectation  of  an  alliance  ; 
when,  upon  a  day  of  general  pub¬ 
lic  fading  and  humiliation,  in  their 
houfe  of  worfhip,  and  in  the  pre¬ 
fence  of  God,  they  refolved  *  to 
hold  no  conference  or  treaty  with 
any  Commiffioners  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain,  unlefs  they  fhall,  as 
a  preliminary  thereto,  either  with¬ 
draw  their  fleets  and  armies,  or  in 
pofitive  and  exprefs  terms  acknow¬ 
ledge  the  independence  of  thefe 
dates,’  would  be  irrational. 

At  a  proper  time.  Sir,  I  fhall 
think  myfelf  highly  honoured  by  a 
[Y~\  2  perfonal 


i4o]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


perfonal  attention,  and  by  contri¬ 
buting  to  render  every  part  of  thefe 
ilat.es  agreeable  to  you  ;  but,  until 
the  bails  of  mutual  confidence  fhall 
be  eftablifhed,  I  believe.  Sir,  nei¬ 
ther  former  private  friendfhip,  nor 
any  other  confideration,  can  in¬ 
fluence  Congrefs  to  confent,  that 
even  Governor  Johnftone,  a  gen¬ 
tleman  who  has  been  fo  defervediy 
efteemed  in  America,  fhall  fee  the 
country.  I  have  but  one  voice, 
and  that  fhall  be  again!!  it.  But 
let  me  inftruCt  you,  my  dear  Sir  ; 
do  not  hence  conclude  that  I  am 
deficient  in  affection  to  my  old 
friends,  through  whofe  kindnefs  1 
have  obtained  the  honour  of  the 
prefen t  correfpondence,  or  that  I 
am  not,  with  very  great  perfonal 
refpeCt  and  efteera,  Sir, 
x  Your  moft  obedient 
And  moft  humble  fervant, 

Henry  Laurens. 

The  Hon.  Governor  John¬ 
stone,  Efq;  Philadelphia, 


'Treaty  of  Alliance,  Eventual  and  De- 
fenfive ,  betvoeen  bis  moft  Chrijlian 
Nlajejly  Louis  the  Sixteenth,  King 
of  France  and  Navarre,  and  tbs 
Thirteen  United  States  of  Ame¬ 
rica,  concluded  at  Paris,  6tb  Fe¬ 
bruary,  1 778. 

H  E  Mod  Chriftian  King, 
I  and  the  United  States  of 
North  -  America  ;  to  wit,  Nevv- 
Hanvp-fiiire,  Maflaqliufett’s  -  Bay, 
Rhode  ifjand,  Connecticut,  New 
fer  fey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Caro¬ 
lina,  South- Carolina,  and  Geor¬ 
gia,  having  this  day  concluded  a 
treaty  of  amity  and  commerce,  for 


the  reciprocal  advantage  of  their 
fubjeds.  and  citizens,  have  thought 
it  neceffary  to  take  into  confidera¬ 
tion  the  means  of  (Lengthening 
thofe  engagements,  and  of  ren¬ 
dering  them  ufeful  to  the  fafety 
and  tranquillity  of  the  two  parties  ; 
particularly  in  cafe  Great  Britain, 
in  refentment  of  that  connection, 
and  of  the  good  correfpondence 
which  is  the  objeCl  of  the  faid 
treaty,  fhould  break  the  peace 
with  France,  either  by  direCt  hcfti- 
lities,  or  by  hindering  her  com¬ 
merce  and  navigation,  in  a  man¬ 
ner  contrary  to  the  rights  of  na¬ 
tions,  and  the  peace  fubftfting  be¬ 
tween  the  two  crowns.— And  his 
Majefty  and  the  faid  United  States 
having  refolved  in  that  cafe  to. 
join  their  councils  and  efforts 
again  ft  the  enterprizes  of  their 
common  enemy— 

The  refpeciive  Plenipotentiaries 
impowered  to  concert  the  claufes 
and  conditions  proper  to  fulfil  the 
faid  intentions,  have,  after  the  moft 
mature  deliberation,  concluded  and 
determined  on  the  following  arti¬ 
cles. 

Art.  L  If  war  fhould  break  out 
between  France  and  Great  Bri¬ 
tain,  during  the  continuance  of 
the  prefen t  war  between  the  Uni¬ 
ted  States  and  England,  his  Ma¬ 
jefty  and  the  laid  United  States 
fhall  make  it  a  common  caufe,  and 
aid  each  other  mutually  with  their 
good'  offices,  their  councils,  and 
their  forces,  according  to  the  ex¬ 
igency  of  conjunctures,  as  be¬ 
comes  good  and  faithful  allies. 

Art.  II.  The  effential  and  direCt 
end  of  the  prelent  defensive  al¬ 
liance  is,  to  maintain  effectually 
the  liberty,  fovereignty,  and  inde» 
pendence,  abfolhte  and  unlimited, 
of  the  faid  United  States,  as  well 

in 


S 


STATE  1*  A  P  E  R  S. 


in  matters  of  government  as  of 
commerce. 

Art.  III.  The  two  contracting 
parties  (hall  each  on  its  own  part, 
and  in  the  manner  it  may  judge 
moft  proper,  make  all  the  efforts 
in  its  power  againlt  their  common 
enemy,  in  order  to  attain  the  end 
propofed. 

Art.  IV.  The  contracting  par¬ 
ties  agree,  that  in  cafe  either  of 
ihem  ihouid  form  a  particular  en- 
terprize  in  which  the  concurrence 
of  the  other  may  be  defired,  the 
party  whofe  concurrence  is  defired, 
fhall  readily  and  with  good  faith 
join  to  aCt  in  concert  for  that  pur- 
pofe,  as  far  as  circumftances  and 
its  own  particular  fituation  will 
permit;  and  in  that  cafe,  they  fhall 
regulate  by  a  particular  conven. 
tion  the  quantity  and  kind  of  fuc- 
cour  to  be  furnifhed,  and  the  time 
and  manner  of  its  being  brought 
into  adion,  as  well  as  the  advan¬ 
tages  which  are  to  be  its  compen- 
l'ation. 

Art.  V.  If  the  United  States 
fhould  think  fit  to  attempt  the  re¬ 
duction  of  the  Britifh  power,  re¬ 
maining  in  the  Northern  parts  of 
America,  or  the  iflands  of  Bermu¬ 
das,  thofe  countries  or  iflands,  in 
cafe  of  fuccefs,  fhall  be  confede¬ 
rated  with,  or  dependent  upon,  the 
faid  United  States. 

Art.  VI.  The  Mod  Chriltian 
King  renounces  for  ever  the  pofi- 
feffion  of  the  iflands  of  Bermudas, 
as  well  as  of  any  part  of  the  conti¬ 
nent  of  America,  which  before  the 
treaty  of  Paris,  in  1763,  or  in  vir¬ 
tue  of  that  treaty,  were  acknow¬ 
ledged  to  belong  to  the  crown  of 
Great  Bri-tain,  or  to  the  United 
States,  heretofore  called  Britifh 
Colonies,  or  which  are  at  this 
time,  or  have  lately  been,  under 


[34* 

the  power  of  the  King  and  crown 
of  Gre  at  Britain. 

Art.  VII.  If  his  Mod  Chriflian 
Majefty  fhall  think  proper  to  at¬ 
tack  any  of  the  iflands  fituated  in 
the  Gulph  of  Mexico,  or  near  that 
Gulph,  which  are  at  prefent  under 
the  power  of  Great  Britain,  all  the 
faid  ifles,  in  cafe  of  fuccefs,  fhall 
appertain  to  the  crown  of  France. 

Art.  VIII.  Neither  of  the  two 
parties  (hall  conclude  either  truce 
or  peace  with  Great  Britain,  with¬ 
out  the  formal  confent  of  the  other 
firfl  obtained  ;  and  they  mutually 
engage  not  to  lay  down  their  arms, 
until  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  fhall  have  been  for¬ 
mally  or  tacitly  allured  by  the 
treaty  or  treaties  that  fnall  terminate 
the  war. 

Art.  IX.  The  contracting  par¬ 
ties  declare,  that,  being  refolved 
to  fulfil,  each  on  its  own  part,  the 
claufes  and  conditions  of  the  pre¬ 
fent  treaty  of  alliance,  according 
to  its  owr)  power  and  circumftances, 
there  fhall  be  no  after-claims  of 
compenfation,  on  one  fide  or  the 
other,  whatever  may  be  the  event 
of  the  war. 

Art  X.  The  Moft  Chriftian 
King  and  the  United  States  agree 
to  invite  or  admit  other  powers,  who 
may  have  received  injuries  from 
England,  to  make  a  common  caufe 
with  them,  and  to  accede  to  the  pre¬ 
fen  t  alliance,  under  fuch  conditions 
as  fh^ll  be  freely  agreed  to,  and  fet«* 
tied  between  all  the  parties. 

Art.  XI.  The  two  parties  gua¬ 
rantee  mutually  from  the  prefent 
time,  and  for  ever,  againfl:  all 
other  powers,  to  wit — The  United 
States  to  his  Mod  C hrifbian  Ma- 
jefly  the  prefent  poflefhons  of  the 
crown  of  France  in  America,  as 
well  as  thofe  which  it  may  acquire 

by 


1 


342]  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i77S. 


by  the  future  treaty  of  peace  ;  and 
pis  Mo  ft  Chriftian  Majefty  guaran¬ 
tees  on  his  part  to  the  United 
States,  their  liberty,  fovereignty, 
and  independence,  abfolute  and 
unlimited,  as  well  in  matters  of 
government  as  commerce,  and  al¬ 
io  their  poffeffions,  and  the  addi¬ 
tions  or  conquefts  that  their  confe¬ 
deration  may  obtain  during  the 
war,  from  any  of  the  dominions 
now  or  heretofore  poffeffed  by 
Great  Britain  in  North  America  ; 
conformable  to  the  fifth  and  fixth 
articles  above  written,  the  whole 
as  their  poffieffions  fhall  be  fixed 
and  allured  to  the  faid  States,  at 
the  moment  of  the  celTation  of  their 
prefent  war  with  England, 

Art.  XII.  In  order  to  fix  more 
precifely  the  fenfe  and  application 
of  the  preceding  article,  the  con¬ 
tracting  parties  declare,  that  in 
cafe  of  a  rupture  between  France 
and  England,  the  reciprocal  gua¬ 
rantee  declared  in  the  faid  article 
fhall  have  its  full  force  and  effect 
the  moment  fuch  war  (hall  break 
out ;  and  if  fuch  rupture  fhall  not 
take  place,  the  mutual  obligations 
of  the  faid  guarantees  fhall  not 
commence  until  the  moment  of  the 
ceffation  of  the  prefent  war  be¬ 
tween  the  United  States  and  Eng¬ 
land  fhall  have  afcertained  their 
poffeffions.  * 

Art.  XIII.  The  prefent  treaty 
fhall  be  ratified  on  both  Tides,  and 


the  ratification  lhal!  be  exchanged 
in  the  fpace  of  fix  months,  or 
fooner  if  poffible. 

In  faith  whereof  the  refpeclive 
Plenipotentiaries  ;  to  wit,  on 
the  part  of  the  Moft  Chriftiart 
King,  Conrad  Alexander  Ge¬ 
rard,  Royal  Syndic  of  the  city 
of  Stralbourg,  and  Secretary 
of  his  Majefty’s  Council  of 
State — And  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  deputy  to  the  Ge¬ 
neral  Congrefs,  from  the  State 
of  Penfylvania,  and  Prefident 
of  the  convention  of  faid  State  ; 
Silas  Deane,  heretofore  depu¬ 
ty  from  the  State  of  Connec¬ 
ticut  ;  and  Arthur  Lee,  Coun - 
fellor  at  Law,  have  figned  the 
above  articles  both  in  the 
French  and  Englifh  languages ; 
declaring  neverthelefs,  that 
the  prefent  treaty  was  origi¬ 
nally  compofed  and  concluded 
in  the  French  language,  and 
they  have  hereunto  affixed  their 
leals. 

Done  at  Paris,  the  Jixth  day  of  Fe¬ 
bruary ,  one  thoujand fe<ven  hundred 
and  feuenty -eight. 

(L,  S.)  C.  A.  Gerard, 

(L.  S.)  B.  Franklin, 

(L.  S.)  Silas  Deane, 

(L.  S.)  Arthvr  Lee, 


,  C  H  A* 


/ 


4 


/ 


/' 

/ 


# 


/ 


\ 


C  H  A  R  A  C  T 

I 


\ 

'  / 


/ 


t 


i 


1 


CHARACTERS. 


Anecdotes  of  M.  Voltaire’j  Reception 
at  Paris,  and  of  bis  death. 

WE  have  already  brought 
down  the  hiflory  of  this 
celebrated  author,  to  the  period  of 
his  retirement  at  Ferney.  His  lall 
journey  to  Paris,  was  as  extraordi¬ 
nary  as  it  was  unexpended.  He 
arrived  at  the  capital  on  the  ioth 
of  February,  in  the  afternoon,  af¬ 
ter  an  abfence  of  27  years.  It  is 
remarkable,  that  he  left  this  city  in 
the  year  in  which  the  Sieur  Kain 
was  received  on  the  French  theatre, 
and  returned  to  it  the  very  day 
when  that  great  a&or  was  buried. 
At  the  Barriers  his  carriage  was 
hopped  by  the  cuficm  houfe  officers, 
and  he  was  afked  if  he  had  any 
thing  that  paid  duty  :  “  No,  gen¬ 
tlemen,”  faid  he,  “  there  is  no¬ 
thing  here  contraband  —  but  my- 
felf.” 

Two  days  after  his  arrival,  M. 
de  Voltaire  palled  the  whole  night 
in  -ftudy  ;  which,  with  the  nume¬ 
rous  vifits  that  were  paid  him, 
was  more  than  fufficient  to  hurt 
his  health.  He  was  expeCled  on 
the  16th,  at  the  reprefentation 
of  Cmna,  for  the  benefit  of  a 
great  nephew  of  Corneille;  but 
Dr.  Tronchin  thought  it  imprudent 
for  his  old  patient  to  quit  his 


chamber  fo  foon.  Hefaw  company, 
however,  all  the  afternoon  ;  he  left 
them  indeed  at  an  early  hour.  “  I 
“  am  fmothered,”  faid  he,  “  but 
“  it  is  by  rofes.” 

The  French  academy,  at  one  of 
their  meetings,  determined  to  fend 
three  of  their  members  to  compli¬ 
ment  him,  infiead  of  one,  as  had 
been  ufual  on  like  occafions.  The 
prince  de  Beaveau  was  at  the  head 
of  this  deputation,  which  was  join¬ 
ed  by  feveral  other  academicians* 
M.  de  Voltaire  received  his  bre¬ 
thren  with  a  cordiality  and  plea- 
fantry  difficult  to  exprefs. 

Next  day  the  comedians  waited  on 
him  in  a  body,  to  pay  their  refpeCts. 
The  Sieur  Bellecourt,  who  .  was 
their  fpokefman,  artfully  hinted  at 
the  lofs  they  had  jull  fuffe  ed,  in 
thefe  few  words  !  “  Beholu  the  re¬ 
mains  of  tr.e  comedians  adding, 
“  We  are  come  to  beg  you,  Sir, 
to  breathe  upon  us.”  M  de  Vol¬ 
taire  replied  with  his  ufual  grace 
and  precilion  (and  the  aCtors  had 
reafon  to  he  flattered  by  his  fay¬ 
ing)  “  I  only  live  for  you,  and  by 
you.”  He  fpoke  afterwards  in  the 
moft  obliging  manner,  to  every  one 
in  ^articular,  and  as  he  had  palled 
the  night  before  in  correcting  the 
tragedy  of  Irene  *,  he  faid  to  Ma¬ 
dame  Veliris,  i(  I  have  devoted  a 

whole 


*  Or  Alexis  Comn emus,  a  new  tragedy  by  Voltaire. — One  of  the  principal 
perfonages  is  a  monk  of  St.  Bald, — Voltaire  has  alfo  lately  written  another 
VOL,  XXL  B  tragedy 


2 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


whole  night  to  your  fervice,  as  if  I 
were  only  twenty,” 

Having  a  great  defire  to  be  ac¬ 
quainted  with  Dr.  Franklin,  this 
celebrated  American  was  intro¬ 
duced  to  him.  Voltaire  accoftcd 
and  converfed  with  him  Tome  time 
in  E'nglifh,  till  Mad.  Denis  in¬ 
terrupted  him  by  faying,  that  Dr. 
.Franklin  underftood  French,  and 
the  reft  of  the  company  wilhed  to 
know  the  fubjeft  of  their  difcourfe. 
<e  Excufe  me,  my  dear,5’  replied 
Voltaire,  Ct  I  have  the  vanity  to 
fhew,  that  I  am  not  unacquainted 
with  the  language  of  a  Franklin. ” 

On  prefenting  the  Marchionefs 
de  Villette  to  feveral  ladies  of  the 
court,  who  came  to  fee  him,  he 
laid,  € ‘  fee  ladies,  the  fair  and 
the  good  *  !  fhe  has  taken  pity  on 
my  age ;  to  her  1  am  indebted  for 
the  happmefs  of  feeing  you,  and 
for  the  little  exigence  that  1  have 
left.” 

This  young  lady,  whofe  maiden 
name  was  Varicourc,  is  of  a  good 
family  in  the  county  of  Gex,  and 
was  defined  to  a  convent  ;  but 
about  four  years  ago  was  adopted 
by  Voltaire,  and  educated  ever  fince 
by  his  niece,  Madam  Denis.  She 
was  married,  at  Ferney,  to  the 
Marquis  de  Villette. 

Voltaire  alfo  wrote  their  epi tha¬ 
lamic  m,  and  entitled  it,  A  Tran - 
flat  ion  of  an  Epiflle  from  Propertius 
to  Tibullus ,  on  bis  Marriage  with 
Delia .  1 


To  the  numerous  panegyrical 
verfes  that  Avarmed  at  his  arrival, 
his  enemies  oppofed  feveral  epi¬ 
grams  and  other  fatires,  no  lefs 
witty  than  malicious.  Many  of 
thefe  came  to  his  hands,  which  oc- 
calioned  his  faying,  “  I  receive 
fuch  filth  at  Ferney  every  week, 
and  I  pay  the  poftage  of  it  :  here 
it  is  fent  me  every  day,  and  coils  me 
nothing.  By  this  I  am  a  gainer.” 
Flattered,  but  not  elated,  with  the 
attention  that  was  {hewn  him,  he 
often  repeated,  “  I  am,  like  Spar- 
tacus,  amazed  at  my  glory.” 

On  the  morning  of  the  25th,  be¬ 
ing  defirous  of  reading  his  tragedy 
of  Irene  to  the  players,  he  had 
fuch  a  violent  flux  of  blood,  that 
Dr.  Tronchin  was  obliged  to  or¬ 
der  a  vein  to  be  opened.  In  the 
evening  he  was  quite  eafy,  and  a 
few  days  reft  entirely  recovered 
him.  But  as  if  the  continual  ex¬ 
ertion  of  his  -  genius  was  become 
neceffary  to  him,  though  he  very 
readily  followed  the  prefcriptioh 
of  his  phyfician  in  not  talking, 
yet  he  could  by  no  means  be 
prevented  reading  the  whole  even¬ 
ing. 

On  March  16th,  M.  Voltaire’s 
new  tragedy  of  Irene,  or  Alexis 
Comnemus,  was  ailed  at  Paris 
for  the  firft  time  to  a  mcft  fplen- 
did  and  crowded  audience.  All 
the  royal  family  were  prefent, 
and  never  were  more  applaufes 
heard. 


tragedy  entitled  Agathocles ,  that  tyrant  of  Syracufe,  who  from  being  the  fon  of 
a  potter,  rcfe  to  the  throne,  and  reigned  with  fo  much  fplendour.  It  is  wonder- 
fin  that  this  extraordinary  man,  at  the  age  of  83,  ftiould  retain  that  ftrength 
Ci  pencil,  and  ffeinnefs  of  colouring,  which  diftinguifti  the  productions  of  his 
youth. 

\ 

%  Belle  et  bonne  was  a  name  which  Voltaire  had  given  to  her. 

,  4 1  Enlivened 


\ 


C  H  A  R  A 

Enlivened,  as  it  were,  and  re¬ 
covered  by  the  fuccefs  of  his  play, 
M.  de  Voltaire  went  abroad  a  few 
days  after,  and  walked  in  the 
Elyjian  Fields.  On  this  fuccefs  he 
was  complimented  by  a  deputation 
from  the  French  Academy,  and 
his  bull:  has  been  placed  in  the 
theatre  by  the  fide  of  that  of  the 
great  Corneille  ;  a  compliment 
which,  though  never  before  paid 
to  any  living  bard,  can  be  autho- 
rifed  only  by  the  great  age  and  ta¬ 
lents  of  this  writer. 

On  March  30th,  M.  de  Vol¬ 
taire  went  to  a  private  meeting  of 
the  French  Academy,  which  was 
very  numerous.  The  Academy 
went  to  meet  and  receive  him. 
Fie  was  conduced  to  the  feat  of 
the  Diredtor,  which  that  officer  and 
the  Academy  intreated  him  to  take. 
Afterwards  the  Academy,  with  ac¬ 
clamations,  nominated  him  Di¬ 
rector  for  the  April  quarter,  with¬ 
out  drawing  lots  as  ufual.  The 
meeting  was  crowded  on  account 
of  the  reading  the  elogium  of  Del- 
preaux  by  M.  d’Alembert,  which 
that  celebrated  academician  had 
before  read,  in  a  public  meeting, 
with  the  greateft  fuccefs. 

The  fame  day  M.  de  Voltaire 
went  to  the  theatre,  and  was  prefent 
at  the  fixth  reprefentation  of  his 
tragedy  of  Irene.  As  foon  as  the 
people  faw  his  coach,  they  ran  in 
crowds  to  meet  him,  and  nothing 
but  their  regard  for  him  could 
have  moderated  a  curiolity,  which 
might  otherwife,  perhaps,  have 
been  fatal  to  him.  The  audience 
impatiently  expe&ed  him  in  the 
houfe,  and  by  repeated  fiiouts  and 
applaufes,  Ihewed  their  fatisfadlion 
on  feeing  at  lait  a  writer,  who  has 
contributed  fo  much  to  their  a- 
mufement,  and  whom  they  have 


C  T  E  R  S.  3 

fo  long  idolized.  As  foon  as  he 
was  feated  in  his  box,  the  Sieur 
Brizard  appeared,  holding  a  crown, 
which  he  placed  on  his  head. 
M.  Voltaire  ftretched  out  his 
hand  and  perceiving  the  honours 
that  were  intended  him,  removed 
it,  faying  with  an  affedled  tone, 
“  Ah  !  my  God,  you  are  refolved 
to  kill  me.”  The  new  tragedy 
was  played  with  more  fpirit  and 
accuracy  than  it  had  ever  been  be¬ 
fore.  As  foon  as  it  was  over,  an 
unexpected  and  (if  poffible)  Hill 
more  intcrefting  fcene  fucceeded. 
The  curtain  was  drawd  up,  and  all 
the  adtors  and  adtreiTes  were  feen 
furrounding  the  bull  of  M.  de  Vol¬ 
taire,  and  placing  by  turns  fome 
crowns  of  laurel  on  his  head,. 
This  homage  was  attended  with 
univerfal  applaufes,  and  in  about 
a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Mad.  Veltris 
advancing  with  a  paper  in  her 
hand,  had  much  difficulty  to  ob¬ 
tain  a  moment’s  filence  :  at  length 
Ihe  read  thefe  verfes,  which  were 
juft  compofed  by  the  Marquis  de 
St.  Marc  : 

<£  Aux  yeux  de  Paris  enchante, 
pN.ecois  en  ce  jour  un  hommage 
Que  confirmera  d’age  en  age 
La  ievere  pofterite. 

Non,  tu  n’a  pas  befoin  d’atteindre  au  noir 
rivage 

Ppur  jouir  de  Phonneur  d’immortalitc  3 
Voltaire,  re^ois  la  couronne 
Que  1’on  vient  de  te  prefenter, 

Ii  eft  beau  de  la  meriter, 

Quand  c’eft  la  France  qui  la  donneV 

The  public  confirmed  by  frefti 
applaufes  thefe  extraordinary  ho* 
nours,  and  encored  the  verfes.  Nu¬ 
merous  as  have  been  the  triumphs 
ofM.  de  Voltaire  for  above  fixty 
years,  this  day,  no  doubt,  was  the 
moft  glorious  of  his  life. 

B  2 


\ 


Next 


4 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Next  day  M.  de  Voltaire  lent 
the  Marquis  de  St,  Mare  the  fol¬ 
lowing  reply  t 

Vous  daignez  couronner,  aux  jeux  de 
Melpomene, 

Dun  vieillard  affbibli  les  efforts  impuif- 
iants. 

Ces  laurierc,  dont  vos  mains  couvroient 
fries  cheveax  blancs, 

Etoient  nes  dans  votre  domain. 

On  fait  que  de  fon  bien  tout  mortel  eft 
jaloux, 

Chacun  garde  pour  foi  ce  que  le  ciel  lui. 
donne, 

Le  Parnaffe  n’a  vn  que  vous 
Qui  fut  partager  fa  couronne. 

There  a  re  various  accounts  given 
of  the  caufes  of  his  death  ;  it  is 
probable,  that  a  decay  of  nature, 
owing  to  old  age,  and  his  being 
hurried  into  a  variety  of  amufe- 
ments,  to  which  he  had  not  latterly 
been  accullomed,  were  among  ft  the 
principal.  Other  accounts  add, 
that  he  had  conceived  a  plan  of  re¬ 
forming  and  correcting  the  French 
language,  on  which  he  laboured 
from  fix  to  nine  hours  in  a  day  for 
fome  weeks  before  his  death,'  tak¬ 
ing  no  other  fuflenance  but  coffee, 
which  had  been  a  favourite  re- 
frefhment  with  him  many  years. 
-—Complaining  one  day  to  the 
Duke  ce  Richelieu  that  he  found 
hjmfelf  deprived  of  fleep,  that  no¬ 
bleman  recommended  him  to  take 
fome  opium,  and  laid,  he  took  a. 
certain  quantity  every  day.  Vol¬ 
taire,  however,  thought  he  could 
fake  a  larger  dofe,  which  he  did, 
without  confuting  any  of  the  .Fa¬ 
culty,  and  thereby  certainly  haflen- 
ed  his' death. 

The  Marquis  de  Villette,  with 
whom  Voltaire  redded  in  Paris, 
when  he  perceived  his  victor’s 
death  approaching,  fent  for  Monf. 
Bonnet,  Curate  of  St.  Sul  pice,  to 
perfuade  him,  if  pofiible,  to  com¬ 
ply  with  the  ufuai  cufloms  of  their 

6 


religion,  in  order  that  the  prope 
honours  might  be  paid  to  his  re 
mains.  —  The  Cure  began  by 
queftioning  Voltaire,  *  if  he  be¬ 
lieved  in  the  divinity  of  Jefus 
Chrift,’  but  was  haililv  flopped  by 
the  wit’s  faying,  c  Ah  1  M.  le  Cu¬ 
re,  if  [  pafs  that  Article  to  you, 
you  will  demand  if  [do  nor  alfo 
believe  in  the  Holy  Ghoft,  and  fo 
on,  until  you  flnrfh  by  the  Bull 
tJnigmitus? — The  Cure  departed  ; 
but  in  a  few  hours  after  a  great 
change  appearing,  he  came  a  fe- 
cond  time,  and  began  with  put¬ 
ting  his  hand  on  the  dying  man’s 
head  2s  he  lay  in  bed  ;  upon  which 
Voltaire  raifed  his  own  hand  ;to  the 
Curate’s  head,  and  pufhed  him 
away,  faying,  e  I  came  into  the 
world  without  a  Bonnet ,  and  will 
go  out  without  one,  therefore  let 
me  die  in  peace  1’  He  accordingly 
turn’d  his  back  toward  the  Cure, 
and  died  in  a  few  minutes,  without 
fpeaking  another  word,  on  the 
30th  of  May.  The  Arch  hi  (hop 
of  Paris  refufed  every  application 
that  was  made  to  him  for  the 
rites  of  Chriftian  burial.— — The 
Marquis  de  Villette  and  Voltaire’^ 
nephew  contefted  the  matter  with 
the  Archbifhop  fome  days,  and 
thfe  refult  was  that  Voltaire  should 
be  taken  in  a.  coach,  as  if  liv¬ 
ing,  to  his  nephew’s  abbey  at  Sel- 
lieres,  in  Champagne,  accompa¬ 
nied  by  himfeif  and  the  Marquis, 
where  he  was  interred  with  the 
utmoft  privacy. —The  Marquis  de 
Villette  demanded  his  heart  to  be 
given  to  him,  which  he  has  cauf- 
ed  to  be  put  into  a  vafe  of  gold 
fixed  on  a  pyramid,  on  which  is 
wrote  the  following  verfe  by  the 
Marquis  himfeif : 

*  Son  Ffptit  eft  par-tout,  mais  fon  cceut 

eft  icip 

Voltaire 


CHARACTERS. 


Voltaire  was  a  man  fomewhat 
above  the  middle  fize,  of  an  arid 
bodily  conftitution,  a  meagre  coun¬ 
tenance,  and  a  (lender  form.  His 
eye  was  ardent,  quick  and  pene¬ 
trating  ;  an  air  of  pleafantry, 
tinged  with  malignity,  reigned  in 
his  features;  the  quicknefs  and 
vivacity  of  his  animal  fpirits 
were  lingular  beyond  expreftion, 
and  the  predominant  force  of 
his  intelleXual  powers  was  al¬ 
ways  verging  towards  pleafanrry. 
It  was  this  fpiric  of  pleafantry 
that  rendered  him  fo  extremely 
fociable  ;  he  frequented  the  great, 
to  ftudy  their  follies  and  their 
vices,  and  to  collect  anecdotes, 
either  of  an  agreeable  or  malignant 
nature,  to  embellilh  his  w»rl tings, 
and  enable  him  to  take  the  lead  in 
converfation.  In  difcourfe,  and  in 
his  manners,  he  united  the  eafe 
of  Ariftippus  with  the  cynical  fpirit 
of  D’Ogenes.  He  was  inconftant 
in  his  friendlhips,  if  any  of  his 
•connexions  ever  deferved  that 
name:  and  he  carried  even  into 
the  folitude  of  his  philofophical  re¬ 
tirement,  the  fp’rit  of  a  courtier  and 
a  fy cophant.  He  was  relllefs  and 
inconftant  in  all  his  ways — had  no 
fixed  tenor  of  cbaraXer  or  conduX 
— had  fits  of  reafon  and  principle, 
as  well  as  of  caprice  and  paffion. 
His-  head  was  clear,  his  imagina¬ 
tion  was  lively,  but  his  heart, 
it  is  to  be  feared,  was  exceed¬ 
ingly  corrupt.  He  treated  eve¬ 
ry  thing  conneXed  with  religion 
with  conftant  derifion.  His  pre- 
tenfions\to  humanity  and  benevo¬ 
lence  were  great  ;  he  undertook 
and  performed  noble  things  in 
behalf  of  the  mod  eftential  rights, 
privileges,  and  interefts  of  man¬ 
kind  ;  but  thefe  fplendid  virtues, 


5 

were  tarnifhed  by  an  exceffive  va¬ 
nity  and  boundlefs  avarice. 

He  was  ambitious  of  adding  to 
his  well  deferved  fame,  as  a  poet, 
the  reputation  of  a  profound  phi- 
lofopher  and  eminent  hiftoriaiiy 
The  opinions  of  the  learned  nave 
been  greatly  divided  about  the  de¬ 
gree  of  merit  due  to  him  in  thefe 
three  charaXers.  As  a  poet,  he 
had  certainly  more  wit  than  ge¬ 
nius  ;  and,  generally  fpeaking,  he 
was  more  pleafing  and  afFeXing 
than  arduous  and  fublime.  His 
vernfication  is  eafv  and  melodious; 
his  deferiptions  lively  and  touching. 
Hi..s  tragedies,  in  general,  are  ex¬ 
cellent  ;  his  Henri  ade  is  a  fine  poem 
—  his  Pucelle ,  or  Maid  of  Or  learn, 
ought  to  be  hid  in  a  privy  on  the 
fummit  of  ParnafTus  ;  but  it  is 
very  lingular,  that  with  fuch  an 
abundant  and  rich  vein  .of  plea¬ 
fantry  and  humour  as  he  polTelTed, 
he  was  incapable  of  making  any 
figure  in  comedy.  He  was  not  a 
profound  philofopher,  and  yet  he 
was  far  from  being  ignorant  in 
the  Sciences  ;  he  wa-s  a  tolera¬ 
ble  Metaphyfician  of  the  fecond 
clafs  ;  and  he  had,  in  the  earlier 
parts  of  his  life,  made  fome  profi¬ 
ciency  in  natural  philofophy.— -We 
mu  ft  not  look  upon  him  as  a  mean 
hiftorian,  becaufe  he  disfigured  the 
Life  and  Reign  of  Peter  the  Great, 
an d  compofed  a  flovenly  Hiftory  of 
Ruffia  :  for  his  Age  of  Lewis  XIH. 
and  his  Effay  on  Universal  Hifory , 
will  give  him  a  very  confiderable 
and  permanent  reputation  among 
the  hiftorians  of  the  prefent  age. 
His  knowledge  was  excenfive,  his 
reading  prodigious,  and  his  attain¬ 
ments  in  polite  and  elegant  litera¬ 
ture  were  very  great,  Notwith- 
ftanding  all  this,  he  is  faid  to  have 

B  3  ,  been 


/ 


I 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


€ 

been  fuperficial ;  and  this  may  be 
more  or  lefs  true  ;  for  though  his 
application  to  ftudy  was  keen  and 
arduous,  yet  his  reftleffnefs  and 
inconftancy  of  mind  were  fuch  as 
rendered  him  incapable  of  dwelling 
long  enough  upon  any  fubjed  to 
underftand  it  thoroughly. 

His  profe  is  highly  and  deferved- 
ly  elleemed  ;  few  of  the  French 
writers  equal  him  in  purity,  ele¬ 
gance,  facility,  and  attic  fait  ;  fim- 
plicity  reigns  even  in  thofe  plirafes, 
where  his  wit  is  moft  lively,  and 
bis  expreffion  is  moil  ingenious.  It 
mu  ft  be  confelfed,  and  the  circum- 
ftance  is  lingular,  that  though  his 
imagination  was  active,  verfatile, 
and  lively,  he  had  little  invention. 
—His  repetitions  are  ihameful—he 
is  ever  melting  old  thoughts  into 
new  forms  — nay,  often  he  is  not 
even  at  the  pains  of  varying  the 
forms. 

We  would  call  a  fhade  over  his 
vices,  which  were  bribing ;  let 
that  defpotic  jealoufy  which  could 
bear  no  rival  in  literary  fame  —  let 
that  malignant  irritability  that 
made  him  impatient  of  all  contra- 
didion  and  criticifm— let  that  un¬ 
generous  bigotry  which  made  him 
perfevere  in,  and  even  repeat  his 
errors,  when  they  had  been  palpably 
expofed  —  let  all  tbefe  be  con¬ 
templated  with  companion,  if  they 
cannot  be  entirely  boried  in  obli¬ 
vion.— He  now  refts  from  his  la¬ 
bours  of  animobty  and  contention  ; 
and  we  can  only  hope  that  his 
Works y  in  this  part  of  his  career, 
on  ay  not  follow  him  /—We  dial!  not 
enter  into  a  circumftantial  detail 
of  his  charader  and  condud  with 
refped  to  religion  and  morals.  We 
ihall  only  obferve,  that  his  opposi¬ 
tion  to  chriliianity  was  not  only  in¬ 
decent  and  difingemious,  but  was. 


moreover,  carried  on  with  a  degree 
of  acrimony,  fpite,  bitternefs,  and 
bigotry,  which  has  not  been  per¬ 
ceivable  in  the  writings  of  any 
Deiil,  known  to  us,  in  the  prefent 
age.  In  natural  religion,  though 
he  feemed  fometimes  wavering, 
undetermined  and  inconfiirent,  yet 
he  never  appears  to  have  contraded 
the  bupid  frenzy  of  atheiim. 


Dr,  George  Abbot,  Lord  Arch - 
bifhop  of  Canterbury. 

7 he.  following  charaBer  was  drawn 
by  the  late  Mr.  Onllow  Speaker 
of  the  Houfe  of  Commons ,  on  per  a- 
fng  Lord  Clarendon’.?  unfavour¬ 
able  Reprefentation  of  Abbot,  in 
his  Lordfsip’s  Htfory  of  the  Re¬ 
bellion, 

/‘"T^  HAT  worthy  Prelate  did 
Jp  furelv  deferve  a  better  re- 
prefentation  to  pofterity.  He  was  a 
very  wife  and  prudent  man,  knew 
well  the  temper  and  difpolition  of 
the  kingdom  with  refped  to  the 
ceremonies  and  power  of  the 
church,  and  did  therefore  ufe  a 
moderation  in  the  point  of  eccle- 
fiaiiical  difeipline,  which  if  it  had 
been  followed  by  his  fuccefTor,  the 
ruin  that  loon  after  fell  on  the 
church  might  very  likely  have  been 
prevented.  His  being  without  any 
credit  at  court  from  the  latter  end 
of  King  James’s  reign  will  bring 
no  dishonour  on  his  memory,  if  k 
be  conhdered  that  his  difgrace  arofe 
from  his  diilike  of,  and  oppofkion 
to  the  imprudent  and  corrupt  mea~ 
fares  of  the  court  at  that  time,  and 
from  an  boneft  zeal  for  the  laws 
and  liberties  of  his  country,  which 

feemed 


CHARACTERS, 


Teemed  then  to  be  in  no  fmall  dan¬ 
ger :  and  it  was  a  part  truly  be¬ 
coming  the  high  ftation  he  then 
bore.  His  advice  upon  the  affair 
of  the  Palatinate  at.d  the  Spanifh 
match  (hewed  his  knowledge  of  the 
true  intereft  o i  England,  and  how 
much  it  was  at  his  heart;  and  his 
behaviour  and  fufferings  in  the 
next  reign  about  the  loan  and  Sib- 
thorp’s  fermon,  as  they  were  the 
reafons  of  his  difgrace  at  that  time, 
fc  ought  they  to  render  his  memory 
valuable  to  all  who  wifh  not  to  fee 
the  fatal  counfels  and  the  oppref- 
fion  of  chofe  times  revived  in  this 
nation.  The  Duke  of  Bucking¬ 
ham  was  his  enemy  becaufe  the 
Archbirhop  would  not  be  his  crea¬ 
ture,  and  the  church  perhaps  might 
have  been  thought  to  have  been 
better  governed,  if  he  had  (looped 
to  the  Duke,  and  given  into  the 
wantonneffes  of  his  power,  but  he 
knew  the  dignity  of  his  character, 
and  loved  his  country  too  well  to 
fubmit  to  fuch  a  meannefs,  though 
very  few  of  his  brethren  had  the 
courage  or  honefty  to  join  with  him 
in  this ;  and  if  the  Archbifhop 
himfelf  is  to  be  credited,  his  fuc- 
ceffor’s  rife  was  by  the  practice  of 
thofe  arts  this  good  man  could  not 
bend  to.  As  to  his  learning,  we 
need  no  better  teftimony  of  it  than 
his  promotion  by  King  James,  who 
had  too  much  affectation  that  way 
to  prefer  any  one  to  fuch  a  ftation 
who  had  not  borne  the  reputation 
of  a  fcholar;  but  there  are  other 
proofs  of  his  {efficiency  in  this, 
even  for  the  high  place  he  held  in 
the  church.  If  he  had  fome  nar¬ 
row  notions  in  divinity,  they  were 
rather  the  faults  of  the  age  he  had 
his  education  in,  than  his;  and 
the  fame  imputation  may  be  laid 
on  the  beft  and  molt  learned  of  the 


7 

reformers.  His  warmth  againft 
popery  became  the  office  of  a  pro- 
teiiant  Bi(hop,  though  even  to¬ 
ward;  papifts  there  is  if  remarkable 
in  (lance  of  his  mildnefs  and  cha¬ 
rity,  which  (hewed  that  his  zeal 
againft  their  perfons  went  no  far¬ 
ther  than  the  fafety  of  the  (late  re¬ 
quired.  His  parts  feem  to  have 
been  (trong  and  matterly,  his 
preaching  grave  and  eloquent,  and 
his  (tile  equal  to  any  of  that  time. 
He  was  eminent  for  piety  and  a 
care  for  the  poor,  and  his  hofpita- 
lity  fully  anTwered  the  injunction 
King  James  laid  on  him,  which 
was  to  carry  his  houfe  nobly,  and 
to  live  like  an  Archbifhop.  He 
had  no  thoughts  of  heaping  up 
riches;  what  he  did  fave  was  laid 
out  by  him  in  the  ereCting  and 
endowing  of  an  handfome  hofpital 
for  decayed  tradefmen,  and  the 
widows  of  fuch,  in  the  town  of 
Guildford,  in  the  county  of  Sur¬ 
ry,  where  he  was  born  and  had 
his  fir  It  education;  and  here  f  can¬ 
not  omit  taking  notice  that  the 
body  of  (latutes  drawn  by  himfelf 
for  the  government  of  that  houfe, 
is  one  of  the  mod  judicious  works 
of  that  kind  I  ever  law,  and  under 
which,  for  near  one  hundred  years, 
tint  hofpital  has  maintained  the 
belt  credit  of  any  that  I  know  in 
England.  He  was  void  of  all 
pomp  and  oftentation,  and  thought 
the  nearer  the  church  and  church¬ 
men  came  to  the  fimplicity  of  the 
firlt  Chriftians,  the  better  would 
the  true  ends  of  religion  be  ferved, 
and  that  the  purity  of  the  heart  was 
to  be  preferred  to,  and  ought  ra¬ 
ther  to  be  the  care  of  a  fpiritual 
governor,  than  the  devotion  of  the 
hands  only.  If  under  this  notion 
fome  niceties  in  difeipline  were 
given  up  to  goodnefs  of  life,  and 
B  4.  when 


3  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


when  the  peace  of  the  church  as 
well  as  of  the  kingdom  was  pre- 
ferved  by  it,  it  was  furely  no  ill 
piece  of  prudence,  nor  is  his  me¬ 
mory  therefore  deferving  of  thofe 
flanders  it  has  undergone  upon 
that  account. 

It  is  eafy  to  fee  that  much  of 
this  treatment  has  being  owing  to  a 
belief  in  the  admirers  and  followers 
of  Archbifhop  Laud,  that  the  re- 
putation  of  the  latter  was  increafed 
by  depreciating  that  of  the  former. 
They  were  indeed  men  of  very 
different  frames,  and  the  parts  they 
took  in  the  affairs  both  of  church 
and  ftate  as  difagreeino-  In  the 
church,  moderation  and  the  ways 
of  peace  guided  the  behaviour  of 
the  fir  ft,  rigour  and  feverity  that  of 
the  laft.  in  the  flats  they  feverally 
carried  the  like  principles  and 
temper.  The  one  made  the  liberty 
of  the  people  and  the  laws  of  the 
land  the  meafure  of  his  actions, 
when  the  other,  to  fpeak  foftly  of 
it,  had  the  power  of  the  Prince 
and  the  exalting  the  prerogative 
only,  for  the  foundation  of  his. 
They  were  indeed  bath  of  them 
men  of  courage  and  refolution;  but 
it  was  fedate  and  temperate  in  Ab-  ■ 
bot,  paflionate  and  unruly  in  Laud. 
It  is  not  however  to  be  denied  th#.t 
many  rare  and  excellent  virtues 
were  pofteffed  by  the  latter;  but  it 
mu  ft  be  owned  too,  he  fee  ms  rather 
made  for  the  hierarchy  of  another 
church,  and  to  be  the  minifter  of 
an  arbitrary  Prince,  and  the  other 
to  have  had  the  qualifications  of  a 
proteftant  Biftiop  and  the  guardian 
of  a  free  ftate.  Thus  much  I 
thought  was  due  to  the  character 
of  this  good  man,  not  only  for  the 
fake  of  juftice,  but  as  an  offering 
of  gratitude  to  his  memory  for  the 
great  and  lading  obligations  the 


town  of  Guildford  (to  which  I  have 
fome  relation)  lies  under  to  him. 
And  what  1  have  here  find  of  him 
I  am  amply  jollified  in,  from  feve- 
ral  accounts  delivered  down  of 
him,  from  letters  and  other  pieces 
of  his  own  in  Rufhworth’s  Collec¬ 
tions^  and  from  the  ftatutes  of  his 
hofpital  before  mentioned,  and 
other  memorials  of  his  worth  which 
are  there  preferved. 

July  the  10th,  A.  O. 

1723. 


Original  Letter  of  Thomas  Leigh 
(one  of  the  V if  tors  of  the  Mona/ie- 
ries)  to  Thomas  Cromwell,  Lord 
Privy  Seal .  Dated  from  the  Mo~ 
najlery  of  Vale  Royal,  the  2 id  of 
Auguft,  1536. 

[From  Hardwicke  State  Papers.] 

[This  is  a  curious  but  authentic 
piflure  of  country  manners  about 
the  time  of  the  Reformation  ;  it 
is  no  wonder  that  Vi fi tors,  ma¬ 
king  fuch  reports,  were  unpo¬ 
pular.] 

IN  my  moil  humble  manner  I 
commend  me  unto  your  good 
Lordfhip,  evermore  thanking  you 
of*  your  munificency,  and  great 
goddnefs,  at  all  times  fhewed  unto 
me.  Advertifing  your  Lordfhip, 
that  whereas  I  have  hitherto,  ac¬ 
cording  to  your  commandment,  vi- 
fited  the  archdeaconries  of  Coven¬ 
try,  Stafford,  Derby,  and  part  of 
Cbefhire  ;  for  that  I  can.  perceive 
accordingly,  as  I  heretofore  have 
written  unto  you,  there  lgketh  no¬ 
thing  but  good  and  godly  inftruc- 
tion  of  the  rude  and  poor  people, 
and  reformation  of  the  heads,  in 
thefe  parts.  For  certain  of  the 
knights  and  gentlemen,  and  moft 

commonly 


CHAR  A 

commonly  all,  liveth  fo  inconti¬ 
nently,  having  their  concubines 
openly  in  their  houfes,  with  five  or 
fix  of  their  children,  and  putting 
from  them  their  wives,  that  all  fhe 
country  therewith  be  not  a  little 
offended,  and  taketh  evil  example 
of  them.  Wherefore  hitherto  I 
have  given  and  font  commandment 
to  them  (forai'much  as  I  could  not 
fpeak  with  them  all,  by  reafon 
they  were  at  the  aflizes,)  to  put 
from  them  immediately  fuch  con¬ 
cubines,  as  they  have  hitherto  no- 
torioufiy  and  manifeflly  occupied 
and  kept,  and  to  take  again  their 
wives  ;  or  elfe  to  appear  before 
your  Lordfhip,  to  fhew  a  caufe 
why  they  fhould  not  be  compelled  ; 
and  if  your  Lordfhip  will  com¬ 
mand  any  other  thing  to  be  done 
in  the  premi fes,  I  {hall  be  ready  to 
accomplifh  the  fame.  And  feeing 
my  Lord  of  Norfolk  is  come  to  the 
court,  I  fh all  mod  humbly  defire 
you  to  have  me  in  remembrance. 
And  thus  God  preferve  you,  and 
have  you  in  his  rm  ft  firm  tuition, 
with  much  increafe  of  honour,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  contentation  of  your 
Lordfhip’s  mod  noble  good  heart’s 
defire. 

From  the  monadery  of  Vale 
Royal,  the  22d  of  Augud 

Your  Lordfhip’s  humble  at 
commandment, 

THOMAS  LEIGH. 


Mr,  Jones  to  Sir  Nicholas  Throck¬ 
morton,  AmbaJJ'ador  in  France. 

* 

[This  is  an  extremely  curious  let¬ 
ter,  and,  together  with  the 
others,  in  which  the  Queen’s 
marriage  with  Lord  Robert  Dud* * 
ley  is  mentioned,  plainly  fhews 


c  t  e  r  s.  9 

the  general  opinion,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  of  her  incli¬ 
nation  that  way.  Indeed  Eliza¬ 
beth  herfelf  does  not  diiclaim 
it.] 

SIR, 

WITH  all  the  diligence  I 
could  make,  f  arrived  not 
at  the  court  here  till  Monday  at 
night,  the  25th  of  November,  at 
whac  time  I  delivered  my  letters  to 
Mr.  Secretary,  and  attending  all 
the  next  day  upon.  him,  I  fpake  not 
with  the  Queen’s  Majefty  till  Wed- 
nefday  at  night  at  Greenwich, 
whither  fhe  came  to  bed  from  El- 
tham,  when  fhe  dined  and  hunted 
all  that  day  with  divers  of  my 
Lords. 

I  had  declared  unto  Mr.  Secre¬ 
tary,  before  1  fpake  with  her,  the 
day  after  my  arriva',  the  d’fcourfe 
of  the  Lord  of  St.  John’s,  and  your 
Lordfhip’s  opinion,  touching  the 
declaration  in  French,  which  he 
willed  me  to  put  in  writing,  as  I 
did  ;  Mr.  Secretary  (hewed  both 
the  fame  to  the  Queen’s  Majefty, 
as  her  highnefs  in  my  talk  with  her 
toi J  me,  and  a  third  perfon  knew 
the  fame,  but  how,  1  know  not, 
I  will  tell  your  Lordfnip  the  ftory, 
and  then  you  may  guefs  at  it. 
There  was  occafion,  as  your  Lord¬ 
fhip  knoweth,  in  the  difeourfe,  to 
fpeak  of  the  delivery  of  the  letters 
to  the  French  King  and  Queen  in 
the  favour  of  the  Earl  of  Arran, 
and  of  that  the  French  Queen  faid, 
the  Queen’s  Majefty  would  marry 
the  mafter  1  of  her  horfes.  The 
26th  of  November  all  my  Lords  of 
the  council  dined  at  the  Scotch 
Ambaffador’s  lodging,  where  they 
were  very  highly  feafted.  I  repaired 
thither  to  fhew  myfelf  to  my  Lords, 
where,  after  I  had  attended  half 

dinner 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


dinner  time,  my  Lord  Robert  rofe 
up,  and  went  to  the  court,  and  in 
the  way  fent  a  gentleman  back  to 
will  me  to  repair  thither  after  him, 
as  I  did,  after  I  bad  declared  the 
in  adage  to  Mr.  Secretary.  Being 
come  unto  him,  he  alked  me,  whe¬ 
ther  the  French  Queen  had  faid 
that  the  Queen’s  Majefty  would 
marry  her  horfe- keeper,  and  told 
me  he  had  feen  all  the  diicourfe  of 
your  Lordfhip’s  proceedings,  toge¬ 
ther  with  the  intelligence,  and  that 
Mr.  Secretary  told  him,  that  the 
French  Queen  had  faid  fo.  I  an- 
fwered,  that  i  faid  no  fuch  matter. 
He  laid  the  matter  upon  me  fo 
flrong,  as  the  author  thereof  being 
avowed,  I  would  not  deny,  that 
the  French  Queen  had  faid,  that 
the  Queen  would  marry  the  mailer 
of  her  horfes.  This  was  all  he  faid 
to  me,  and  he  willed  me,  that  I 
fhould  in  no  cafe  let  it  be  known  to 
Mr,  Secretary,  that  he  had  told  me 
thus  much,  as  I  have  not  indeed, 
nor  mean  not  to  do  ;  whereby  I 
judge,  that  Mr.  Secretary  did  de¬ 
clare  it  only  to  the  Queen,  at 
whofe  hands  my  Lord  Robert  had 
it.  The  fame  night  I  fpake  to  Mr. 
Killigrew,  and  having  delivered 
your  Lordfnip’s  letter  and  told  him 
of  the  intelligence  ;  he  faid  in  the 
end  unto  me,  with  as  it  were,  a 
fad  look,  I  think  verily,  that  my 
Lord  Robert  ihall  run  away  with 
the  hare,  ,and  have  the  Queen  ; 
ter  whom  I  anfwered  nothing;. 

V 

Thus  much  I  thought  good  to 
write  before  I  came  to  fpeak  of  my 


proceeding  with  the  Queen’s  Ma- 
jefty. 

The  27th,  I  fpake  with  her  Ma- 
jelly  at  Greenwich,  at  fix  o’clock 
at  night,  and  declared  unto  her  the 
talk  of  the  AmbafTadors  of  Spain 
and  Venice,  and  the  Marquis  *, 
and  your  advice,  touching  the  ge¬ 
neral  council  f.  When  I  had  done 
with  the  fir  ft  point  of  my  firft  tale. 
By  my  troth,  faid  (he,  I  thought  it 
was  fuch  a  matter,  and  he  need  not 
have  fent  you  hither,  for  it  had 
been  more  meet  to  have  kept  you 
there  ftxll.  I  faid,  that  if  it  had 
been  written  in  cypher,  it  mu  ft 
have  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
fome  others.  Of  nobody,  faid  (he, 
but  of  my  Secretary  ;  or  elfe  he 
might  have  written  it  in  my  own 
cypher.  When  I  came  to  touch 
nearer  the  quick,  I  have  heard  of 
this  before,  quoth  Ihe,  and  he  need 
not  to  have  fent  you  withal  :  I 
faid,  that  the  care  you  had  was  fo 
great,  as  you  could  not  but  adver- 
tife  her  Majefty  of  fuch  things  %  as 
might  touch  her,  an  that  you  took 
this  to  be  no  matter  to  be  opened, 
but  to  herfelf.  When  1  came  to 

\y 

the  point  that  touched  his  race  §  , 
which  I  fet  forth  in  as  vehement 
terms  as  the  cafe  required,  and 
that  the  Duke’s  |[  hatred  was  rather 
to  her  than  to  the  Queen  her  filler; 
fne  laughed,  and  forthwith  turned 
herfelf  to  the  one  fide  and  to  the 
other,  and  fet  her  hand  upon  her 
face.  She  thereupon  told  me,  that 
the  matter  had  been  tried  in  the 
ccumry**,  and  found  to  be  con- 


Of  Northampton. 

F  That  the  Queen  Oiould  fend  thither. 

Of  the  talk  in  France  of  her  marriage# 

§  Lord  Robert  Dudley’s, 
fj  Of  Northumberland. 

q  This  relates  to  the  report  of  Lord  Robert’s  having  his  wife  privately  mur¬ 
dered* 

**  Probably  coroner’s  inqueft. 


trary 


CHAR  A 

trary  to  that  which  was  reported, 
faying  that  he  was  then  in  the 
court,  and  none  of  his  at  the, at- 
tempt  at  his  wife’s  houfe  ;  and  that 
it  fell  out  as  Ihould  neither  touch 
his  honefty  nor  her  honour.  Quoth 
fhe,  my  Ambafl’ador  knoweth  fome- 
what  of  my  mind  in  thele  matters. 
She  heard  me  very  patiently,  I 
think  the  rather  becaufe  I  made, 
before  I  fpake  unto  her  Majefty,  a 
long  proteftation,  as  methought  I 
had  need  to  do,  conlidering  that 
my  Lord  Robert  knew  thereof  as 
much  as  he  did.  Her  Majefty  pro- 
mifed  me  fidem ,  taciturnitatem ,  L? 
favorem,  the  laft  whereof  I  found 
towards  myfelf,  but  as  for  your 
Lord fh ip,  fhe  not  once  made  men¬ 
tion  of  you  unto  me,  unlefs  that 
once  or  twice  fhe  afked,  whe¬ 
ther  your  Lordfhip  willed  me  to 
declare  this  matter  unto  her,  as  I 
affirmed  you  did.  Thus  much 
have  I  thought  good  to  write, 
touching  the  Ambaftador  of  Spain’s 
talk.  For  *  the  Venetian  Ambaf- 
fador’s  talk,  fhe  protefted,  that  fhe 
never  to  any  Ambaftador  or  other, 
difclofed  any  and  no¬ 

body  but  Mr.  Secretary  knew  of 
thefe  matters;  who  was,  fhe  laid, 
wife  enough  When  I  rehearfed 
the  terms  of  e, veneficii  Cf  mulefcii 
reus  ;  ftie  caufed  rne  to  repeat  the 
fame  twice  or  thrice,  which  me- 
thought  did  move  her  more  than 

O  m 

that  I  faid  touching  the  AmbaiTa- 
dor  of  Spain’s  talk.  For  the  Mar¬ 
quis,  fhe  believed  the  fir  ft  part, 
touching  his  affedlion  towards  her; 
and  for  the  lall  of  that  he  reported, 
touching  her  Majefty’s  difcourfe 
with  him  for  the  not  marrying  of 
any  other  fubjeCts,  fhe  affirmed 


C  T  E  R  S.  -  II 

unto  me,  that  it  was  never  fpoken 
unto  him,  touching  any  fuch  mat¬ 
ter. 


Letters  from  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk. 

[Thefe  political  love-letters  (for 
they  can  pafs  under  no  other  de¬ 
nomination,)  from  a  very  artful 
woman  to  a  very  weak  man,  are, 
from  the  characters  of  the  par¬ 
ties,  and  the  confequences  of 
their  intimacy,  thought  to  de- 
ferve  publication,  ft  is  lingu¬ 
lar,  that,  with  all  the  commen¬ 
dation  bellowed  on  the  beauty  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  there  are 
no  two  portraits  of  her  which  r 6- 
femble  each  other  ;  that  by  Ifaac 
Oliver,  in  the  King’s  p  uTeffion, 
and  that  in  the  Duke  of  Devon- 
lhire’s  at  Chifwick,  by  Zuccero, 
are  undoubtedly  more  advan¬ 
tageous  to  her  than  any  others 
we  know  of.  Bran  tome  com¬ 
mends  her  perfon  and  her  wit; 
and  Sir  Nicholas  White,  Mailer 
of  the  Rolls  in  Ireland,  fays  of 
her  to  Secretary  Cecil,  “  She 
hath  an  alluring  grace,  a  pretty 
Scotch  fpeech,  and  a  fearching 
wit  clouded  with  mildnefs. 
Then,  joy  is  a  lively  infective 
paffion,  and  carrieth  many  per- 
fuafions  to  the  heart,  which 
ruleth  all  the  reft  ;  mine  own 
afteftions,  by  feeing  the  Queen’s 
Majefty  are  doubled,  and  there¬ 
fore  I  guefs  what  light  might 
work  in  others.  But,  if  I  might 
give  advice,  there  Ihould  very 
few  fubjecls  of  this  land  have  ac- 


cefs 


#  It  ihould  feem  that  all  thefe  talks  related  to  Lord  Robert. 


1 ft 

I  <&t* 


ANNUAL  RE 

cefs  to,  or  have  conference  with 
this  lady.”  Hatfield  Papers, 
Vol.  I.  p.  510.] 

From  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk. 

Mine  own  Lord* 

I  Wrote  to  you  before,  to  know 
your  pleafure  if  1  fhouid  feek  to 
make  any  enterprize  ;  if  it  pleafe 
you,  I  care  not  for  my  danger ; 
but  I  would  wifh  you  would  feek 
to  do  the  like  ;  for  if  you  and  I 
could  efcape  both,  we  fhouid  find 
friends  enough  ;  and  for  your  lands 
I  hope  they  fhouid  not  be  loft  ; 
for,  being  free  and  honourably 
bound  together,  you  might  make 
fuch  good  offers  for  the  countries, 
and  the  Queen  of  England,  as 
they  fli Quid  not  refufe.  Our  fault 
were  not  fhameful  ;  you  have  pro- 
mifed  to  be  myne,  and  I  yours  ;  I 
believe  the  Queen  of  England  and 
country  fhouid  like  of  it.  By 
means  of  friends,  therefore,  you 
have  fought  your  liberty,  and 
fatisfadlion  of  your  confcience, 
meaning  that  you  promifed  me  you 
could  not  leave  me.  If  you  think 
the  danger  great,  do  as  you  think 
bed,  and  let  me  know  what  you 
pleafe  that  I  do  ;  for  I  will  ever  be, 
for  your  fake,  perpetual  prifoner, 
or  put  my  life  in  peril  for  your  weal 
and  myne.  As  you  pleafe  com¬ 
mand  me,  for  I  will,  for  all  the 
world,  follow  your  commands,  fo 
that  you  be  not  in  danger  for  me  in 
fb  doing.  I  will,  either  if  I  were 
out  by  humble  fubmiffion,  and  all 
my  friends  were  againft  it,  or  by 
other  ways,  work  for  our  liberties 
fo  long  as  I  live.  Let  me  know 
your  mind,  and  whether  you  are 
not  of  ended  at  me  ;  for  I  fear  you 


GISTER,  1778. 

are,  feeing  that  I  do  hear  no  news 
from  you.  I  pray  God  preferve 
you,  and  keep  us  both  from  de¬ 
ceitful  friends.  This  lad  of  Ja¬ 
nuary. 

Your  own,  faithful  to  death. 
Queen  of  Scots,  my  Norfolk, 

. . 

F rom  the  Same  to  the  Same „ 

Myne  own  good  Lord, 

I  Have  forborn  this  long  time  to 
write  to  you,  in  refpedl  of  the 
dangers  of  writing,  which  you 
feemed  to  fear  ;  but  I  mull  remem¬ 
ber  you  of  your  own  at  tymes,  as 
occa lion  Ter veth,  and  let  you  know 
the  continuance  of  my  truth  to  you, 
which  I  fee  by  this  lad  look  much 
deteiled.  But,  if  you  mind  not  to 
fhrink  at  the  matter,  I  will  die  and 
live  with  you.  Your  fortune  (hall 
be  mine  ;  therefore,  let  me  know, 
in  all  things,  your  mind.  The 
Bifhop  of  Rofs  writes  to  me,  that 
I  fhouid  make  the  offers  to  the 
Queen  of  England  now  in  my  let¬ 
ter,  which  I  write  generally  ;  be- 
caufe  I  would  enter  into  nothing 
till  I  know  your  pleafure,  which 
I  fkal!  now  follow.  I  have  heard 
that  God  hath  taken  your  dear 
friend  Pembroke,  whereof  I  am 
heartily  lorry  ;  albeit  that,  nor 
other  matter,  trouble  you  to  your 
heart;  for  elfe  you  leave  all  your 
friends  and  me,  for  whofe  caufe 
you  have  done  fo  much  already, 
that  I  truft  you  will  preferve  you 
to  a  happyer  meeting  in  defpite  of 
all  fuch  raylers  ;  wherein  I  fufpetfl 
Huntingdon,  for  fuch  like  talk. 
But,  for  all  their  fayings,  I  trud  in 
God  you  fhali  be  fatisfied  with 
my  conditions  and  behaviour,  and 

faithful 


C  H  A  R  A 

faithful  duty  to  you,  whenever  it 
fh all  pleafe  God  I  be  with  you,  as 
I  hope  for  my  part  the 
maker  fhall  never  have  the  pleafure 
to  fee,  or  hear  my  repentance  or 
mifeontentment  therein.  I  have 
prayed  God  to  preferve  you,  and 
grant  us  both  his  grace  ;  and  then 
let  them,  like  blafphemers,  feel. 
So  I  end  with  the  humble  and 
heartieft  recommendations  to  you, 
of  your  own  faithful  to  death. 
This  19th  of  March, 


From  the  Same  to  the  Same. 

I  Have  received,  my  own  good 
conftant  Lord,  your  comfortable 
writings,  which  are  to  me  as  wel¬ 
come  as  ever  thing  was,  for  the 
hopes  [  fee  you  are  in  to  have  fome 
better  fortune  than  you  had  yet, 
through  all  your  friends  favour. 
And  albeit  my  friends  cafe  in  Scot¬ 
land  be  of  heavy  difpleafure  unto 
me,  yet  nothing  to  the  fear  I  had 
of  my  fon’s  delivery  up  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  thofethat  I  thought 
might  be  caufe  of  longer  delay¬ 
ing  your  affairs.  And,  therefore,  I 
took  greater  difpleafure  than  I  have 
done  fince,  and  that  diminilheth 
my  health  a  little.  For,  the  Earl 
of  Shrewfbury  came  one  night  fo 
merry  to  me,  fhewing  that  the 
Earl  of  Northumberland  had  been 
in  rebellion,  and  was  rendered  to 
the  Earl  of  Suffex,  Lord  Lieutenant 
of  the  North  ;  which,  fince,  I  have 
found  falfe;  but,  at  the  fudden, 
fuch  fear  for  friends  combring  me, 
I  wept  fo  till  I  was  all  fwollen  three 
days  after.  But  fince  I  have  heard 
from  you,  I  have  gone  abroad  and 
fought  all  means  to  avoid  difplea¬ 
fure  for  fear  of  you ;  but  I  have 


C  T  E  R  S.  '  r3 

need  to  care  for  my  health,  fince 
the  Earl  of  Shrcwfbury  looks  me 
to,  and  the  peftylence  w-as  in  other 
places.  The  Earl  of  Shrewfbury 
looks  for  Bateman  to  be  inftrudted 
how  to  deal  with  me,  becaufe  he  is 
ableft  and  clean  turned  from  the 
Earl  of  Leycefter  ;  this  I  affure  you, 
and  pray  keep  that  quiet.  I  have 
no  long  leifure,  for  I  truft  to  write 
by  one  of  my  gentlemen  fhortly 
more  furely.  I  pray  you  thin  kand 
hold  me  in  your  grace  as  your  own, 
who  daily  fhall  pray  to  God  to 
fend  you  happy  and  hafty  deli¬ 
verance  of  all  troubles,  not  doubt¬ 
ing  but  you  would  not  then  enjoy 
alone  all  your  felicities,  not  re¬ 
membering  your  own  faithful  to 
death,  who  fhall  not  have  any  ad¬ 
vancement  or  reft  without  you. 
And  fo  I  leave  to  trouble  you,  but 
commend  you  to  God.  This  17th 
day  of  May. 

Your  own  Queen, 


Two  Letters  from  Sir  Dudley  Carle- 
ton  {afterwards  Vifcount  Dor- 
chefter)  concerning  Sir  W.  Ra¬ 
leigh’*  Plot. 

Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  to  Mr.  John. 

Chamberlain. 

S  I  R, 

Was  taking  care  how  to  fend 
unto  you,  and  little  looked  for 
fo  good  a  means  as  your  man,  who 
came  to  me  this  morning ;  and 
though  he  would  in  all  hafte  be 
gone,  I  have  ftayed  him  this  night, 
to  have  time  to  difeourfe  unto  you 
thefe  tragical  proceedings. 

I  was  not  prefent  at  the  firft 
or  fecond  arraignment,  wherein 
Brooke,  Markham,  Brookefby, 

Copley, 


14-  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


Copley,  and  the  two  priefts  were 
condemned,  for  praftidng  the  fur- 
prize  of  the  King’s  perfon,  the 
taking  of  the  Tower,  the  depofing 
of  counfellors,  and  proclaiming 
liberty  of  religion.  They  were  all 
condemned  upon  their  otvn  con- 
feffions,  which  were  fet  down  un¬ 
der  their  own  hands,  as  declara¬ 
tions;  and  compiled  with  fuch  la¬ 
bour  and  care,  to  make  the  matter 
they  undertook  feem  very  feadble, 
as  if  they  had  feared  they  fhould 
not  fay  enough  to  hang  themfelves. 
Pirra  was  acquitted,  being  only 
drawn  in  by  the  prieds  as  an  a  Aid¬ 
ant,  without  knowing  thepurpofe; 
yet  had  he  gone  the  fame  way  as 
the  red  (as  it  is  thought),  fave  for 
a  word  the  Lord  Cecil  cad  in  the 
way  as  his  caufe  was  in  handling, 
that  the  King’s  glory  confided  as 
much  in  freeing  the  innocent,  as 
condemning  the  guilty.  , 

The  commiffioners  for  this  trial 
were,  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  Lord 
of  Devon,  Lord  Henry  Howard, 
Lqrd  Cecil,  Lord  Wotton,  the 
Vice  Chamberlain,  the  two  Chief 
Judices,  judice  Gawdy,  and  War- 
burton.  Of  the  King's  council, 
none  were  employed  in  that,  or  the 
arraignment,  but  the  attorney 
Heale,  and  Philips ;  and  in  effeft, 
none  but  the  attorney.  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  ferved  for  a  whole  aft, 
and  played  all  the  parts  himfelf. 
His  caofe  was  disjoined  from  the 
prieds,  as  being  a  praftice  only  be¬ 
tween  himfelf  and  the  Lord  Cob- 
ham,  to  have  brought  in  the  Spa¬ 
niard,  to  have  raifed  rebellion 
in  the  realm,  by  fadening  money 
upon  difeontents,  to  have  fet  up 
the  Lady  Arabella,  and  to  have 
tied  her  to  certain  conditions ;  as 


to  have  a  perpetual  peace  with 
Spain  ;  not  to  have  bellowed  her- 
felf  in  marriage  but  at  the  direftion 
of  the  Spaniard  ;  and  to  have 
granted  liberty  of  religion.  The 
evidence  againd  him,  was  only 
Cobham’s  confeffion,  which  was 
judged  fufficient  to  condemn  him; 
and  a  letter  was  produced,  written 
by  Cobham  the  day  before,  by 
which  he  accufed  Raleigh  as  the 
drd  praftiferof  the  treafon  betwixt 
them  ;  which  ferved  to  turn  againd 
him  ;  though  he  (hewed,  to  coun¬ 
tervail  this,  a  letter  written  by 
Cobham,  and  delivered  to  him  in 
the  Tower,  by  which  he  was 
clearly  acquitted.  After  femence 
given,  his  requeft  was,  to  have  his 
anfwers  related  to  the  King,  and 
pardon  begged  ;  of  which,  if  there 
were  no  hope,  then  that  Cobham 
might  die  drd.  He  anfwered  with 
that  temper,  wit,  learning,  cou¬ 
rage  and  judgment,  that  fave  that 
it  went  with  the  hazard  of  his  life, 
it  was  the  happied  day  that  ever  he 
{pent.  And  fo  well  he  drifted  all 
advantages  that  were  taken  againd 

^  o  o 

him,  that  v/ere  not  fama  malum 
gransius  quam  res ,  and  an  ill  name 
half  hanged,  in  the  opinion  of  all 
men,  he  Tad  been  acquitted. 

The  two  drd  that  brought  the 
news  to  the  King,  were  Roger 
Afhton  and  a  Scotchman  ;  whereof 
one  affirmed,  that  never  any  man 
fpoke  fo  well  in  times  pad,  nor 
would  do  in  the  world  to  come  ; 
and  the  other  faid,  that  whereas 
when  he  faw  him  drd,  he  was  fo 
led  with  the  common  hatred,  that 
he  would  have  gone  a  hundred 
miles  to  have  feen  him  hanged,  he 
would,  ere  he  parted,  have  gone 
a  thoufand  to  have  faved  his  life. 


*  Coke. 


In 


C  H  A  R  A 

In  one  word,  never  was  man  fo 
hated,  and  fo  popular,  in  fo  diort 
a  time.  It  was  thougnt  the  lords 
ihould  have  been  arraigned  on 
Tuefday  lad,  but  they  were  put  off 
till  Friday  and  Saturday  ;  and  had 
their  trials  apart  before  the  Lord 
Chancellor  *  (as  Lord  Steward  for 
both  thole  days,)  eleven  earls, 
nineteen  barons.  The  Duke  f, 
the  Earl  of  Marr,  and  many  Scot- 
tifh  lords,  Hood  as  fpedlators  ;  and 
of  our  ladies,  the  greateft  part,  as 
the  Lady  Nottingham,  the  Lady 
Suffolk,  and  the  Lady  Arabella, 
who  heard  herfelf  much  fpoken 
of  thefe  days.  But,  the  arraign¬ 
ment  before,  Ihe  was  more  par¬ 
ticularly  remembered,  as  by  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  for  woman, 
with  whom  he  had  no  acquaint¬ 
ance,  and  one,  whom,  of  all  that 
he  ever  faw,  he  never  liked  ;  and 
by  Serjeant  Hale,  as  one  that  had 
no  more  right  to  the  crown  than 
himfelf ;  and  for  any  claim  that 
he  had  to  it,  he  utterly  diiavowed 
it.  Cobham  led  the  way  on  Fri¬ 
day,  and  made  fuch  a  faffing  day’s 
piece  of  work  of  it,  that  he  difcre- 
dited  the  place  to  which  he  v/as 
called ;  never  was  feen  fo  poor  and 
abjedt  a  fpirit.  He  heard  his  in- 
didfment  with  much  fear  and  trem¬ 
bling,  and  would  fometimes  inter¬ 
rupt  it,  by  forfwearing  what  he 
thought  to  be  wrongly  inferted  ; 
fo  as,  by  his  fafhion,  it  was  known 
ere  he  fpake,  whut  he  would  con- 
fefs  or  deny.  In  his  firft  anfwer, 
he  faid,  he  had  changed  his  mind 
fince  he  came  to  the  bar;  for 
whereas  he  came  with  an  inten¬ 
tion  to  have  made  his  confeffion, 
without  denying  any  thing,  now 
feeing  many  things  inferted  in  this 

f  Of  Lenox 


C  T  E  R  S.  15 

indidlment  with  which  he  could 
not  be  charged,  being  not  able  in 
one  word  to  make  didindtion  of 
many  parts,  he  mull  plead  to  all 
not  guilty .  For  any  thing  that  be¬ 
longed  to  the  Lady  Arabella,  he 
denied  the  whole  accufation  ;  only 
faid,  fhe  had  fought  his  friendfhip, 
and  his  brother  Brooke  had  fought 
her’s.  For  the  other  purpofes,  he 
faid,  he  had  hammered  in  his 
brains  fome  fuch  imaginations  ; 
but  never  had  purpofe  to  bring 
them  to  effedl.  Upon  Raleigh, 
he  exclaimed  as  one  who  had 
flirred  him  up  to  difcontent,  and 
thereby  overthrown  his  fortunes. 
Againll  him  fie  faid,  that  he  had 
once  propounded  to  him  a  means 
for  the  Spaniard  to  invade  Eng¬ 
land,  which  was,  to  bring  down 
an  army  to  the  Groyne,  under  pre¬ 
tence  to  fend  them  into  the  Low 
Countries,  and  land  them  at  Mil¬ 
ford  Haven  :  that  he  had  made  him¬ 
felf  a  penfioner  to  Spain  for  1500 
crowns  by  the  year,  to  give  intelli¬ 
gence  ;  and,  for  an  earned  of  his 
diligence,  had  already  related  to 
the  Count  D’Aremberg,  the  par¬ 
ticularities  of  what  paffed  in  the 
dates  audiences  at  Greenwich.  His 
brother’s  confeffion  was  read  again d 
him,  wherein  he  accufea  him  of  a 
contradt  made  with  Aremberg  for 
500,000  crowns  to  bedow  among  ft 
difcontents,  whereof  Raleigh  was 
to  have  had  10,000,  Grey  as 
much,  and  Brooke  1000  ;  the  red, 
as  they  fhould  find  fit  men  to  be¬ 
dow  it  on.  He  excepted  again  ft 
his  brother  as  an  incompetent  ac« 
cufer,  bapttz  ng  him  with  the  name 
of  a  viper  ;  and  laid  to  his  charge 
(though  far  from  the  purpofe)  the 
getting  of  his  wife’s  filler  with 

then  the  only  one  of  that  degree. 

child  ; 


*  Ellefmere* 


16  ANNUAL  RE 

chiid  ;  in  which  it  is  thought  he 
did  young  Coppinger  fome  wrong. 

A  letter  was  produced  which  he 
wrote  to  Aremberg  for  fo  much 
money ;  and  Aremberg’s  anlwer, 
confenting  for  the  furnifhing  of 
that  fum*  He  then  flew  to  his  for¬ 
mer  retreat,  that  in  this  like  wife 
he  had  no  ill  meaning,  and  ex- 
cufed  Aremberg  as  one  that  meant 
only  thereby  to  further  the  peace. 
When  particularities  were  farther 
urged,  that,  in  his  intended  travel, 
he  meant  to  have  gone  into  the 
low  countries  to  the  Archduke  ; 
from  thence  into  Savoy  ;  fo  into 
Spain  ;  then  have  returned  by 
Jerfey  ;  and  there  to  have  met  Ra¬ 
leigh,  and  to  have  brought  fome 
money  from  the  Well  Spring, 
where  it  was  to  be  had,  he  con- 
felled  imaginations,  but  no  pur- 
pofes  ;  and  ftiil  laid  the  fault  upon 
his  own  weaknefles,  in  that  he 
fufFered  himfelf  to  be  milled  by 
Raleigh.  Being  afked  of  his  two 
letters  to  different  purpofes,  the 
one  excuflng,  the  other  condemn¬ 
ing  Raleigh  ;  he  laid,  the  Iaft  was 
true,  but  the  other  was  drawn 
from  him  by  device  in  the  Tower, 
by  young  Harvey  the  Lieutenant’s 
fon,  whom  Raleigh  had  corrupted, 
and  carried  intelligence  betwixt 
them  (for  which  he  is  there  com¬ 
mitted,  and  is  likely  to  be  ar¬ 
raigned  at  the  King’s  Bench). 
Having  thus  accufed  all  his  friends, 
and  fo  little  excufed  himielf,  the 
Peers  were  not  long  in  deliberation 
what  to  judge;  and  after  fentence 
of  condemnation  given,  he  begged 
a  great  while  for  life  and  favour, 
alledging  his  confefiion  as  a  meri¬ 
torious  aft.  Grey,  quite  in  ano¬ 
ther  key,  began  with  great  aflur- 


GISTER,  1778. 

ances  and  alacrity ;  fpake  a  long 
and  eloquent  fpeech,  fir  11  to  the 
lords,  and  then  to  the  judges,  and 
laflly  to  the  King’s  council  ;  and 
told  them  well  of  their  charges, 
and  fpake  effectually  for  himfelf. 
He  held  them  the  whole  day,  from 
eight  in  the  morning  till  eight  at 
night,  in  fubtle  traverfes  and 
Rapes ;  but  the  evidence  was  too 
perfpicuQus,  both  by  Brooke’s  and 
Markham’s  confefiions,  that  he  was 
acquainted  with  the  furprize  *  ; 
yet  the  lords  were  long  ere  they 
could  all  agree,  and  loth  to  come 
out  with  fo  hard  a  cenfure  againfl; 
him.  For  though  he  had  fome 
heavy  enemies,  as  his  old  antagonist, 
who  was  mute  before  his  face,  but 
fpake  within  very  unnobly  againfl: 
him  ;  yet  molt  of  them  ftrove  with 
themfelves,  and  would  fain  (as  it 
feemea)  have  difpenfed  with  their 
confciences  to  have  fhewed  him 
favour.  At  the  pronouncing  of 
the  opinion  of  the  lords,  and  the 
demand  whether  he  had  any  thing 
to  fay  why  fentence  of  death  Ihould 
not  be  given  againfl  him,  thefe 
only  were  his  words,  “  I  have  no¬ 
thing  to  fay there  he  paufed 
long  ;  “  and  yet  a  word  of  Tacitus 
comes  in  my  mind.  Non  eadern  om¬ 
nibus  decora  :  the  houfe  of  the  Wil¬ 
tons  had  fpent  many  lives  in  their 
prince’s  fervice,  and  Grey  cannot 
beg  his.  God  fend  the  King  a  long 
and  profperous  reign,  and  to  your 
lordfhips  all  honour. iy 

After  fentence  given,  he  only 
deiired  to  have  one  Travers  f,  a 
divine,  fent  for  to  come  to  him,  if 
he  might  live  two  days.  If  he 
were  to  die  before  that,  then  he 
might  have  one  Field,  whom  he 
thought  to  be  near.  There  was 


#  Of  the  court.  f  A  Puritans  the  antagonifl  of  Hooker. 


great 


CHAR  A 

great  companion  had  of  this  gal¬ 
lant  young  lord  ;  for  fo  clear  and 
fiery  a  Ipirit  had  not  been  feen  by 
any  that  had  been  prefent  at  like 
trials.  Yet  the  Lord  Steward  con¬ 
demned  his  manner  much,  term- 
ing  it  Lucifer’s  pride,  and  preach¬ 
ed  much  humiliation  ;  and  the 
judges  liked  him  as  little,  becaufe 
he  aifputed  with  them  againft  their 
laws.  We  cannot  yet  judge  what 
will  become  of  him  or  the  reft,  for 
all  are  not  like  to  go  one  way.  Cob- 
ham  is  of  the  fureft  fide,  for  he  is 
thought  leaft  dangerous,  and  the 
Lord  Cecil  undertakes  to  be  his 
friend.  They  fay  the  priefts  fhall 
lead  the  dance  to  -  morrow  ;  and 
Brooke  next  after ;  for  he  proves 
to  be  the  knot  that  tied  together 
the  three  confpiracies  ;  the  reft 
hang  indifferent  betwixt  mercy  and 
juftice,  wherein  the  king  hath  now 
fubjedt  to  pradbfe  himfelf.  The 
lords  are  molt  of  them  returned  to 
the  court.  The  Lord  Chancellor 
and  Treafurer  remain  here  till 
Tuefdav,  to  fhut  up  the  term. 
My  lord  goeth  from  hence  to  Pet- 
worth  ;  but  I  pick  quarrel  to  ftay 
behind,  to  fee  an  end  of  thefe 
matters.  The  court  is  like  to 
Chriftmas  at  Windfor  ;  and  many 
plays  and  fhevvs  are  befpoken,  to 
give  entertainment  to  our  ambaf- 
fadors. 


*The  Same  to  the  Same , 

SIR, 

I  KNOW  not  when  or  howto 
fend  to  you  ;  yet  here  happen¬ 
ing  an  accident  worth  your  know¬ 
ledge,  I  cannot  but  put  it  in  re- 


C  T  E  R  S;  ij 

cord,  whilft  the  memory  of  it  is 
frefh  ;  and  for  the  reft,  ftand  to  the 
venture.  But  becaufe  I  have  taken 
a  time  of  good  leifure,  and  it  is 
likely  this  letter  will  take  his  lei¬ 
fure,  ere  it  come  at  you  ;  I  may  as 
well  leap  in  where  I  left,  when  I 
wrote  to  you  by  your  man,  and 
proceed  in  an  order  by  narration  ; 
fince  this  was  a  part  of  the  fame 
play,  and  that  other  adts  came 
betwixt,  to  make  up  a  tragical  co¬ 
medy. 

The  two  priefts  that  led  the 
way  to  the  execution,  were  very 
bloodily  handled  ;  for  they  were 
both  cut  down  alive ;  and  Clarke, 
to  whom  more  favour  was  intend¬ 
ed,  had  the  worfe  luck  ;  for  he 
both  ftrove  to  help  himfelf,  and 
ipake  after  he  was  cut  down.  They 
died  boldly,  both  ;  and  Watfon 
(as  he  would  have  it  feem)  wil¬ 
ling  ;  wifhing  he  had  more  lives  to 
fpend,  and  one  to  lofe,  for  every 
man  he  had  by  his  treachery  drawn 
into  this  treafon.  Clarke  ftood 
fomewhat  upon  his  juftification, 
and  thought  he  had  hard  meafure  ; 
but  imputed  it  to  his  function,  and 
therefore  thought  his  death  meri¬ 
torious,  as  a  kind  of  martrydom. 
Their  quarters  were  fet  on  Win- 
chefter  gates,  and  their  heads  on 
the  firft  tower  of  thecaftle;  Brooke 
was  beheaded  in  the  Caftle-yard„ 
on  Monday  laft  ;  and  to  double 
his  grief  had  St.  Cfoftes  in  his 
fight,  from  the  fcaffold,  which, 
drove  him  firft  to  difcontent 
There  was  no  greater  affembly 
than  I  have  feen  at  ordinary  exe¬ 
cutions  ;  nor  no  man  of  quality 
more  than  the  Lord  of  Arundel 
and  young  Somerfet  ;  only  the 
Biftiop  of  Chichefter,  who  was  fen t 


*  Miffing,  I  fuppofe,  the  Mafterftiip. 

C 


Vol.xxl 


from 


1 8  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


from  the  court  two  days  before, 
to  prepare  him  to  his  end,  could 
not  get  loofe  from  him  ;  but,  by 
Brooke’s  earned  entreaty  was  fain 
to  accompany  him  to  the  fcaffold, 
and  ferve  for  his  ghoftly  father. 
He  died  conftantly  (and,  to  Teem¬ 
ing,  religioufly)  ;  fpake  not  much  ; 
but  what  he  faid  was  well  and  af- 
fured.  He  did  fomewhat  extenuate 
his  offences,  both  in  the  treafons, 
and  the  courfe  of  his  life  ;  naming 
thefe  rather  errors  than  capital 
crimes  ;  and  his  former  faults, 
fins  ;  but  not  fo  heinous  as  they 
were  traduced  ;  which  he  referred 
to  the  God  of  truth  and  time  to 
difcover  ;  and  fo  left  it,  as  if  fome¬ 
what  lay  yet  hid,  which  would 
one  day  appear  for  his  j unification. 
The  Bifhop  Went  from  him  to  the 
Lord  Cobham  ;  and,  at  the  fame 
time,  the  Bifhop  of  Wmchefter  was 
with  Raleigh  ;  both  by  exprefs  or¬ 
der  from  the  King  ;  as  well  to 
prepare  them  for  their  ends,  as 
likewife  to  bring  them  to  liberal 
confeffions,  and  by  that  means  re¬ 
concile  the  contradictions  of  the 
one’s  open  accufation,  and  the 
other’s  peremptory  denial.  The 
Bifhop  of  Chichefter  had  foon  done 
what  he  came  for,  finding  in  Cob- 
ham  a  wiliingnefs  to  die,  and  rea- 
dinefs  to  die  well  ;  with  purpofe 
at  his  death  to  affirm  as  much  as 
he  had  faid  againft  Raleigh  ;  but 
the  other  Bifhop  had  more  to  do 
with  his  charge  ;  for  though,  for 
his  confidence,  he  found  him  well 
fettled,  and  refolved  to  die  a  Chrif- 
tian,  and  a  good  Proteftant,  for 
the  point  of  confeffion,  he  found 
him  fo  krai t- laced,  that  he  would 
yield  to  no  part  of  Cobham’s  accu¬ 
fation  ;  only,  the  penfion,  he  faid, 
was  once  mentioned,  but  never 
proceeded  In,  Grey,  In  the  mean 


time,  with  his  minifter  Field,  hav¬ 
ing  had  the  like  furnmons  for 
death,  fpent  his  time  In  p-reat  de- 
votions  ;  but  with  that  carelefs  re¬ 
gard  of  that,  with  which  he  was 
threatened,  that  he  was  obferved 
neither  to  eat  or  deep  the  worfe, 
or  be  any  ways  cl i drafted  from 
his  accuftomed  fafnions,  Mark¬ 
ham  was  told  he  fhould  likewife 
die  ;  but  by  fecret  meftage  from 
fome  friends  at  court,  had  itill  fuch 
hope  given  him,  that  he  would 
not  believe  the  word  news  till  the 
lad  day  ;  and  though  he  could  be 
content  to  talk  with  the  preacher 
which  was  aligned  him,  it  was  ra¬ 
ther  to  pafs  time,  than  for  any  good 
purpofe;  for  he  was  .  catholickly 
difipofed  ;  to  think  of  death  no  way 
difpofed.  Whilft  thefe  men  were 
fo  occupied  at  Winchefter,  there 
was  no  fmall  doings  about  them  at 
court,  for  life  or  death  ;  fome 
pu filing  at  the  wheel  one  way, 
fome  another.  The  Lords  of  the 
council  joined  In  opinion  and  ad¬ 
vice  to  the  King,  now  in  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  his  reign,  to  (hew  as 
well  examples  of  mercy  as  feverity, 
and  to  gain  the  title  of  Clemens ,  as 
well  as  JuJlu.s ;  but  fome  others, 
led  by  their  private  fpieen  and  paf- 
fions,  drew  as  hard  the  other  way  ; 
and  Patrick  Galloway,  in  his  fer- 
mon  on  Tuefday,  preached  fo 
hotly  againft  remifTnefs  and  mo¬ 
deration  of  jufttce,  in  the  head  of 
juftice,  as  if  it  were  one  of  the 
feven  deadly  fins.  The  King  held 
himfelf  upright  betwixt  two  wa¬ 
ters  ;  and  firft,  let  the  lords  know, 
that  fince  the  law  had  palled  upon 
the  prifoners,  and  chat  they  them- 
felves  had  been  their  judges,  it 
became  not  them  to  be  petitioners 
for  that,  but  rather  to  prefs  for 
execution  of  their  own  ordinances ; 
%  ■  and 


CHAR  A 

and  to  others,  gave  as  good  rea¬ 
sons,  let  them  know  that  he  would 
go  no  whit  the  faller  for  their  driv¬ 
ing  ;  but  would  be  led  as  his  own 
judgment  and  afFe&ions  would 
move  him ;  but  feemed  rather  to 
lean  to  this  lide  than  the  other, 
by  the  care  he  took  to  have  the 
law  take  his  courfe,  and  the  exe¬ 
cution  hailed. 

Warrants  were  figned,  and  fent 
to  Sir  Benjamin  Tichborne,  on 
Wednefday  laft  at  night,  for  Mark- 
bam.  Grey,  and  Cobham,  who  in 
this  order  were  to  take  their  turns, 
as  yefterday,  being  Friday,  about 
ten  of  the  clock.  A  fouler  day 
could  hardly  have  been  picked 
out,  or  fitter  for  fuch  a  tragedy. 
Markham  being  brought  to  the 
fcaffold,  was  much  difmayed,  and 
complained  much  of  his  hard  hap, 
to  be  deluded  with  hopes,  and 
brought  to  that  place  unprepared. 
One  might  fee  in  his  face  the*  very 
picture  of  forrow  ;  but  he  feemed 
not  to  want  refolution  ;  for  a  nap¬ 
kin  being  offered  by  a  friend  that 
ftood  by,  to  cover  his  face,  he 
threw  it  away,  faying,  he  could 
look  upon  death  without  blufhing. 
He  took  leave  of  fame  friends  that 
Hood  near,  and  betook  himfelf  to 
his  devotions,  after  his  manner ; 
and  thofe  ended,  prepared  himfelf 
to  the  block.  The  Sheriff,  in  the 
mean  time,  was  fecretly  with¬ 
drawn,  by  one  John  Gib,  a  Scotch 
groom  of  the  bedchamber  ;  where¬ 
upon  the  execution  was-  Hayed, 
and  Markham  left  upon  the  fcaf¬ 
fold  to  entertain  his  own  thoughts, 
which,  no  doubt,  were  as  melan¬ 
choly  as  his  countenance,  fad  and 
heavy.  The  fheriff  at  his  return, 
told  him,  that  iince  he  was  fo  ill 
prepared,  he  fhould  yet  have  two 
hours  refpite,  fo  led  him  from  the 


CTER  S.  19 

fcaffold,  without  giving  him  any 
more  comfort,  and  locked  him  in¬ 
to  the  great  hall,  to  walk  with 
Prince  Arthur.  The  Lord  Grey, 
vvhofe  turn  was  next,  was  Jed  to 
the  fcaffold  by  a  troop  of  the  young 
courtiers,  and  was  fupported  on 
both  Tides  by  two  of  his  bed  friends ; 
and  conning  in  this  equipage,  had 
fuch  gaiety  and  cheer  in  his  coun¬ 
tenance,  that  he  feemed  a  dapper 
young  bridegroom.  At  his  firff 
coming  on  the  fcaffold,  he  fell  on 
his  knees,  and  his  preacher  made 
a  long  prayer  to  the  prefent  pur- 
pofe,  which  he  feconded  himfelf 
with  one  of  his  own  making,  which, 
for  the  phrafe,  was  fomewhat  af* 
fe&ed,  and  fulled  to  his  other 
fpeeches  ;  but,  for  the  fafliion, 
expreffed  the  fervency  and  zeal  of 
a  religious  fpirit.  In  bis  confef- 
fion,  he  laid,  though  God  knew 
this  fault  of  his  was  far  from  the 
greateft,  yet  he  knew,  and  could 
but  acknowledge  his  heart  to  be 
faulty  ;  for  .which  he  afked  pardon 
of  the  King  ;  and  thereupon  en¬ 
tered  into  a  long  prayer  for  the 
King’s  good  eliate,  which  held  us 
in  the  rain  more  than  half  an 
hour;  but  heinp-  come  to  a  full 
point,  the  fheriff  flayed  him,  and 
laid,  he  had  received  orders  from 
the  King,  to  change  the  order  of 
the  execution,  and  that  the  Lord 
Cobham  was  to  go  before  him  ; 
whereupon  he  was.  likewife  led  to 
Prince  Arthur’s  hall,  and  his  go¬ 
ing  away  feemed  more  llrange  unto 
him,  than  his  coming  thither ;  for  he 
had  no  more  hope  given  him,  than 
of  an  hour’s  refpite  ;  neither  could 
any  man  yet  dive  into  the  myflery 
of  this  flrance  proceeding. 

The  Lord  Cobham,  who  was 
now  to  play  his  part,  and  by  his 
former  adions  promifed  nothing 
C  7,  but 


20 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


but  matiere  pour  rlre,  did  much 
cozen  the  world  ;  for  he  came  to 
the  fcafFold  with  good  affurance, 
and  contempt  of  death.  He  faid 
fome  fhort  prayers  after  his  mini- 
jfter,  and  fo  outprayed  the  company 
that  helped  to  pray  with  him,  that 
a  ftander-by  faid,  be  had  a  good 
mouth  in  a  cry ,  but  nvas  nothing 
Jingle  Some  few  words  he  ufed, 
to  exprefs  his  forrow  for  his  of¬ 
fence  to  the  King,  and  craved  par¬ 
don  of  him  and  the  world  ;  for  Sir 
Wakes  Raleigh,  he  took  it,  upon 
the  hope  of  his  foul’s  refurredtiori, 
that  what  he  had  faid  of  him  was 
true  ;  and  with  thofe  words  would 
have  taken  a  fhort  farewel  of  the 
world,  with  that  conifancy  and 
boldnefs,  that  we  might  fee  ky 
him,  it  is  an  eafiei  matter  to  die 
well  than  live  well. 

He  was  flayed  by  the  fheriff, 
and  told,  that  there  refteth  yet 
fomewhat  elfe  to  be  done  ;  for  that 
he  was  to  be  confronted  with  fome 
other  of  the  prifoners,  but  named 
none.  So  as  Grey  and  Markham 
being  brought  back  to  the  fcafFold, 
as  they  then  were,  but  nothing 
acquainted  with  what  had  paffed, 
no  more  than  the  lookers  on  with 
what  fhould  fellow,  looked  ftrange 
one  upon  the  other,  like  men  be¬ 
headed,  and  met  again  in  the 
other  world.  Now  all  the  actors 
being  together  on  the  ftage  (as 
ufe  is  at  the  end  of  a  play),  the 
flier  iff  made  a  fhort  fpeech  unto 
them,  by  way  of  the  interrogatory 
of  the  heinoufnefs  of  their  offences, 
the  juftnefs  of  their  trials,  their 
lawful  condemnation,  and  due  exe¬ 
cution  there  to  be  performed ;  to 
all  which  they  affented ;  then, 
faith  the  fheriff,  fee  the  mercy  of 
your  prince,  who,  of  himfelf,  hath 
lent  hither,  a  countermand,  and 


given  you  your  lives.  There  was 
then  no  need  to  beg  a  plaudite  of 
the  audience,  for  it  was  given  with 
fuch  hues  and  cries,  that  it  went 
from  the  caftie  into  the  town,  and 
there  began  afrefh,  as  if  there  had 
been  fome  fuch  like  accident.  And 
this  experience  was  made  of  the 
difference  of  examples  of  juftice 
and  mercy  ;  that  in  this  laft,  no 
man  could  cry  loud  enough,  God 
fa-ve  the  King  ;  and  at  the  holding 
up  of  Brooke’s  head,  when  the 
executioner  began  the  fame  cry, 
he  was  not  feconded  by  the  voice 
of  any  one  man,  but  the  fheriff. 
You  maft  think,  if  the  fpedlators 
were  fo  glad,  the  adlors  were  not 
forry  ;  for  even  thofe  that  went  bell 
refolved  to  death,  were  glad  of  life. 
Cobham  vowed  openly,  if  ever  he 
proved  traitor  again,  never  fo 
much  as  to  beg  his  life  ;  and  Grey, 
that  lince  he  had  his  life,  without 
begging,  he  would  deferve  it. 
Markham  returned  with  a  merrier 
countenance  than  he  came  to  the 
fcafFold.  Raleigh,  you  mud  think 
(who  had  a  window  opened  that 
way),  had  hammers  working  in 
his  head,  to  beat  out  the  meaning 
of  this  ftratagern.  His  turn  was 
to  come  on  Monday  next  ;  but  the 
King  has  pardoned  him  with  the 
reft,  and  confined  him  with  the 
two  lords  to  the  Tower  of  London, 
there  to  remain  during  pleafure. 
Markham,  Brookfby  and  Copley, 
are  to  be  banifhed  the  realm.  This 
refolution  was  taken  by  the  King 
without  man’s  help,  and  no  man 
can  rob  him  of  the  praife  of  yef- 
terday’s  a&ion  ;  for  the  lords  knew 
no  other,  but  that  execution  was  to 
go  forward,  till  the  very  hour  it 
lhould  be  performed  ;  and  then, 
calling  them  before  him,  he  told 
them,  how  much  he  had  been  trou¬ 
bled 


6 


21 


C  H  A  R  A 

bled  to  refolve  in  this  bufinefs  ;  for 
to  execute  Grey,  who  was  a  noble, 
young,  lpirited  fellow,  and  fave 
Cobham,  who  was  as  bafe  and  un¬ 
worthy,  were  a  manner  ofinjufticc. 
To  fave  Grey,  who  was  of  a  proud 
infolent  nature,  and  execute  Cob- 
ham,  who  had  (hewed  great  tokens 
of  humility  and  repentance,  were 
as  great  a  folecifm;  and  fo  went 
on  with  Plutarch’s  comparifons  in 
the  reit,  till  travelling  in  con¬ 
trarieties,  but  holding  the  conclu- 
fion  in  fo  indifferent  balance,  that 
the  lords  knew  not  what  to  look 
for  till  the  end  came  out,  and  there¬ 
fore  1  hawe  Jawed  them  all.  The 
miracle  was  as  great  there,  as  with 
us  at  Winchefter,  and  it  took  like 
effect  ;  for  the  applaufe  that  be¬ 
gan  about  the  King,  went  from 
thence  into  the  prefence,  and  fo 
round  about  the  court. 

I  fend  you  a  copy  of  the  King’s 
letter,  which  was  privately  written 
the  Wednefday  night,  and  the  mef- 
fenger  difpatched  the  Thurfday 
about  noon.  But  one  thing  had 
like  to  have  marred  the  play  ;  for 
the  letter  was  clofed,  and  delivered 
him  unfigned  ;  which  the  King 
remembered  himfelf  and  called  for 
him  back  again.  And  at  Win¬ 
chefter,  there  was  another  crofs 
adventure  ;  for  John  Gib  could 
not  get  fo  near  the  fcaffold,  that 
he  could  fpeak  to  the  (heriff,  but 
was  thrull  out  amongft  the  boys, 
and  was  forced  to  call  out  to  Sir 
James  Hayes,  or  elfe  Markham 
might  have  loft  his  neck.  There 
were  other  bye  paflages,  if  I  could 
readily  call  them  to  mind  ;  but 
here  is  enough  already  for  un  petit 
mot  de  lettre ,  and  therefore,  I  bid 
you  heartily  farewel.  From  Salif- 
bury,  Dec,  n.  1603.  Yours,  &c. 

Dudley  Carleton. 


C  T  E  R  S. 

Of  Chaucer  and  Lydgate  \from 
Mr.  Warton’s  Hillary  of  Eng- 
li(h  Poetry. 

CONSIDER  Chaucer  as  a 
genial  day  in  an  Englilh  fpring. 
A  brilliant  fun  enlivens  the  face 
of  nature  with  an  unufual  luftre : 
the  fudden  appearance  of  cloudlefs 
(kies,  and  the  unexpe&ed  warmth  of 
a  tepid  atmofphere,  after  the  gloom 
and  the  inclemencies  of  a  tedious, 
winter,  (ill  our  hearts  with  the  vi- 
fionary  prolpedl  of  a  fpeedy  ham¬ 
mer  :  and  we  fondly  anticipate  a 
long  continuance  of  gentle  gales 
and  vernal  ferenity.  But  winter  re¬ 
turns  with  redoubled  horrors  :  the 
clouds  condenfe  more  formidably 
than  before  ;  and  thofe  tenderbuds, 
and  early  bloffoms,  which  were 
called  forth  by  the  tranfient  gleam 
of  a  temporary  funfhine,  are  nipped 
by  frofts,  and  torn  by  tempefts. 

Mod  of  the  poets  that  imme¬ 
diately  fucceeded  Chaucer,  feem 
rather  relapfing  into  barbarifm, 
than  availing  themfelves  of  thofe 
Itriking  ornaments  which  his  judg¬ 
ment  and  imagination  had  difclof- 
ed.  They  appear  to  have  beenin- 
fenfible  to  his  vigour  of  verifica¬ 
tion,  and  his  Plights  of  fancy.  It 
was  not  indeed  likely  that  a  poet 
(hould  foon  arife  equal  to  Chaucer  : 
and  it  muft  be  remembered,  that 
the  national  diftradtions  which  en- 
fued,  had  no  fmall  (hare  in  ob- 
llru&ing  the  exercife  of  thofe  llu- 
dies  which  delight  in  peace  and 
repofe.  His  fucceftbrs,  however, 
approach  him  in  no  degree  of  pro¬ 
portion.  Among  thefe,  John  Lyd¬ 
gate  is  the  poet  who  follows  him  at 
the  fhorteft  interval. 

I  have  placed  Lydgate  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  the  fixth,  and  he 
feems  to  have  arrived  at  his  higheft 
C  3  point 


22 


ANNUAL  RE 

point  of  eminence  about  the  year 
1430.  Many  of  his  poems,  how¬ 
ever,  appeared  before.  He  was  a 
monk  of  the  Benedi&ine  abbey  of 
Bury  in  Suffolk,  and  an  uncom¬ 
mon  ornament  of  his  profefiion. 
Yet  his  genius  was  fo  lively,  and 
his  aceomplifhments  fo  numerous, 
that  I  fufped  the  holy  father  faint 
Benedict  would  hardly  have  ac¬ 
knowledged  him  for  a  genuine  dif- 
ciple.  After  a  fiiort  education  at 
Oxford,  he  travelled  into  France 
and  Italy  ;  and  returned  a  com- 
.plete  mailer  of  the  language  and 
the  literature  of  both  countries. 
He  chiefly  ftudied  the  Italian  and 
French  Poets,  particularly  Dante, 
Boccacio,  and  Alain  Chattier  ; 
and  became  fo  diftinguiihed  a  pro¬ 
ficient  in  polite  learning,  that  he 
opened  a  fchooi  in  his  monaiiery, 
for  teaching;  the  fons  of  the  nobi- 
31  ty  the  arts  of  verification,  and 
the  elegance  of  compofition.  Yet 
although  philology  was  his  objedt, 
he  was  not  unfamiliar  with  the 
faihionable  philofophy  ;  he  was  not 
only  a  poet  and  a  rhetorician,  but 
a  geometrican,  an  aftroncmer,  a 
theologifi,  and  a  difputant.  On 
the  whole  I  am  of  opinion,  that 
Lydgate  made  confiderable  addi¬ 
tions  to  thofe  amplifications  of 
our  language,  in  which  Chaucer, 
Gower,  and  Qecleve  led  the  way  : 
and  that  he  is  the  firft  of  our  writers 
whole  ilyle  is  cloathed  with  that 
perfpicuity,  in  which  the  Englifh 
phrafeology  appears  at  this  day  to 
an  Englilh  reader. 

To  enumerate  Lydgate?s  pieces. 
Would  be  to  write  the  catalogue 
of  a  little  library.  No  poet  feems 
to  have  pofieffed  a  greater  verfa- 
tility  of  talents.  He  moves  with 
e^ual  eafe  in  every  mode  of  com- 
pofitioa.  His  hymns,'  and  his 


GiSTER,  1778. 

ballads,  have  the  fame  degree  of 
merit ;  and  whether  his  fubject  be 
the  life  of  a  hermit  or  a  hero, 
of  faint  Auflin  or  Guy  earl  of 
V/arwick,  ludicrous  or  legendary, 
religious  or  romantic,  a  hiftory  or 
an  allegory,  he  writes  with  faci¬ 
lity.  His  tranfitions  were  rapid 
from  works  of  the  moil  ferious  and 
laborious  kind  to  Tallies  of  levity 
and  pieces  of  popular  entertain¬ 
ment.  His  mufe  was  of  univerfal 
accefs  ;  and  he  was  not  only  the 
poet  of  his  monaiiery,  but  of  the 
world  in  general.  If  a  difguifing 
was  intended  by  the  company  of 
goldsmiths,  a  mafic  before  his  ma- 
jeily  at  Eltham,  a  may -game  for 
the  (heriffs  and  aldermen  of  Lon¬ 
don,  a  mumming  before  the  lord- 
mayor,  a  procelfion  of  pageants 
from  the  creation  for  the  feftival  of 
Corpus  Chrilii,  or  a  carol  for  the 
coronation,  Lydgate  was  confulted 
and  gave  the  poetry. 

Lydgate’s  manner  is  naturally 
verbofe  and  diffufe.  This  circum- 
llance  contributed  in  no  fmall  de¬ 
gree  to  give  a  clearnefs  and  a 
fluency  to  his  phrafeology.  For 
the  fame  reafon  he  is  often  tedious 
and  languid.  His  chief  excellence 
is  in  defcription,  efpecially  where 
the  fubjedt  admits  a  flowery  dic- 
.tion.  Fie  is  feidom  pathetic  or 
animated. 

We  are  furprifed  to  find  verfes 
of  fo  modern  a  cafl  as  the  follow¬ 
ing  at  fuch  an  early  period  ;  which 
in  this  fagacious  age  we  fhould 
judge  to  be  a  forgery,  was  not 
their  genuinenefs  authenticated, 
and  their  antiquity  confirmed,  by 
the  venerable  types  of  Caxton,  and 
a  multitude  of  unqueflionable  nia- 
nu  fcri  pts. 

Like  as  the  dewe  difeendeth  on  the  rofe 
With  filver  drops.—  —  — 

Our 


C  H  A  R  A 

Our  Saviour’s  crucifixion  is  ex- 
prefled  by  this  remarkable  me¬ 
taphor. 

Whan  he  of  purple  did  his  bancr  fprede, 

On  Calvarye  abroad  upon  the  rode. 

To  five  mankynde. - 

Our  author,  in  the  courfe  of  his 

panegyric  on  the  Virgin  Mary, 

affirms,  that  fhe  exceeded  Hefter 

•  , 

in  meeknefs,  and  Judith  in  wif- 
dom  ;  and  in  beauty,  Helen,  Po- 
lyxena,  Lucretia,  Dido,  Bathihe- 
ba,  and  Rachel.  It  is  amazing,  that 
in  an  age  of  the  molt  fuperftitious 
devotion  fo  little  difcrimination 
fhould  have  been  made  between 
facred  and  prophane  characters  and 
incidents.  But  the  common  fenfe 
of  mankind  had  not  yet  attained 
a  juft  eftimate  of  things.  Lydgate, 
in  another  piece,  has  verfified  the 
rubrics  of  the  miffal,  which  he  ap¬ 
plies  to  the  god  Cupid  :  and  de¬ 
clares  with  how  much  delight  he 
frequently  meditated  on  the  holy 
legend  of  thofe  conftant  martyrs, 
who  were  not  afraid  to  fuffer  death 
for  the  faith  of  that  omnipotent 
divinity.  There  are  inftances,  in 
which  religion  was  even  made  the 
inftrument  of  love.  Arnaud  Da¬ 
niel,  a  celebrated  troubadour  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  in  a  lit  of 
amorous  defpair,  promifes  to  found 
a  multitude  of  annual  maffes,  and 
to  dedicate  perpetual  tapers  to  the 
fhrines  of  faints,  for  the  impor¬ 
tant  purpofe  of  obtaining  the  af¬ 
fections  of  an  obdurate  miftrefs. 

1  clofe  this  fection  with  an  apo¬ 
logy  for  Chaucer,  Gower,  and  Oc- 
cleve  ;  who  are  fuppofed,  by  the 
feverer  etymologifts,  to  have  cor¬ 
rupted  the  purity  of  the  Englifh 
language,  by  affeCting  to  introduce 
fo  many  foreign  words  and  phrafes. 


C  T  E  R  S.  .23 

But  if  we  attend  only  to  the  politics 
of  the  times,  we  ffiall  find  thefe 
poets,  as  alfo  fome  of  their  fuccef- 
fors,  much  lefs  blameable  in  this 
refpeCt,  than  the  critics  imagine. 
Our  wars  with  France,  which  be¬ 
gan  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the 
Third,  were  of  long  continuance. 
The  principal  nobility  of  England, 
at  this  period,  refided  in  France, 
with  their  families,  for  many  years. 
John,  King  of  France,  kept  his 
court  in  England  ;  to  which,  ex- 
clufive  of  thofe  French  lords  who 
were  his  fellow-prifoners,  or  ne- 
ceifary  attendants,  the  chief  nobles 
of  his  kingdom  mult  have  occa- 
fionally  reforted.  Edward  the 
black  prince  made  an  expedition 
into  Spain,  John  of  Gaunt,  Duke- 
of  Lancafter,  and  his  brother  the 
Duke  of  York,  were  matched  with 
the  daughters  of  Don  Pedro,  King 
of  Caftife.  All  thefe  circumftances 
mult  have  concurred  to  produce  a 
perceptible  change  in  the  language 
of  the  court.  It  is  rational  there¬ 
fore,  and  it  is  equitable  to  fuppofe, 
that  inftead  of  coining  new  words, 
they  only  complied  with  the  com¬ 
mon  and  fafhionable  modes  of 
fpeech.  Would  Chaucer’s  poems 
have  been  the  delight  of  thofe 
courts  in  which  he  lived,  had  they 
been  filled  with  unintelligible  pe¬ 
dantries  ?  The  cotemporaries  of 
thefe  poets  never  complained  of 
their  obfcurity.  But  whether  de- 
fenfible  on  thefe  principles  or  not, 
they  much  improved  the  vernacular 
ftyle  by  the  ufe  of  this  exotic 
phrafeology.  It  was  thus  that  our 
primitive  diClion  was  enlarged 
and  enriched.  The  Englifh  lan¬ 
guage  owes  its  copioufnefs,  ele¬ 
gance,  and  harmony,  to  thefe  in¬ 
novations, 

C  4  Skelton, 


24 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778; 


Skelton,  from  the  Same. 

MOST  of  the  poems  of  John 
Skelton,  were  written  in  the 
jeign  of  Henry  the  VI II.  But  as 
he  was  laureated  at  Oxford,  about 
the  year  1-489,  I  confider  him  as 
belonging  to  the  15th  century. 

Skelton  having  fludied  in  both 
our  univerflties,  was  promoted  to 
the  reftory  of  Dis  in  Norfolk,  but 
for  his  buffooneries  in  the  pulpit, 
and  his  fatyrical  ballads  againil  the 
mendicants,  he  was  feverely  cen- 
■fured,  and  perhaps  fufpended  by 
Nykke  his  diocefan,  a  rigid  bifiiop 
of  Norwich,  from  exercifing  the 
duties  of  the  facerdotai  funflion* 
But  thefe  perfecutions  only  ferved 
to  quicken  his  ludicrous  difpofl- 
tion,  and  to  exafperate  the  acri¬ 
mony  of  his  fatire.  As  his  fer- 
jnons  could  be  no  longer  a  vehicle 
for  his  abufe,  he  vented  his  ridi¬ 
cule  in  rhyming  libels .  At  length, 
daring  to  attack  the  dignity  of  car¬ 
dinal  Wclfey,  he  was  clofely  pur- 
jfued  by  the  officers  of  that  power¬ 
ful  mini  Her  ;  and,  taking  fhelter 
in  the  fanduary  of  Wellminffer- 
A.bbey,  was  kindly  entertained  and 
protected  by  Abbot  I  flip,  to  the 
day  of  his  death.  He  died,  and 
was  buried  in  the  neighbouring 
phurch  of  Saint  Margaret,  in  the 
year  1  529. 

Skelton  was  patronifed  by  Henry 
Alger  noon  Percy,  the  fifth  Earl 
of  Northumberland,  who  deferves 
particular  notice  here  ;  as  he  loved 
literature  at  a  time  when  many  of 
the  nobility  of  England  could 
bardly  read  or  write  their  names, 
and  was  the  general  patron  of  fuch 
genius  as  his  age  produced.  He 
pncouraged  Skelton,  almofl:  the 
paly  profdFed  poet  of  the  reign 


of  Henry  the  VII.  to  write  an 
elegy  on  the  death  of  his  father, 
which  is  yet  extant.  But  ibiil 
Monger  proofs  of  his  literary  tun>* 
efpecialiy  of  his  lingular  paflion  for 
poetry,  may  be  collected  from  a 
very  fplendid  manuicri.pt,  which 
formerly  belonged  to  this  very  di- 
IHnguifhed  peer,  and  is  at  prefent 
preserved  in  the  Britifli  Mufeum, 
It  contains  a  large  colleflion  of 
Englilh  poems,  elegantly  engrof- 
ied  on  vellum,  and  fuperbly  illu¬ 
minated,  which  had  been  thus 
fumptuoufly  tranferibed  for  his  ufe. 
The  pieces  are  chiefly  thofe  of 
Lydgate,  after  which  follow  the 
aforefaid  Elegy  of  Skelton,  and 
foroe  fmalier  compofitions,  Among 
the  latter  are  a  metrical  hiftory  of 
the  family  of  Percy,  prefented  to 
him  by  one  of  his  own  chaplains ; 
and  a  prolix  feries  of  poetical  in- 
feriptions,  which  he  caufed  to  be 
written  on  The  walls  and  ceilings  of 
the  principal  apartments  of  his 
caftles  of  Lekinfield  and  Wreflil. 
His  cultivation  of  the  arts  of  ex¬ 
terna]  elegance  appears,  from  the 
ftately  fepulcbral  monuments  which 
he  erefted  in  the  minder,  or  col¬ 
legiate  church,  of  Beverly  in 
Yorkihire,  to  the  memory  of  his 
father  and  mother;  which  are 
executed  in  the  richeft  flyle  of  the 
florid  Gothic  archi texture,  and  re¬ 
main  to  this  day,  the  confpicuous 
and  Unking  evidences  of  his  tafte 
and  magnificence.  In  the  year 
1520  he  founded  an  annual  fti- 
pend  of  ten  marcs  for  three  years, 
for  a  preceptor  or  profeflbr,  to 
teach  grammar  and  philofophy  in 
the  monaftery  of  Alnewick,  conti¬ 
guous  to  another  of  his  ifiagnifL 
cent  caftles.  A  further  inftance 
of  his  attention  to  letters  and  ftu- 

dious 


C  H  A  R  A 

diotis  employments,  occurs  in  his 
H  ous  hold-book,  dated  1512, 
yet  remaining  ;  in  which  the  Li¬ 
braries  oh  this  earl  and  of  his 
lady  are  fpecified  ;  and  in  the  fame 
curious  monument  of  antient  man¬ 
ners  it  is  ordered,  that  one  of  his 
chaplains  fhould  be  a  Maker  of 
Interludes.  With  fo  much 
boldnefs  did  this  liberal  nobleman 
abandon  the  example  of  his  bro¬ 
ther  peers,  whole  principal  occu¬ 
pations  were  hawking  and  tilting  ; 
and  who  cefpifed  learning,  as  an 
ignoble  and  petty  accomplifhment, 
tit  only  for  the  purpofes  of  labo¬ 
rious  and  indigent  eccleliaftics. 
Nor  was  he  totally  given  up  to 
the  purfuits  of  leifure  and  peace  : 
he  w'as,  in  the  year  1497,  one 
the  leaders  who  commanded  at  the 
battle  of  Blackheath  againlt  Lord 
Audley  and  hb  partifans  ;  and  was 
often  engaged,  from  his  early 
years,  it.  other  public  fervices  of 
trull  and  honour.  But  Skelton 
hardly  deferved  fuch  a  patron¬ 
age-  ... 

It  is  in  vain  to  apologife  for  the 
coarfenefs,  obfcenity,  and  fcurri- 
lity  of  Skelton,  by  faying  that  his 
poetry  is  tin&ured  with  the  man¬ 
ners  of  his  age.  Skelton  would 
have  been  a  writer  without  deco¬ 
rum  at  any  period.  The  manners 
of  Chaucer’s  age  were  undoubtedly 
more  rough  and  unpolifhed  than 
thofe  of  the  reign  of  Henry  the 
Vllth.  Yet  Chaucer,  a  poet  a- 
bounding  in  humour,  and  often 
employed  in  defcribing  the  vices 
and  follies  of  the  world,  writes 
with  a  degree  of  delicacy,  when 
compared  with  Skelton.  That 
Skelton’s  manner  is  grofs  and  illi¬ 
beral,  was  the  opinion  of  his  co¬ 
temporaries;  at  leall  of  thofe  cri¬ 
tics  who  lived  but  a  few  years  af* 


C  T  E  R  S.  25 

tervvards,  and  while  his  poems  yet 
continued  in  vogue.  Puttenham, 
the  author  of  the  Arte  of  Eng¬ 
lish  Poesie,  publilhed  in  the 
year  1589,  ipeaking  of  the  fpecies 
of  Ihort  metre  uled  in  the  minilrel- 
romances,  for  the  convenience  of 
being  fung  to  the  harp  at  feahs, 
and  in  Carols  and  Rounds, 
tc  and  fuch  other  light  or  lascivi¬ 
ous  poems  which  are  commonly 
more  commodioully  uttered  by 
thofe  buffoons  or  vices  in  playes 
than  by  any  other  perlbn,”  and  in 
which  the  fudden  return  of  the 
rhyme  fatigues  the  ear,  immediate¬ 
ly  fubjoins :  “  Such  were  the 

rimes  of  Skelton,  being  indeed  but 
a  rude  rayiing  rimer,  and  all  his 
doings  ridiculous ;  he  uled  both 
Ihort  diilances  and  fhort  meafures, 
pleafing  only  the  popular  eare.” 
And  Meres,  in  his  Palladis  Ta- 
mia,  or  Wit’s  Treasu ry,  pub¬ 
lilhed  in  1^*98.  €i  Skeitort  applied 
his  wit  to  £k urilities  and  ridiculous 
matters :  fuch  among  the  Greekes 
were  called  pantomimi ,  with  us  buf¬ 
foons.”  '  • 

Skelton’s  chara&eriflic  vein  of 
humour  is  capricious  and  grotefque. 
If  his  whimlical  extravagancies  ever 
move  our  laughter,  at  the  fame 
time  they  Ihock  our  fenfibility.  His 
fellive  levities  are  not  only  vulgar 
ana  indelicate,  but  frequently 
want  truth  and  propriety.  His 
fubjedls  are  often  as  ridiculous  as 
his  metre  :  but  he  fometimes  de« 
bafes  his  matter  by  his  verification. 
On  the  whole,  his  genius  feems 
better  fuited  to  low  burlefque, 
than  to  liberal  and  manly  fatire. 
It  is  fuppofed  by  Caxton,  that  he 
improved  our  language;  but  he 
fometimes  affefts  obfcurity,  and 
fometimes  adopts  the  moll  familiar 
phrafeology  of  the  common  people. 

Hum- 


z6  ANNUAL  RE 

Hu  MPHREY  Duke  bf  G  L  0  C  E  S  T  E  R  J 
from  the  Jams. 

DUKE  Humphrey,  at  the 
dawn  of  fcience,  was  a  An¬ 
gular  promoter  of  literature,  and, 
however  unqualified  for  political 
intrigues,  the  common  patron  of 
the  fcholars  of  the  times.  A  (ketch 
of  his  character  in  that  view,  is 
therefore  too  clofely  connected  with 
our  fubjedt  to  be  cenfured  as  an 
•imnecefiary  digrefilon.  About  the 
year  1440,  he  gave  to  the  univer- 
iity  of  Oxford  a  library  containing 
fix  hundred  volumes,  only  one 
hundred  and  twenty  of  which  were 
valued  at  more  than  one  thoufand 
pounds.  Thefe  books  are:  called 
Novi  Traci  at  us,  or  New  Treatifes, 
in  the  univerfity  re gi-fter,  and  faid 
to  be  admir and i  apparatus .  They 
were  the  molt  fplendid  and  coltiy 
copies  that  could  be  procured, 
finely  written  on  vellum,  and  ele¬ 
gantly  embellished  with  miniatures 
and  illuminations.  Among  the 
refi  was  a  trail fladon  into  French  of 
Ovid’s  Metamorphofes.  Only  a 
Angle  fpecimen  of  thefe  valuable 
volumes  was  fullered  to  remain: 
it  is  a  beautiful  manufcript  in  folio 
of  Valerius  Maximus,  enriched 
with  the  moil  elegant  decorations, 
and  written  in  Duke  Humphrey’s 
age,  evidently  with  a  defign  of  be¬ 
ing  placed  in  this  fumptuous  col¬ 
lection.  All  the  relLof  the  books, 
which,  like  this,  being  highly  or¬ 
namented,  looked  like  miffals,  and 
conveyed  ideas  of  popifh  fuperfti- 
tion,  were  deftroyed  or  removed  by 
the  pious  vifitors  of  the  univerfity 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Vlth, 
whole  zeal  was  equalled  only  by 
their  ignorance.,  or  perhaps  by 
their  avarice.  A  great  number  of 
claffics,  in  this  grand  work  of  re- 


GISTER,  1778.  ' 

formation,  were  condemned  as  arrU 
tichrifiian.  —  John  Whethamftede| 
a  learned  abbot  of  St.  Alban’s, 
and  a  lover  of  fcholars,  but  ac- 
cufed  by  his  monks  for  neglect¬ 
ing  their  affairs,  while  he  was  too 
deeply  engaged  in  ftudious  em¬ 
ployments  and  in  procuring  tfan- 
fcripts  of  ufefui  books,  notwith- 
ftanding  his  unwearied  afllduity  in 
beautifying  and  enriching  their 
monaftery,  was  in  high  favour 
with  this  munificent  prince.  The 
Duke  was  fond  of  vifidng  this  mo- 
nailery,  and  employed  Abbot 
Whethamftede  to  collect  valuable 
books  for  him.  Some  of  Whe- 
thamflede’s  tradts,  manufcript  co¬ 
pies  of  which  often  occur  in  our  li¬ 
braries,  are  dedicated  to  the  Duke  : 
who  prefented  many  of  them,  par¬ 
ticularly  a  fine  copy  of  Whecham- 
fiede’s  Granarium,  an  immenfe 
work,  which  Lei  and  calls  ingens 
volumen ,  to  the  new  library.  The 
copy  of  Valerius  Maximus,  which 
1  mentioned  before,  has  a  curious 
table  or  index  made  by  Whetham- 
ftede.  Many  other  abbots  paid 
their  court  to  the  Duke  by  fending 
him  prefects  of  books,  whole  mar¬ 
gins  were  adorned  with  the  moll 
exquifite  paintings.  Gilbert  Ky- 
mer,  phyfician  to  King  Henry  the 
Vlth,  among  other  ecclefiaftic 
promotions,  Dean  of  Salifbury, 
and  Chancellor  of  the  Univerfity  of 
Oxford,  infcribed  to  Duke  Hum¬ 
phrey  his  famous  medical  fyfiem 
Diaetarium  de  fanitatis  cufodia ,  in 
the  year  1424.  Lydgate  tranf- 
lated  Boccacio’s  book  de  Casi- 

BUS  VIRORUM  ILLUSTRIUM  at 

the  recommendation  and  com¬ 
mand,  and  under  the  protection 
and  fuperintendence,  of  Duke 
Humphrey  :  whofe  condefcenfion 
in  converfing  with  learned  eccle- 

fiaftics,. 


C  H  A  R  A 

fiaftics,  and  diligence  in  ftudy,  the 
tranllator  difplays  at  large,  and  in 
the  ftrongeft  expreffions  of  pane¬ 
gyric.  He  compares  the  Duke  to 
Julius  Cefar,  who  amid  ft  the 
weightieft  cares  of  ftatc,  was  not 
afhamed  to  enter  the  rhetorical 
fchool  of  Cicero  at  Rome.  Nor 
was  his  patronage  confined  only  to 
Englifh  fcholars.  His  favour  was 
folicited  by  the  moft  celebrated 
writers  of  France  and  Italy,  many 
of  whom  he  bountifully  rewarded. 
Leonard  Aretine,  one  of  the  firft 
reftorers  of  the  Greek  tongue  in 
Italy,  wh;ch  he  learned  of  Ema¬ 
nuel  Chryfoloras,  and  of  polite  li¬ 
terature  in  general,  dedicates  to 
this  univerfal  patron  his  elegant 
Latin  tranflation  <  Afiftotle’s  Po¬ 
litics.  The  copy  p.rcfented  to 
the  Duke  by  the  tranflator,  moft 
elegantly  illuminated,  is  now  in 
the  Bodleian  library  at  Oxford.  To 
the  fame  noble  encourager  of  learn¬ 
ing,  Petrus  Candidus,  the  friend 
of  Laurentius  Villa,  and  fecretary 
to  the  great  Cofmo  Duke  of  Milan, 
infcribed,  by  the  advice  of  the 
Archbifhop  of  Milan,  a  Latin  ver- 
fion  of  Plato’s  Republic.  An 
illuminated  manufcript  of  this 
tranflation  is  in  the  Britifh  Mu- 
feum,  perhaps  the  copy  prefented, 
with  two  epiftles  prefixed,  from  the 
Duke  to  Petrus  Candidus,  Petrus 
de  Monte,  another  learned  Italian, 
of  Venice,  in  the  dedication  of  his 
treatife  de  Virtutum  et  Vi- 
tiorum  Differentia  to  the 
Duke  of  Gloucefter,  mentions  the 
latter’s  ardent  attachment  to  books 
of  all  kinds,  and  the  fingular  avi¬ 
dity  with  which  he  purfued  every 
fpecies  of  literature.  A  trail,  en¬ 
titled  COMPARATIO  STUDIORUM 

et  rei  Militaris,  written  by 


C  T  E  R  S.  27 

Lapus  de  Caftellione,  a  Florentine 
civilian,  and  a  great  tranflator  into 
Latin  of  the  Greek  claffics,  is  alfo 
irrfcribed  to  the  Duke,  at  the  de¬ 
fire  of  Zeno,  Archbifhop  ofBayeux. 
i  mull  not  forget,  that  our  illuftri- 
ous  Duke  invited  into  England  the 
learned  Italian,  Tito  Livio  of 
Foro-Juli,  whom  he  naturalifed, 
and  conftituted  his  poet  and  orator. 
Humphrey  alfo  retained  learned  fo¬ 
reigners  in  his  fervice,  for  the  pur- 
pofe  of  tranfcribing,  and  of  trans¬ 
lating  from  Greek  into  Latin. 
One  of  thefe  was  Antonio  de  Bec- 
caria,  a  Veronefe,  a  tranflator  into 
Latin  profe  of  the  Greek  poem  of 
Dionyfius  Afer  de  Situ  Orbis  : 
whom  the  Duke  employed  to 
tranflate  into  Latin  fix  trails  of 
Athanafius,  This  tranflation,  in¬ 
scribed  to  the  Duke,  is  now  among 
the  royal  manufcripts  in  the  Britifh 
Mufeum,  and  at  the  end,  in  his 
own  hand-writing,  is  the  following 
infertion  :  ic  C’eft  li<vre  eft  a  mot 
Hompbrey  Due  le  Glouceftre  :  le  quel 
je  fts  tranftater  de  Grec  en  Latin  par 
un  de  mes  fecretmires  Antoyne  de  Bee - 
car  a,  ne  de  Verone .” 

An  aftronomical  trail,  entitled 
by  Leland  Tabula  Directio- 
num,  is  falfely  fuppofed  to  have 
been  written  by  Duke  Humphrey. 
But  it  was  compiled  at  the  Duke's 
inflance,  and  according  to  tables 
which  himfelf  had  conftruiled, 
called  by  the  anonymous  author  in 
his  preface,  T'abulas  illuftrijfftmi 
principis  et  nobilijftmi  domini  mei 
Humfredi ,  &c.  In  the  library  of 
Grefham  College,  however,  there 
is  a  fcheme  of  calculations  in  aftro- 
nomy,  which  bears  his  name. 
Aftronomy  was  then  a  favourite 
fcience  :  nor  is  it  to  be  doubted, 
that  he  was  intimately  acquainted 

with 


28  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  17  78. 


with  the  politer  branches  of  know¬ 
ledge,  which  now  began  to  acquire 
eilimation,  and  which  his  liberal 
and  judicious  attention  greatly  con¬ 
tributed  to  reftore. 


Guftavus  the  Third,  King  of  Swe¬ 
den  ;  from  Sheridan’*  Hiftory  of 
the  late  Revolution . 

GUSTAVUS  the  Third  was 
about  five-and-twenty  when 
he  was  proclaimed  King  of  Swe¬ 
den,  From  his  mother,  the  pre¬ 
fen  t  Queen  Dowager,  lifter  to  the 
King  of  Ptufiia,  he  feems  to  inhe¬ 
rit  the  fpirit  and  abilities  of  his 
uncle;  from  his  father,  that  bene¬ 
volence  of  heart,  which  ftill  ren¬ 
ders  the  memory  of  Frederic  Adol¬ 
phus  dear  to  the  Swedes. 

Born  with  talents  that  would 
have  reflected  luftie  on  any  rank, 
but  peculiarly  fuited  to  the  exalted 
one  he  was  deftined  to  hold  ;  his 
Batura!  endowments  were  cultivat¬ 
ed  to  the  higheft  pitch,  by  an  edu¬ 
cation  the  moft  finilhed,  and  moll 
nicely  adapted  to  a  ctuation,  which 
would  probably  one  day  require 
their  fulleft  exertion. 

By  a  graceful  and  commanding 
oratory,  the  moft  captivating  man¬ 
ner  and  infinuating  addrefs,  he 
caught  the  hearts  of  thofe  who  be- 
held  him  only  in  public  ;  by  an  ex¬ 
tent  of  knowledge  and  depth  of 
judgment,  he  excited  the  admira¬ 
tion  of  fuch  as  had  an  opportunity 
of  being  nearer  his  perfon.  But 
neither  of  thefe  could  as  yet  fufpefl 
him  of  that  genius  for  intrigue,  of 
that  bold  and  enterprizing  fpirit 
which  have  ftnee  diftinguifhed  him  ; 
neither  could  hope  that  fuch  a  ge¬ 


nius,  whilft  it  was  exerted  to  pro¬ 
mote  the  particular  interefts  of  the 
prince  who  poffeffed  it,  Ihould  yet 
never  lofe  light  of  the  happinefs 
of  the  people  %  that  fuch  a  fpirit 
ihould  be  under  the  direction  of 
prudence,  and  in  its  courfe  be 
marked  by  a  moderation  as  amiable 
as  it  is  rare. 

Neglectful  of  pleafures,  yet  not 
averfe  to  them,  without  being  dif- 
fipated,  he  tailed  the  amufemems 
of  a  court;  and  in. the  mid  ft  of  the 
clofeft  application  to  Itudy,  re¬ 
tained  all  that  graceful  eafe  which 
qualifies  to  Ihine  in  a  circle.  He 
cultivated  with  equal  fuccefs  the 
arts  of  governing,  and  of  pleafing  ; 
and  knew  alike  how  to  gain  the 
refpedl,  and  won  upon  the  affec¬ 
tions  of  his  future  fubjecls. 

Under  the  appearance  of  the 
moft  difinterefted  patriotifm,  an 
ambition  great  as  his  talents,  lay 
concealed  :  and  covered  by  a  zeal 
for  the  welfare  of  his  fubje&s,  his 
defigns  upon  their  liberties  might 
have  efcaped  the  penetration  of  the 
moft  fagacious. 

Such  were  the  talents,  fuch  the 
ambition  of  a  prince  defigned  to 
wield  a  feeptre,  that  could  afford 
no  fcope  for  the  one,  no  gratifica¬ 
tion  to  the  other.  Who,  mailer  of 
every  popular  art,  was  in  a  popu¬ 
lar  government,  to  fubmit  to  the 
caprice  of  a  fenate,  or  the  di&ates 
of  a  foreign  minifter  :  who,  fully 
equal  to  the  talk  of  governing 
others,  was  to  be  himfelf  allowed 
no  will  of  his  own  ;  and  who,  pof- 
feffed  of  the  hearts  of  his  people, 
was  to  be  their  king  only  in  name  ; 
was  to  content  himfelf  with  the 
gaudy  trappings  of  royalty,,  which 
he  defpifed  ;  and  was  to  refrain 
from  grafping  at  that  power  which 

formed 


C  H  A  R  A 

formed  the  firft  object  of  his 
wifhes. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  de- 
monftrations  of  joy  teitified  by  the 
people  at  the  arrival  of  the  King  at 
Stockholm,  but  the  amiable  affabi¬ 
lity  with  which  he  received  all  who 
approached  him.  No  conduct 
could  oe  better  calculated  to  extend 
his  popularity  to  theremoteft  parts 
of  his  dominions,  than  that  which 
he  adopted. 

Three  times  a  week  he  regularly 
gave  audience  to  all  who  prefented 
them/elves.  It  required  neither 
rank,  fortune,  or  intereft  to  obtain 
accefs  to  him  ;  it  was  fufficient  to 
have  been  injured,  and  to  have  a 
legal  caufe  of  complaint  to  lay  be¬ 
fore  him.  He  liftened  to  the 
meaneft  of  his  fubjeds  with  the 
dignity  of  a  fovereign  indeed,  but 
at  the  fame  time  with  the  tender- 
nefs  of  a  parent.  Pie  entered  into 
the  minuteft  details  that  concerned 
them  ;  he  informed  himfelf  of  their 
private  affairs  ;  and  feemed  to  take 
all  that  interefl  in  their  happinefs 
which  is  fo  grateful  to  the  unfori 
tunate,  and  fo  rarely  to  be  met  with 
in  perfons  whole  elevated  llation 
place  them  in  a  manner  beyond  the 
reach,  or  even  the  knowledge,  of 
the  fufferin^s  of  the  lower  claffes  of 
mankind. 

When  a  fovereign  condefcended 
to  cares  like  thele,  he  could  not 
fail  to  be  confidered  as  the  father 
of  his  people.  In  the  warmth  of 
their  gratitude,  they  forgot  that 
motives  of  ambition  might  have 
had  fome  fhare  in  forming  a  con¬ 
duct  which  to  them  appeared  to 
proceed  wholly  from  the  purelf  be¬ 
nevolence  ;  a  condud,  in  which 
the  tenor  of  his  majelty’s  adions 
has  indeed  proved  he  confulted  his 
feelings,  but  which  hfcs  likewife 


C  T  E  R  S.  29 

been  fmce  proved  by  the  event,  to 
have  been  the  wifelt  he  could  have 
chofen  for  the  purpofe  of  carrying 
the  defign  he  meditated  into  exe* 
cution. 

If  his  Svvedilh  Majefty  aimed 
thus  fuccefsfully  at  popularity,  he 
likewife  endeavoured  to  perfuade 
the  leading  men  of  the  kingdom 
into  an  opinion  of  his  fincere  and 
inviolable  attachment  to  the  confli- 
tution  of  his  country  ;  of  his  being 
perfectly  fatisfied  with  the  fhare  of 
power  that  conftitution  had  allotted 
to  him  ;  and  took  every  opportunity 
to  declare  that  he  confidered  it  as 
his  greateft  glory  to  be  the  firft 
citizen  of  a  free  people. 

He  feemed  intent  only  on  ba¬ 
nishing  corruption,  and  promoting 
union  ;  he  declared  he  would  be  of 
no  party  but  that  of  the  nation  ; 
and  that  he  would  ever  pay  the 
moft  implicit  obedience  to  whatever 
the  Diet  fhould  enad. 

Thefe  profeffions  cteated  fufpu 
cions  among  a  few,  but  they  lulled 
the  many  into  a  fatal  fecurity. 

-  Thofe  however  who  poffefTed  a 
greater  fhare  of  penetration,  thought 
his  Majefty  promifed  too  much  to 
be  in  earneft ;  and  notwithltanding 
he  maintained  an  outward  appear¬ 
ance  of  impartiality,  they  could  not 
help  o’bferving  that  all  his  favou¬ 
rites  were  of  the  French  party,  as 
well  as  that  the  whole  adminiftra- 
tion  was  at  the  beck  of  the  court  of 
Verfailles. 

Of  the  manner  in  which  the  re¬ 
volution  was  effeded,  the  fame  au¬ 
thor  gives  the  following  account : 

His  Swedifh  Majefty,  in  the 
morning  of  the  19th  <  f  Auguft,  de«, 
termined  to  throw  off  the  mafk,  and 
feize  by  force  upon  that  power 
which  the  hates  had  fo  longabufed, 
or  perifh  in  the  attempt. 


A? 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i778. 


A;s  he  was  preparing  to  quit  his 
apartment,  fome  agitation  appeared 
in  his  countenance  :  but  it  did  not 
feern  to  proceed  from  any  appre- 
henfions  for  his  own  fate.  Great 
as  this  Prince’s  ambition  is,  his 
humanity  is  not  inferior  to  it.  He 
dreaded  left  the  blood  of  fome  of 
his  fubje&s  might  be  fpilt  in  con- 
fequence  of  an  enterprize,  which 
he  could  not  flatter  himfelf  to  fuc- 
ceed  in  without  having  recourfe  to 
violence. 

His  whole  condud  during  that 
day,  as  well  as  after  the  revolution 
had  taken  place,  juftifies  this  con¬ 
jecture. 

A  conflderable  number  of  offi¬ 
cers,  as  well  as  other  perfons, 
known  to  be  attached  to  the  royal 
caufe,  had  been  fummoned  to  at¬ 
tend  his  Majefty  on  that  morning. 
Before  ten  he  was  on  horfeback  and 
vifited  the  regiment  of  artillery. 
As  he  palled  through  the  ftreets  he 
was  more  than  ufually  courteous  to 
all  he  met,  bowing  familiarly  to 
the  lowed  of  the  people.  On  the 
King’s  return  to  his  palace,  the 
detachment  which  was  to  mount 
guard  that  day  being  drawn  up  to¬ 
gether  with  that  which  was  to  be 
relieved,  his  Majefty  retired  with 
the  officers  into  the  guard-room. 
He  then  addrefted  them,  with  all 
that  eloquence  of  which  he  is  fo 
perfect  a  mailer  ;  and  after  inft- 
nuating  to  them  that  his  life  was  in 
danger,  he  expofed  to  them  in  the 
ilrongeft  colours  the  wretched  date 
of  the  kingdom  ;  the  ftiackles  in 
which  it  was  held  by  means  of  fo¬ 
reign  gold  ;  and’the  diflenftons  and 
troubles  ariftng  from  the  fame 
caufe,  which  had  diftraded  the 
diet  during  the  courfe  of  fourteen 
months.  He  allured  them  that  his 
only  defign  was  to  put  an  end  to 
thefe  diforders  -9  to  banilh  corrup¬ 


tion,  rellore  true  liberty,  and 
revive  the  ancient  luftre  of  the 
Swedifti  name,  which  had  been 
long  tarnifhed  by  a  venality  as  no¬ 
torious  as  it  was  difgraceful.  Then 
alluring  them  in  the  ftrongeft  terms 
that  he  difciaimed  for  ever  all  ab~ 
folate  power,  or  what  the  Swedes 
call  fovereignty,  he  concluded  with 
thefe  words  ;  “  I  am  obliged  to 
defend  my  own  liberty,  and  that  of 
the  kingdom,  againft  the  arifto- 
cracy  which  reigns..  Will  you  be 
faithful  to  me  as  your  forefathers 
were  to  Guftavus  Vafa,  and  Guf- 
tavus  Adolphus  ?  I  will  then  rifle 
my  life  for  your  welfare,  and  that 
of  my  country.3’ 

The  officers,  moft  of  them  young 
men,  of  whofe  attachment  the  King 
had  been  long  fecure,  who  did 
not  thoroughly  perhaps  fee  into 
the  nature  of  the  requeft  his  Ma¬ 
jefty  made  them,  and  were  allowed 
no  time  to  reflect  upon  it,  imme¬ 
diately  confented  to  every  thing, 
and  took  an  oath  of  fidelity  to 
him. 

Three  only  refufed.  One  of 
thefe,  Frederic  Cederftrom,  cap- 
tain  of  a  company  of  the  guards, 
al  1  edged  he  had  already  and  very 
lately  taken  an  oath  to  be  faithful 
to  the  Bates,  and  confequently 
could  not  take  that  which  his  Ma¬ 
jefty  then  exacted  of  him.  The 
King,  looking  at  him  flernly,  an- 
fwered,  “  Think  of  what  you  are 
doing.”  <£  I  do,”  replied  Ceder¬ 
ftrom,  “  and  what  I  think  to-day 
I  lhali  think  to-morrow ;  and  were 
I  capable  of  breaking  the  oath  by 
which  I  am  already  bound  to  the 
Hates,  I  fliould  be  likewife  capable 
of  breaking  that  your  Majefty  now 
requefts  me  to  take.” 

The  King  then  ordered  Ceder- 
llrom  to  deliver  up  his  fword,  and 
put  him  in  arreft. 

HU 


C  H  A  R  A 

His  Majeily  however,  apprehen- 
five  of  the  impreffion  which  the 
proper  and  refoline  conduX  of  Ce- 
derltrom  might  make  upon  the 
minds  of  the  other  officers,  Ihortly 
afterwards  foftened  his  tone  of 
voice,  and  again  addreffing  him- 
feif  to  Cederltrom,  told  him,  that 
as  a  proi  f  of  the  opinion  he  enter¬ 
tained  of  him,  and  the  confidence 
he  placed  in  him,  he  would  return 
him  his  fword  without  infilling  up¬ 
on  his  taking  the  oath,  and  would 
only  defire  his  attendance  that  day. 
Cederftrom  continued  firm  ;  he  an- 
fvvered,  that  his  Majeily  could  place 
no  confidence  in  him  that  day,  and 
that  he  begged  to  be  excufed  from 
the  fervice. 

While  the  King  was  fhut  up  with 
the  officers,  Senator  Railing,  to 
whom  the  command  of  the  troops 
in  the  town  had  been  given  two 
days  before,  came  to  the  door  of 
the  guard-room,  and  was  told  that 
he  could  not  be  admitted.  The  Se¬ 
nator  infilled  upon  being  prefent  at 
the  diliribution  of  the  orders,  and 
fent  in  to  the  King  to  defire  it  : 
but  was  anfvvered,  he  mull  go  to 
the  fen  ate,  where  his  Majeily  would 
fpeak  to  him. 

The  officers  then  received  their 
orders  from  the  King  ;  the  firffc  of 
which  was,  that  the  two  regiments 
of  guards  and  of  artillery  Ihould 
be  immediately  affembled,  and  that 
a  detachment  of  thirty-fix  grena¬ 
diers  fhould  be  polled  at  the  door 
of  the  council-chamber,  to  prevent 
any  of  the  fenators  from  coming 
out. 

But  before  thefe  orders  could  be 
carried  into  execution,  it  was  ne- 
celfary  that  the  King  fhould  take 
another  Hep  ;  a  Hep  upon  which 
the  whole  fuccefs  of  hi*  enterprise 


c  T  E  R  s.  3i 

was  to  depend.  This  was  to  addrefs 
himfelf  to  the  foldiers  ;  men  wholly 
unacquainted  with  his  aefigns,  and 
accuftomed  to  pay  obedience  only 
to  the  orders  of  the  fenate,  whom 
they  had  been  taught  to  hold  in  the 
highell  reverence. 

As  his  Majeily,  followed  by  the 
officers,  was  advancing  from  the 
guard-room  to  the  parade  for  this 
purpofe,  fome  of  them  more  cau¬ 
tious,  or  perhaps  more  timid  than 
the  reft,  became,  on  a  Ihort  re¬ 
flexion,  apprehenfive  of  the  con¬ 
ferences  of  the  meafure  in  which 
they  were  engaged  :  they  began  to 
exprefs  their  fears  to  the  King, 
that  unlefs  fome  perfons  of  greater 
weight  and  influence  than  them- 
felves  were  to  take  a  part  in  the 
fame  caufe,  he  could  hardly  hope 
to  fucceed  in  his  enterprize.  The 
King  flopped  awhile,  and  appeared 
to  hefitate— -the  fate  of  the  revolu¬ 
tion  hung  upon  that  moment.  A 
ferjeant  of  the  guards  overheard 
their  difeourfe,  and  cried  aloud — 
“  It  fhall  fucceed — long  HveGuf- 
tavus.”  His  Majeily  immediately 
faid,  {i  then  I  wiii  venture’7 — and 
flopping  forward  to  the  foldiers,  he 
addrefled  them  in  terms  nearly 
fimilar  to  thofe  he  had  made  ufe  of 
to  the  officers,  and  with  the  fame 
fuccefs.  They  anfwered  him  with 
loud  acclamations ;  one  voice  only 
faid,  no  ;  but  it  was  not  attended 
to.  x 

In  the  mean  time  fome  of  the 
King’s  emiflaries  had  fpread  a  re¬ 
port  about  the  town  that  the  King 
was  arrefted.  This  drew  the  po¬ 
pulace  to  the  palace  in  great  num¬ 
bers,  where  they  arrived  as  his  Ma- 
jefty  had  concluded  his  harangue  to 
the  guards.  They  teftified  by  rei¬ 
terated  fliouts  their  joy  at  feeing 


3  2  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177  8. 


him  fafe ;  a  joy  which  promifed  the 
happieft  conclufion  to  the  bufinefs 
of  the  day. 

The  fenators  were  now  imme¬ 
diately  fecured.  They  had  from 
the  window  of  the  council -chamber 
beheld  what  was  going  forward  on 
the  parade  before  the  palace  ;  and 
at  a  lofs  to  know  the  meaning  of 
the  fhouts  they  heard,  were  coming 
down  to  enquire  into  the  caufe  of 
them,  when -thirty  grenadiers  with 
their  bayonets  fixed,  informed 
them  it  was  his  Majefty’s  pleafure 
they  fhould  continue  where  they 
were.  They  began  to  talk  in  a 
high  tone,  but  were  anfwered  only 
by  haying  the  door  fhut  and  locked 
upon  them. 

The  moment  the  fee  ret  com¬ 
mittee  heard  that  the  fenate  was 
arrefted,  they  feparated  of  them- 
felves,  each  individual  providing 
for  his  own  fafety.  The  King  then 
mounting  his  horfe,  followed  by  his 
officers  with  their  fwords  drawn, 
a  large  body  of  foldiers,  and  num 
bers  of  the  populace,  went  to  the 
other  quarters  of  the  town  where 
the  foldiers  he  had  ordered  to  be 
afiembled  were  polled*  He  found 
them  all  equally  willing  to  fupport 
his  caufe,  and  take  an  oath  of  fide¬ 
lity  to  him.  As  he  paffed  through 
the  ftreets,  he  declared  to  the  peo¬ 
ple,  thatf  he  only  meant  to  defend 
them,  and  fave  his  country  ;  and 
that  if  they  would  not  confide  in 
him,  he  would  lay  down  his  feep. 
tre,  and  furrender  up  his  kingdom. 
So  much  was  the  King  beloved, 
that  the  people  (fome  of  whom  even 
fell  down  upon  their  knees)  with 
tears  in  their  eyes  implored  his  Ma- 
jefly  not  to  abandon  them. 

The  King  proceeded  in  his 
courfe,  and  in  Id's  than  an  hour 


made  himfelf  mailer  of  all  the  mili¬ 
tary  force  in  Stockholm. 


Account  of  the  Kingdom  of  Thibet, 
in  a  Letter  from  John  Stewart, 
Ffq\  F.  R.  S.  to  Sir  John  Prin¬ 
gle,  Bart .  P.  R .  S.  From  the 
Phiiofqphical  ‘ Tranfactions . 

H  E  kingdom  of  Thibet,  al¬ 
though  known  by  name  ever 
fince  the  days  of  Marco  Paolo  and 
other  travellers  of  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries ,  had  never 
been  properly  explored  by  any  Eu¬ 
ropeans  till  the  period  of  which  I 
am  now  to  fpeak.  It  is  true,  fome 
llraggling  miffionaries  of  the  beg¬ 
ging  orders  had,  at  different  times, 
penetrated  into  different  parts  of 
the  country;  but  their  obfervations, 
diredled  by  ignorance  and  fu perdi¬ 
tion,  placed  in  a  narrow  fphe.re, 
could  give  no  ideas  but  what  were 
falfe  and  imperfecl.  Since  them, 
the  fefuits  have  given  the  world, 
in  Duhalde’s  Hiftory  of  China,  a 
fhort  account  of  this  country,  col¬ 
lected,  with  their  ufual  pains  and 
judgment,  from  Tartar  relations, 
which,  as  far  as  it  goes,  fee  ms  to  be 
pretty  juft. 

This  country  commonly  paffes 
in  Bengal  under  the  name  of  Boa- 
tan,  It  lies  to  the  northward  of 
Hindoftan,  and  is  all  along  fepa- 
rated  from  it  by  a  range  of  high 
and  fteep  mountains,  properly  a 
continuation  of  the  great  Caucafus, 
which  ftretches  from  the  ancient 
Media  and  the  fhores  of  the  Cafpian 
fea,  round  the  north-eaft  frontiers 
of  Perfia,  to  Candahar  and  Caffa- 
xnire,  and  thence,  continuing  its 
courfe  more  eafterly,  forms  the 
great  northern  barrier  to  the  various 

provinces 


■  C  H  A  R  A 

provinces  of  the’Mogul  empire,  and 
ends,  as  we  have  reafon  to  believe, 
in  Afiam  or  China.  This  fiupen- 
dous  Tartar  bulwark  had  ever  been 
held  impafiable  by  the  Moguls, 
and  all  other  Mufiulman  conquerors 
of  India :  and,  although  in  the 
vallies  lying  between  the  lower 
mountains,  which  run  out  perpen¬ 
dicular  to  the  main  ridge,  there  re- 
iides  various  Indian  people,  whom 
they  had  occafionally  made  tribu¬ 
tary  to  their  power,  they  never 
had  attempted  a  folid  or  perma¬ 
nent  dominion  over  them.  It  was 
on  occafion  of  a  difputed  fucceffion 
between  the  heirs  of  one  of  the 
rajahs  or  petty  fovereigns  of  thofe 
people,  that  the  Boutaners  were 
called  down  from  their  mountains 
to  the  affiftance  of  one  of  the  par¬ 
ties ;  and  our  government  engaged 
on  the  oppofite  fide.  The  party 
aflifted  by  us  did  not  fail  in  the 
end  to  prevail ;  and,  in  the  courfe 
of  this  little  war,  two  people  be¬ 
came  acquainted  who,  although 
near  neighbours,  were  equally 
Grangers  to  each  other.  At  the 
attack  of  a  town  called  Cooch  Be- 
har,  our  troops  and  the  Boutaners 
firfl  met ;  and  nothing  could  exceed 
their  mutual  furprife  in  the  ren¬ 
counter.  The  Boutaners,  who  had 
never  met  in  the  plains  any  other 
than  the  timid  Hindoos  Hying 
naked  before  them,  faw,  for  the 
firft  time*  a  body  of  men,  uni¬ 
formly  cloathed  and  accoutred, 
moving  in  regular  order,  and  led 
on  by  men  of  complexion,  drefs, 
and  features,  fuch  as  they  had  ne¬ 
ver  beheld  before :  and  then  the 
management  of  the  artillery,  and 
inceflant  fire  of  the  mufquetry,  was 
beyond  any  idea  which  they  could 
have  conceived  of  it.  On  the 
other  hand,  our  people  found 

Vol.  XXL 


C  T  E  R  S.  33 

themfelves  on  a  fudden  engaged 
with  a  race  of  men  Unlike  all  their 
former  Opponents  in  India,  un¬ 
couth  in  their  appearance,  and 
fierce  in  their  affault,  wrapped  up 
in  firs,  and  armed  with  bows  and 
arrows,  and  other  weapons  pecu¬ 
liar  to  them. 

The  place  was  carried  by  our 
troops,  and  a  great  many  things 
taken  in  the  fpoil,  fuch  as  arms, 
cloathing,  and  utenfils  of  various 
forts.  Images  in  clay,  in  gold,  in 
filver,  and  in  enamel,  were  fent 
down  to  Calcutta;  all  which  ap¬ 
peared  perfectly  Tartar,  as  we 
have  them  reprefented  in  the  rela¬ 
tions  and  drawings  of  travellers ; 
and  there  were  befides  feveral  pieces 
of  Chinefe  paintings  and  manu¬ 
factures.  Whilft  thofe  things  con¬ 
tinued  to  be  the  fubjeCl  of  much 
converfation  and  curiofity  to  U3  in 
Bengal,  the  fame  of  our  exploits 
in  the  war  had  reached  the  court  of 
Thibet,  and  awakened  the  atten¬ 
tion  of  Tayfhoo  Lama,  who  (the 
Delai  Lama  being  a  minor)  was 
then  at  the  head  of  the  Hate;  The 
Dah  Terria,  or  Deb  Rajah  as  he 
is  called  in  Bengal  (who  rules  im¬ 
mediately  over  the  Boutaners,  and 
had  engaged  them  in  the  war)  be¬ 
ing  a  feudatory  of  Thibet,  the 
Lama  thought  it  proper  to  inter- 
pofe  his  good  offices,  and  in  con¬ 
sequence  fent  a  perfon  of  rank  to 
Bengal,  with  a  letter  and  prefents 
to  the  Governor,  to  folicit  a  peace 
for  the  Dah*  as  his  vaflal  and  de¬ 
pendant. 

Mr,  Railings,  the  Governor,  did 
not  hefitate  a  moment  to  grant  a 
peace  at  the  mediation  of  the 
Lama,  on  the  moll  moderate  and 
equitable  terms  ;  and,  eager  to 
feize  every  opportunity  which  could 
promote  the  intereH  and  glory  of 
D  tbl» 


34  ANNUAL  REGISTER,..  1778. 


this  nation,  and  tend  to  the  ad¬ 
vancement  of  natural  knowledge, 
propofed  In  council  to  fend  a  per- 
£011  in  a  public  character  to  the 
court  of  the  Tayfhoo  Lama,  to  ne- 
gociate  a  treaty  of  commerce  be¬ 
tween  the  two  nations,  and  to  ex¬ 
plore  a  country  and  people  hitherto 
fo  little  known  to  Europeans.  Mr. 
Bogle,  an  approved  fervant  of  the 
company,  whofe  abilities  and  tem¬ 
per  rendered  him  every  way  qua¬ 
lified  for  fo  hazardous  and  uncom¬ 
mon  a  million,  was  pitched  on  for 
it.  It  would  be  foreign  to  my  pur- 
pofe  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  his 
progrefs  and  fuccefs  in  this  bufi- 
nefs  :  it  will  be  fufficient  to  fay, 
that  he  penetrated,  acrofs  many 
difficulties,  to  the  center  of  Thi¬ 
bet;  refided  feveral  months  at  the 
court  of  the  Tayfhoo  Lama;  and 
returned  to  Calcutta,  after  an  ab- 
fence  of  fifteen  months  on  the 
whole,  having  executed  his  com- 
miffion  to  the  entire  fatisfa£lion  of 
the  adminiftration.  I  have  reafon 
to  believe  that  Mr.  Bogle  will  one 

o 

day  give  to  the  world  a  relation  of 
his  journey  thither,  accompanied 
with  obfervations  on  the  natural 
and  political  Hate  of  the  country. 
I  only,  in  the  mean  time,  beg  leave 
to  mention  a  few  particulars,  fuch 
as  my  recolleftlon  of  his  letters  and 
papers  enable  me  to  give. 

Mr.  Bogle  divides  the  territories 
of  the  Belai  Lama  into  two  differ¬ 
ent  parts.  That  which  lies  imme¬ 
diately  contiguous  to  Bengal,  and 
which  is  called  by  the  inhabitants 
JDocpo,  he  diftmguifhes  by  the 
name  of  Boutan  ;  and  the  other, 
which  extends  to  the  northward  as 
far  as  the  frontiers  of  Tartary, 
called  by  the  natives  Pu,  heilyles 
Thibet.  Boutan  is  ruled  by  the 
Dah  Terriah  or  Deb  Rajah,  as  I 


have  already  remarked.  It  is  a 
country  of  Beep  and  inacceffibie 
mountains,  whofe  fummits  are 
crowned  with  eternal  fnow  ;  they 
are  interfered  with  deep  vallies, 
through  which  pour  numberiefs  tor¬ 
rents  that  increafe  in  their  courfe, 
and,  at  lad,  gaining  the  plains, 
lofe  themfelves  in  the  great  rivers 
of  Bengal.  Thefe  mountains  are 
covered  down  their  Tides  with  forefts 
of  {lately  trees  of  various  forts ; 
fome  (fuch  as  pines,  &c.)  which 
are  known  in  Europe  ;  others  fuch 
as  are  peculiar  to  the  country  and 
climate.  The  vallies  and  Tides  of 
the  hills,  which  admit  of  cultiva¬ 
tion,  are  not  unfruitful,  but  pro¬ 
duce  crops  of  wheat,  barley,  and 
rice.  The  inhabitants  are  a  (tout 
and  warlike  people,  of  a  copper 
complexion,  in  fize  rather  above 
the  middle  European  ftatore,  hafxy 
and  quarrelfome  in  their  temper, 
and  addicted  to  the  ufe  of  fpiri- 
tuous  liquors  ,  but  honed  in  their 
dealings,  robbery  by  violence  be¬ 
ing  aimed  unknown  among  them. 
The  chief  city  is  Taffey  Seddein, 
fituated  on  the  Patchco;  Thibet 
begins  properly  from  the  top  of  the 
great  ridge  of  the  Caucafus,  and 
extends  from  thence  in  breadth  to 
the  confines  of  Great  Tartary,  and 
perhaps  to  fome  of  the  dominions 
of  the  Ruffian  empire.  Mr.  Bogle 
fays,  that,  having  once  attained 
the  fummit  of  the  Boutan  moun¬ 
tains,  you  do  not  defeend  in  an 
equal  proportion  on  the  fide  of 
Thibet  ;  but,  continuing  dill  on  a 
very  elevated  bafe,  you  traverfe 
vallies  which  are  wider  and  not  fo 
deep  as  the  former,  and  mountains 
that  are  neither  fo  deep,  nor  appa¬ 
rently  fo  high.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  reprefen ts  it  as  the  mod  bare  and 
defolate  country  he  ever  faw.  The 

woods. 


CHARACTERS. 


35 


wood?,  which  cvery-where  cover 
the  mountains  in  Boutan,  are  here 
totally  unknown  ;  and,  except  a 
few'  ftraggling  trees  near  the  vil¬ 
lages,  nothing  of  the  fort  to  be 
feen.  The  climate  is  extremely 
fevere  and  rude.  At  Chamnan- 
ning,  where  he  wintered,  although 
it  be  in  latitude  31  deg.  39  min. 
only  8  deg.  to  the  northward  of 
Calcutta,  he  often  found  the  ther¬ 
mometer  in  his  room  at  2 9  deg. 
under  the  freezing  point  by  P'ah- 
renheit’s  fcale ;  and  in  the  middle 
of  April  the  Handing  waters  were 
all  frozen,  and  heavy  fnowers  of 
fnow  perpetually  fell.  This,  no 
doubt,  mufl  be  owing  to  the  great 
elevation  of  the  country,  and  to 
the  vaft  frozen  fpace  over  which 
the  north-wind  blows  uninterrupt¬ 
edly  from  the  pole,  through  the 
vaft  deferts  of  Siberia  and  Tartary, 
till  it  is  flopped  by  this  formidable 
wall. 

The  Thibetians  are  of  a  fmaller 
fize  than  their  foutbern  neigh¬ 
bours,  and  of  a  lefs  robuft  make. 
Their  complexions  are  alfo  fairer, 
and  many  of  them  have  even  a  rud- 
dinefs  in  their  countenance  un¬ 
known  in  the  other  climates  of  the 
eaft.  Thofe  whom  I  favv  at  Cal¬ 
cutta  appeared  to  have  quite  the 
Tartar  face.  They  are  of  a  mild 
and  chearful  temper ;  and  Mr. 
Bogle  fays,  that  the  higher  ranks  are 
polite  and  entertaining  in  conver- 
iation,  in  which  they  never  mix 
either  ftrained  compliments  or  flat¬ 
tery.  The  common  people,  both 
in  Boutan  and  Thibet,  are  cloathed 
in  coarfe  woollen  fluffs  of  their  own 
manufa&ure,  lined  with  fuch  fkins 
as  they  can  procure ;  but  the  better 
orders  of  men  are  drefled  in  Eu¬ 
ropean  cloth,  or  China  ftlk,  lined 
with  the  fineft  Siberian  furs.  The 


Ambaflador  from  the  Deb  Rajah, 
in  his  fummer-drefs  at  Calcutta, 
appeared  exadlly  like  the  figures  we 
fee  in  the  Chinefe  paintings,  with 
the  conical  hat,  the  tunic  of  bro¬ 
caded  fi Ik,  and  light  boots.  The 
Thibetian,  who  brought  the  firft 
letter  from  the  Lama,  was  wrapped 
up  from  head  to  foot  in  furs.  The 
ufe  of  linen  is  totally  unknown 
among  them.  The  chief  food  of 
the  inhabitants  is  the  milk  of  their 
cattle,  prepared  into  cheefe,  but¬ 
ter,  or  mixed  with  the  flour  of  a 
coarfe  barley  or  of  peas,  the  only 
grain  which  their  foil  produces; 
and  even  thefe  articles  are  in  a 
fcanty  proportion  ;  but  they  are 
furnifhed  with  rice  and  wheat  from 
Bengal  and  other  countries  in  their 
neighbourhood.  They  alfo  are 
fupplied  with  fifh  from  the  rivers  in 
their  own  and  the  neighbouring 
provinces,  falted  and  fent  into  the 
interior  parts.  They  have  r.o  want 
of  animal  food  from  the  cattle, 
Iheep,  and  hogs,  which  are  raifed 
on  their  hills ;  and  are  not  defii- 
tute  of  game,  though  I  believe  it  is 
not  abundant.  They  have  a  An¬ 
gular  method  of  preparing  their 
mutton,  by  expofing  the  carcafe 
intire,  after  the  bowels  are  taken 
out,  to  the  fun,  and  bleak  northern 
winds  which  blow  in  the  months  of 
A.uguft  and  September,  without 
froft,  and  fo  dry  up  the  juices  and 
parch  the  fkin,  that  the  meat  will 
keep  uncorrupted  for  the  year 
round.  This  they  generally  eat 
raw,  without  any  other  prepara¬ 
tion-.  Mr.  Bogle  was  often  regaled 
with  this  difti,  which,  however  un¬ 
palatable  at  firft,  he  fays,  he  after¬ 
wards  preferred  to  their  drefled 
mutton  juft  killed,  which  was  ge¬ 
nerally  lean,  tough,  and  rank.  It 
was  alfo  very  common  for  the  head 
D  2  men. 


36  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


men,  in  the  villages  through  which 
he  paiTed,  to  make  him  prefents  of 
fheep  fo  prepared,  fee  before  him 
on  their  legs  as  if  they  had  been 
alive,  which  at  firft  had  a  very 
odd  appearance. 

The  religion  and  political  con- 
Hitution  of  this  country,  which  are 
Intimately  blended  together,  would 
make  a  confiderable  chapter  in  its 
hitlory.  It  fuffices  for  me  to  fay, 
that  at  prefent,  and  ever  fince  the 
expuifion  of  the  Eluth  Tartars,  the 
kingdom  of  Thibet  is  regarded  as 
depending  on  the  empire  of  China, 
which  they  call  Cathay  ;  and  there 
actually  refide  two  Mandarins, 
with  a  garrifon  of  a  thoufand  Chi- 
uefe,  at  Lahaffa  the  capital,  to 
fupport  the  government ;  but  their 
power  does  not  extend  far :  and  in 
fad  the  Lama,  whofe  empire  is 
founded  on  the  fureft  grounds,  per- 
fonal  affedion  and  religious  reve¬ 
rence,  governs  every  thing  inter¬ 
nally  with  unbounded  authority. 
Every  body  knows  that  the  Delai 
Lama  is  the  great  objed  of  adora¬ 
tion  for  the  various  tribes  of  heathen 
Tartars,  who  roam  through  the 
vaft  trad  of  continent  which 
ilretches  from  the  banks  of  the 
Volga  to  Correa  on  the  lea  of  ja¬ 
pan,  the  moll  extenlive  religious 
dominion,  perhaps  on  the  face  of 
the  globe.  He  is  not  only  the  So¬ 
vereign  Pontiff,  the  Vicegerent  of 
the  Deity  on  earth  ;  but,  as  fu- 
perftition  is  ever  the  ifrongert,  where 
It  is  mod  removed  from  its  objed, 
the  more  remote  Tartars  abfolutely 
regard  h i ui  as  the  Deity  himfelf. 
They  believe  him  immortal,  and 
Endowed  with  all  knowledge  and 
virtue.  Every  year  they  come  up 
From  different  parts,  to  worlhip 
and  make  rich  offerings  at  his 
ihrine;  even  she  Emperor  of  Chi¬ 


na,  who  is  a  Manchou  Tartar,  does 
not  fail  in  acknowledgments  to 
him  in  his  religious  capacity,  and 
adually  entertains,  at  a  great  ex¬ 
pence,  in  the  palace  of  Pekin,  an 
inferior  Lama,  deputed  as  his 
Nuncio  from  Thibet.  It  is  even 
reported,  that  many  of  the  Tartar 
chiefs  receive  certain  prefents, 
confining  of  fmall  portions  of  that, 
from  him,  which  is  ever  regarded 
in  all  other  perfons  as  the  molt  hu¬ 
miliating  proof  of  human  nature, 
and  of  being  fubjed  to  its  laws, 
and  treafure  it  up  with  great  re¬ 
verence  in  gold  boxes,  to  be  mixed 
occafionally  in  their  ragouts.  It 
is,  however,  but  juftice  to  declare, 
that  Mr.  Bogle  ilrenuoufiy  infills, 
that  the  Lama  never  makes  fuch 
prefents;  but  that  he  often  diftri- 
butes  little  balls  of  confecrated 
Hour,  like  the  pain  benit  of  the 
Roman  Catholics,  which  the  fu- 
perftition  and  blind  credulity  of  his 
Tartar  votaries  may  afterwards  con¬ 
vert  into  what  they  pleafe.  The 
orthodox  opinion  is,  that,  when 
the  grand  Lama  feems  to  die,  ei¬ 
ther  of  old  age  or  of  infirmity,  his 
foul  in  fad  only  quits  an  adual 
crazy  habitation  to  look  for  another 
younger  or  better,  and  it  is  difeo- 
vered  again  in  the  body  of  fome 
child,  by  certain  tokens  known 
only  to  the  Lama  or  Priefts,  in 
which  order  he  always  appears. 
The  prefent  Delai  Lama  is  an  in¬ 
fant,  and  was  difeovered  only  a 
few  years  ago  by  the  Taylhoo 
Lama,  who  in  authority  and  fanc- 
tity  of  charader  is  next  to  him, 
and  confequently  during  the  other’s 
minority,  ads  as  Chief.  The 
Lamas,  who  form  the  moll  nume¬ 
rous  as  well  as  the  moll  powerful 
body  in  the  Hate,  have  the  prieft- 
hood  intireJy  in  their  hands ;  and, 

befides, 


12 


CHARACTERS. 


befides,  fill  up  many  monadic  or¬ 
ders  which  are  held  in  great  vene¬ 
ration  among  them.  Celibacy,  I 
believe,  is  not  pofitively  injoined 
to  the  Lamas  ;  but  it  is  held  in- 
difpe  nfable  for  both  men  and  wo¬ 
men,  who  embrace  a  religious  life  : 
and  indeed  their  celibacy,  their 
living  in  communities,  their  cloy- 
fters,  their  fervice  in  the  choirs, 
their  ftrings  of  beads,  their  fads, 
and  their  penances,  give  them  fo 
much  the  air  of  chriftian  monks, 
that  it  is  not  furprifing  an  illiterate 
capuchin  fhould  be  ready  to  hail 
them  brothers,  and  think  he  can 
trace  the  features  of  St.  Francis  in 
every  thing  about  them.  It  is  an 
old  notion,  that  the  religion  of 
Thibet  is  a  corrupted  chridianity  ; 
and  even  Father  Difederii,  a  Jeluit 
(but  not  of  the  Chinele  million) 
who  vifited  the  country  about  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  thinks 
he  can  refolve  all  their  myfteries 
into  ours  ;  and  afierts,  with  a  true 
mydica!  penetration,  that  they 
have  certainly  a  good  notion  of 
the  Trinity,  fince,  in  their  addrefs 
to  their  Deity,  they  fay  as  often 
Konciokoik  in  the  plural  as  Kon- 
ciok  in  the  fingular,  and  with  their 
rofaries  pronounce  thefe  words, 
Om,  ha,  hum.  The  truth  is, 
that  the  religion  of  Thibet,  from 
whence-ever  it  fprung,  is  pure  and 
fimple  in  its  fource,  conveying 
very  exalted  nations  of  the  Deity, 
with  no  contemptible  fyllem  of 
morality  ;  but  in  its  progrefs  it  has 
been  greatly  altered  and  corrupted 
by  the  inventions  of  worldly  men, 
a  fate  we  can  hardly  regret  in  a  fy- 
ftem  of  error,  fince  we  know  that 
that  of  truth  has  been  fubjedt  to  the 
fame.  Polygamy,  at  lead  in  the 
fenfe  we  commonly  receive  the 
word,  is  not  in  pra&ice  amoDg 


37 

them  ;  but  it  exifts  in  a  manner 
dill  more  repugnant  to  European 
ideas  ;  I  mean  in  the  plurality  of 
hufbands,  which  is  firmly  efta- 
blifhed  and  highly  refpe&ed  there. 
In  a  country,  where  the  means  of 
fubfiding  a  family  are  not  eafily 
found,  it  feems  not  impolitic  to 
allow  a  fet  of  brothers  to  agree  in 
raifing  one,  which  is  to  be  main¬ 
tained  by  their  joint  efforts.  In 
ftiort,  it  is  ufual  iu  Thibet  for  the 
brothers  in  the  family  to  have  a 
wife  in  common,  and  they  gene¬ 
rally  live  in  great  harmony  and 
comfort  with  her;  not  but  fome- 
times  little  diflentions  will  arife  (as 
may  happen  in  families  condituted 
upon  different  principles)  an  in¬ 
dance  of  which  Mr.  Bogle  mentions 
in  the  cafe  of  a  moded  and  virtuous 
lady,  the  wife  of  half  a  dozen  of 
theTayfhoo  Lama’s  nephews,  who 
complained  to  the  uncle,  that  the 
two  younged  of  her  hufbands  did 
not  fumifh  that  (hare  of  love  and 
benevolence  to  the  common  dock 
which  duty  and  religion  required 
of  them.  In  lhort,  however  Itrange 
this  cudom  may  appear  to  us,  it  is 
an  undoubted  fadt  that  it  prevails 
in  Thibet  in  the  manner  I  have 
deferibed. 

The  manner  of  bellowing  their 
dead  is  alfo  lingular  ;  they  neither 
put  them  in  the  ground  like  the 
Europeans,  nor  bum  them  like  the 
Hindoos ;  but  expofe  them  on  the 
bleak  pinnacle  of  fome  neighbour¬ 
ing  mountain,' to  be  devoured  by 
wild  beads  and  birds  of  prey,  or 
waded  away  by  time  and  the  vicif- 
fitudes  of  weather  in  which  they 
lie.  The  mangled  carcafes  and 
bleached  bones  lie  fcattered  about ; 
and,  amidd  this  feene  of  horror, 
fome  miferable  old  wretch,  man  or 
woman,  loft  to  all  feelings  but 
D  3  thofs 


38  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


thofe  of  fuperhition,  generally  fets 
up  an  abode,  to  perform  the  dif- 
mal  office  of  receiving  the  bodies, 
affigning  each  a  place,  and  gather¬ 
ing  up  the  remains  when  too  widely 
difperfed. 

The  religion  of  Thibet,  al¬ 
though  it  be  in  many  of  its  princi¬ 
pal  dogmata  totally  repugnant  to 
that  of  the  bramins  or  of  India, 
yet  in  others  it  has  a  great  affinity 
to  it.  They  have,  for  inHance,  a 
great  veneration  for  the  cow  ;  but 
they  transfer  it  wholly  from  the 
common  fpecies  to  that  which  bears 
the  tails,  of  which  I  (hall  fpeak 
hereafter.  They  alfb  highly  re- 
fjpeft  the  waters  of  the  Ganges,  the 
fource  of  which  they  believe  to  be 
in  heaven  ;  and  one  of  the  firlt 
effedis  which  the  treaty  with  the 
Lama  produced,  was  an  applica¬ 
tion  to  the  Governor-general,  for 
leave  to  build  a  place  of  worlhip 
on  its  banks.  This  it  may  be  ima¬ 
gined  was  not  refufed  ;  and,  when 
I  left  Bengal,  a  fpot  of  ground  was 
adfually  affigned  for  that  purpofe, 
about  two  or  three  miles  from  Cal¬ 
cutta.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Sunniaffes,  or  Indian  pilgrims,  of¬ 
ten  viiit  Thibet  as  a  holy  place, 
and  the  Lama  always  entertains  a 
body  of  two  or  three  hundred  in  his 
pay.  The  refidence  of  the  Delai 
Lama  is  at  Pateli,  a  vaH  palace  on 
a  mountain  near  the  banks  of  the 
Barampooter,  about  Even  miles 
from  Lahaifa.  The  Taylhoo  Lama 
has  feveral  palaces  or  caftles,  in 
one  of  which  Mr.  Bogle  lived  with 
him  five  months.  He  reprefents 
the  Lama  as  one  of  the  molt  ami¬ 
able  as  well  as  intelligent  men  he 
ever  knew  ;  maintaining  his  rank 
with  the  utmoft  mildnefs  of  autho¬ 
rity,  and  living  in  the  greateH  pu¬ 
rity  of  manners,  without  Harchnefs 


or  afFedlation.  Every  thing  within 
the  gates  breathed  peace,  order, 
and  dignified  elegance.  The  cafile 
is  of  Hone  or  brick,  with  many 
courts,  lofty  halls,  terraces,  and 
porticos ;  and  the  apartments  are  in 
general  roomy,  and  highly  finifhed 
in  the  Chinefe  Hyle,  with  gilding, 
painting,  and  varnilh.  There  are 
two  conveniences  to  which  they 
are  utter  Grangers,  Hair-cafes  and 
windows.  There  is  no  accefs  to 
the  upper  rooms  but  by  a  fort  of 
ladders  of  wood  or  iron  ;  and  for 
windows  they  have  only  holes  in 
\he  ceilings,  with  penthoufe  covers, 
contrived  fo  as  to  Hiut  up  on  the 
weather- lid e.  Fi reins  is  fo  fcarce, 
that  little  is  ufed  but  for  culinary 
purpofes ;  and  they  truH  altogether 
for  warmth  in  their  houfes  to  their 
furs  and  other  cloathing.  The 
Lama,  who  is  completely  conver- 
fant  in  what  regards  Tartary,  Chi¬ 
na,  and  all  the  kingdoms  in  the 
EaH,  was  exceedingly  inquifitive 
about  Europe,  its  politics,  laws, 
arts,  and  fciences,  government, 
commerce,  and  military  Hrength  ; 
on  all  which  heads  Mr.  Bogle  en- 
deavoured  to  fatisfy  him,  and  ac¬ 
tually  compiled  for  his  fervice  a 
brief  Hate  of  Europe  in  the  Hin- 
doflan  language,  which  he  ordered 
to  be  tranflated  into  that  of  Thibet. 
The  Lama,  being  born  at  Latack, 
a  frontier  province  next  Caflemire, 
is  fully  maHer  of  the  HindoHan  lan¬ 
guage,  and  always  converfed  with 
Mr.  Bogle  in  it  ;  but  the  people, 
who  are  perfuaded  he  underhand s 
all  languages,  believed  he  fpoke  to 
him  in  Englifh,  or,  as  they  call  it, 
the  European  tongue.  The  Ruffian 
empire  was  the  only  one  in  Europe 
known  to  him  :  he  has  a  high  idea 
of  its  riches  and  Hrength,  and  had 
heard  of  its  wars  and  fuccefs  againll 

the 


CHARACTERS.  39 


the  empire  of  Rome  (for  fo  they 
call  the  Turkifh  Hate)  ;  but  could 
not  conceive  it  could  be  in  any 
wife  a  match  for  Cathay.  Many 
of  the  Tartar  fubjedts  of  Ruffia 
came  to  Thibet ;  and  the  Czar 
has  even,  at  various  times,  lent 
letters  and  prefents  to  the  Lama. 
Mr.  Bogle  faw  many  European  ar¬ 
ticles  in  his  hands  ;  pictures,  Iook- 
ing  glafles,  and  trinkets  of  gold, 
filver,  and  fteel,  chiefly  Englifh, 
which  he  had  received  that  wav. 

J  * 

particularly  a  Graham’s  repeating 
watch,  which  had  been  dead,  as 
they  laid,  for  fome  time.  While 
he  was  there,  feveral  Mongols  and 
Calmucs  arrived  from  Siberia,  with 
whom  he  converfed. 

The  city  of  Lahaffa,  which  is 
the  capital,  is  of  no  inconfidera- 
ble  fize,  and  is  reprefented  as  po¬ 
pulous  and  flourifhing.  It  is  the 
refidence  of  the  chief  officers  of 
government,  and  of  the  Chinefe 
Mandarins  and  their  fuite.  It  is  alfo 
inhabited  by  Chinefe  and  Caf- 
femirian  merchants  and  artificers, 
and  is  the  daily  refort  of  numher- 
Jefs  traders  from  all  quarters,  who 
come  in  occafional  parties,  or  in 
dated  caravans.  The  waters  of  the 
Great  River,  as  it  is  emphatically 
called  in  their  language,  wafh  its 
walls.  Father  Duhalde,  with  great 
accuracy,  traces  this  river,  which 
he  never  fufpedls  to  be  the  Ba- 
rampooter,  from  its  origin  in  the 
CafTemirian  mountains  (probably 
from  the  fame  fpring  which  gives 
-rife  to  the  Ganges)  through  the 
great  valley  of  Thibet,  till,  turn¬ 
ing  fuddenly  to  the  fouthward, 
he  lofes  it  in  the  kingdom  of  Af¬ 
fair)  ;  but  dill,  with  great  judg¬ 
ment  and  probability  of  conjecture, 
fuppofes  it  reaches  the  Indian  fea 
fomewhere  in  Pegu  or  Aracaiu 


The  truth  is,  however,  that  it  turns 
fuddenly  again  in  the  middle  of 
AiTam,  and,  traverfing  that  coun¬ 
try,  enters  Bengal  towards  Ran- 
gamatry,  under  the  above-men¬ 
tioned  name,  and,  thence  bend¬ 
ing  its  courfe  more  foutherly,  joins 
the  Ganges,  its  filler  and  rival, 
with  an  equal,  if  not  more  co¬ 
pious  dream  ;  forming  at  the  con¬ 
flux  a  body  of  running  frefh  water, 
hardly  to  be  paralleled  in  the  known 
world,  which  difembogues  itfelf 
into  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  Two  fuch 
rivers  uniting  in  this  happy  coun¬ 
try,  with  all  the  beauty,  fertility, 
and  convenience  which  they  bring, 
well  intitles  it  to  the  name  of  the 
Paradife  of  Nations,  always  be- 
dowed  upon  it  by  the  Moguls. 

The  chief  trade  from  LahafTa  to 
Pekin  is  carried  on  by  caravans 
that  employ  full  two  years  in  the 
journey  thither  and  back  again  ; 
which  is  not  furprifing,  when  we 
condder  that  the  didance  cannot  be 
lefs  than  two  thoufand  Englifh 
miles :  and  yet  it  is  to  be  obferved, 
that  an  exprefs  from  LahafTa  reaches 
Pekin  in  three  weeks,  a  circum- 
dance  much  to  the  honour  of  the 
Chinefe  police,  which  knows  to 
eftablifh  fo  fpeedy  and  efFeClual  a 
communication  through  mountains 
and  deferts  for  fo  long  a  way.  The 
trade  with  Siberia  is  carried  on  by 
caravans  to  Seling,  which  is  un¬ 
doubtedly  the  Selinginfky  of  the 
Ruffian  travellers  on  the  borders  of 
Baykale  lake.  And  this  accounts 
for  an  extraordinary  fad;  mention¬ 
ed  by  Bell,  that,  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  of  that  name,  he  one  day 
found  a  man  bufy  in  redeeming, 
from  fome  boys  who  were  angling, 
the  fifh  they  caught,  and  throwing 
them  into  the  water  again  ;  and, 
from  this  circumftance,  and  the 
D  4  mark 


4o  ANNUAL  RE 

mark  on  his  forehead,  knew  him 
to  be  an  Indian.  On  converfmg 
with  him,  he  found  his  conjedure 
to  be  right.  The  iqail  told  him, 
he  came  from  Madrafs,  had  been 
two  years  on  his  journey,  and  men¬ 
tioned  by  name  fome  of  the  prin¬ 
cipal  Englifh  Gentlemen  there. 
This  Indian,  no  doubt,  mult  have 
travelled  as  a  Faquier  or  Sunniaffy 
through  Bengal  into  Thibet,  and 
from  thpnce  paffed  with  the  cara- 
yan  to  Selinginfky,  where  Bell 
found  him.  It  is  proper  fo  remark, 
that  the  Indians  have  ai?  admirable 
method  of  turning  godlinefs  into 
great  gain,  it  being  ufual  for  the 
Taquiers  to  carry  with  them,  in 
their  pilgrimages  from  the  fea- 
coafts  to  the  interior  parts,  pearls, 
Corals,  fpices,  and  other  precious 
articles,  of  fmail  bulk,  which  they 
exchapge  on  their  return  for  gold- 
dull ,  mu  Ik,  and  other  things  of  a 
limilar  nature,  concealing  them 
eafily  in  their  hair  and  in  the  cloths 
round  their  middle,  and  carrying 
on,  confidering  their  numbers, 
no  inconfiderable  traffic  by  thefe 
means.  The  Goffeigns  are  alfo 
of  a  religious  order,  but  in  dignity 
above  the  Faquiers ;  and  they  drive 
a  morp  extenhve  and  a  more  open 
trade  with  that  country. 

A  particular  account  of  the  com¬ 
merce  would  be  foreign  to  thq 
purport  of  this  letter  ;  but,  as  it 
would  leave  the  information  which 
I  wiih  to  convey  very  incomplete, 
did  I  not  mention  the  fources  from 
which  this^country,  fp  apparently 
ppor  and  unfruitful,  draws  a  fup- 
p'y  of  the  foreign  articles  of  con¬ 
venience  and  luxury,  which  I 
have  occafionally  faid  they  poffefs  ; 
I  fhall  juft  obferve,  that,  befides 
their  lefs  traffic  with  their  neigh¬ 
bours  In  horfes,  hogs,  rock  -  fait. 


GISTER,  1778. 

courfe  cloths,  and  other  articles, 
they  enjoy  four  flaple  articles, 
which  are  fufficient  in  themfelves 
to  procure  every  foreign  commo¬ 
dity  of  which  they  ftand  in  need  5 
all  qf  which  are  natural  produc¬ 
tions,  and  deferve  to  be  particu¬ 
larly  noticed.  The  firft,  though 
the  leaft  con  ft  derate,  is  that  of  the 
cow -tails,  fo  famous  all  over  India, 
Perfia,  and  the  other  kingdoms  of 
the  Eaft.  It  is  produced  by  a  fpe- 
cies  of  cow  or  bullock,  different 
from  what  I  believe  is  found  in 
any  qther  country.  It  is  of  a 
larger  fize  than  the  common  Thi¬ 
bet  breed,  has  Ihort  horns,  and  no 
hurqp  on  its  back  Its  Ikin  is 
covered  with  whitilh  ha.rof  a  filky 
appearance  ;  but  its  chief  ftngula- 
rity  is  in  its  tail,  which  fpreads 
out  broad  and  long,  with  flowing 
hairs,  like  that  of  a  beautiful 
mare,  but  much  finer  and  far  more 
gloffy.  Mr.  Bogle  fent  down  two 
of  this  breed  to  Mr.  Haitings,  but 
they  died  before  they  reached  Cal¬ 
cutta.  The  tails  fell  very  high, 
and  are  ufed,  mounted  on  filver 
handles,  for  Chrowras,  or  brufhes, 
to  chafe  away  the  flies  ;  and  no 
man  of  confequence  in  India  ever 
goes  out,  or  fits  in  form  at  home, 
without  two  Chowrawbadars,  or 

c  7 

brufhers,  attending  him,  with  fuch 
inftruments  in  their  hands. 

The  next  article  is  the  wool 
from  which  the  Shaul,  the  mofl 
delicate  woollen  manufacture  in  the; 
world,  fo  much  prized  in  the  Eaft, 
and  now  fo  well  known  in  Eng¬ 
land,  is  made.  Till  Mr.  Bogle’s 
journey  our  notions  on  that  fub- 
je£t  were  very  crude  and  imperfect. 
As  the  Shauls  all  come  from  Caffe- 
mire,  we  concluded  the  material 
from  which  they  were  fabricated 
to  be  alfo  of  that  country’s  growth. 


CHARA 

It  was  faid  to  be  the  hair  of  a  par¬ 
ticular  i'Oac,  the  fine  under  hair 
from  a  earners  breaft,  and  a  thou- 
fand  other  fancies  ;  but  we  now 
know  it  for  certain  to  be  the  pro¬ 
duce  of  a  Thibet  fheep.  Mr, 
Haftings  had  one  or  two  of  thefe  in 
his  paodock  when  I  left  Bengal. 
They  are  of  a  lipall  breed,  in  figure 
nothing  differing  from  cur  Iheep, 
except  in  their  tails,  which  are 
very  broad  ;  but  their  fleeces,  for 
the  finenefs,  length,  and  beauty  of 
the  wool,  exceed  all  others  in  the 
world.  The  Cafl’emirians  engrofs 
this  article,  and  have  factors  efta- 
bliflied  for  its  purchaie  in  every 
part  of  Thibet,  from  whence  it 
is  fent  to  Caflernire,  where  it  is 
worked  up,  and  becomes  a  fource 
of  great  wealth  to  that  country, 
as  well  as  it  is  originally  to  Thi¬ 
bet. 

Mufk  is  another  of  their  ftaples, 
of  which  it  will  be  needlefs  to  fay 
much,  as  the  nature,  quality,  and 
value,  of  this  precious  commodity 
are  fo  well  known  in  Europe.  I 
fliall  only  remark,  that  the  deer 
which  produces  it  is  common  in 
.  the  mountains  ;  but,  being  ex- 
ceffively  (hy,  and  frequenting  folely 
the  places  the  moft  wild  and  diffi¬ 
cult  of  accefs,  it  becomes  a  trade 
of  great  trouble  and  danger  to 
hunt  after.  We  have  the  mulk 
fent  down  to  Calcutta  in  the  na¬ 
tural  bag,  not  without  great  rifle 
of  its  being  adulterated  ;  but  ftill 
it  is  far  fuperior  to  any  thing  of 
the  kind  that  is  to  be  met  with  in 
fale  in  Europe. 

The  la$  of  the  articles  which 
I  reckon  flaple  is  gold,  of  which 
great  quantities  are  exported  from 
Thibet.  It  is  found  in  the  fands 
of  the  Great  River,  3s  well  as  in 
pnofl  of  the  (mail  brooks  and  tor- 


C  T  E  R  S.  4t 

rents  that  pour  from  the  moun¬ 
tains.  The  quantity  gathered  in  this 
manner,  though  confiderable  with 
refpeft  to  national  gain,  pays  the 
individual  but  very  moderately  for 
the  labour  bellowed  on  it.  But, 
belides  this,  there  are  mines  of 
that  metai  in  the  northern  parts, 
which  are  the  referved  property  of 
the  Lama,  and  rented  out  to  thofe 
who  work  them.  It  is  not  found 
in  ore,  but  always  in  a  pure  metal¬ 
lic  Hate  (as  1  believe  it  to  be  the 
cafe  in  all  other  mines  of  this  me¬ 
tal)  and  only  requires  to  be  fepa- 
rated  from  the  fpar,  Hone,  or 
flint,  to  which  it  adheres.  Mr. 
Haftings  had  a  lump  fent  to  him 
at  Calcutta,  of  about  the  lize  of  a 
bullock’s  kidney,  which  was  a  hard 
flint  veined  with  folid  gold.  He 
caufed  it  to  be  fawed  in  two,  and 
it  was  found  throughout  interlard¬ 
ed  (if  I  may  be  allowed  the  ex- 
preffion)  with  the  pureft  metal. 
Although  they  have  this  gold  in 
great  plenty  in  Thibet,  they  do 
not  employ  it  in  coin,  of  which 
their  government  never  flrikes  any ; 
but  it  is  ftill  ufed  as  a  medium 
of  commerce,  and  goods  are  rated 
there  by  the  purle  of  gold-duft,  as 
here  by  money.  The  Chinefe 
draw  it  from  them  to  a  great 
amount  every  year,  in  return  for 
the  produce  of  their  labour  and 
arts. 

I  could  wilh  to  add  to  this 
account  fomewhat  refpe&ing  the 
plants  and  other  botanical  produc¬ 
tions  of  this  country  ;  but  I  would 
not  prefume  to  offer  any  thing 
but  what  is  authentic  and  exaft, 
as  far  as  my  knowledge  goes.  Mr. 
Bogle  will,  no  doubt,  be  able  to 
fatisfy  the  learned  in  that  branch, 
refpcTting  many  things  of  which 
I  have  at  prefent  no  information. 

He 


42  ANNUAL  RE 

He  fenfc  down  to  Calcutta  many 
feeds,  grains.)  kernels,  and  fruits, 
part  of  which  only  arrived  lafe. 
Of  the  lad  I  tailed  feveral,  they 
were  chiefly  of  the  European  forts, 
fuch  as  peaches,  apples,  pears,  &c. 
and  therefore  more  deiirable  for  us 
in  Bengal  ;  but  they  were  all  to 
me  in  lipid  snd  bad. 

I  am  now,  Sir,  to  clofe  thefe  re¬ 
marks  with  craving  your  forgive- 
nefs  for  having  thus  flarted  a  new 
fubject  of  curioflty,  without  the 
means  of  giving  more  complete 
light  concerning  it.  Time  and 
opportunity  may  put  more  in  my 
power  on  my  return  to  India.  In 
the  mean  time,  I  hope  the  fociety 
will  accept  as  a  rarity  the  tranfla- 
tion  of  the  original  letter  which 
the  Tayilioo  Lama  wrote  to  Mr. 
Haftings,  by  the  Envoy  whom  he 
lent  to  folicit  a  peace  for  the  Deb 
Rajah.  It  came  into  my  hands  in 
the  courfe  of  my  office,  and,  by  the 
permiffion  of  the  Governor-gene¬ 
ral,  I  retained  a  copy. 

The  original  is  in  Perfian,  a 
language  which  the  Lama  was 
obliged  to  employ,  that  of  Thibet, 
although  very  elegant  and  exp  ref- 
five,  as  it  is  faid,  being  totally 
unintelligible  in  Bengal.  A  let¬ 
ter,  under  the  fan&ion  of  a  charac¬ 
ter  fo  long  talked  of  in  the  wellern 
world,  but  fo  little  known,  alone 
renders  it  an  objeft  of  curiolity  ; 
but,  when  it  is  found  to  contain 
fentiments  of  jultice,  benevolence, 
and  piety,  couched  in  a  Ample 
ftyle,  not  without  dignity,  and  in 
general  exempt  from  the  high- 
flown  compliments  and  Brained 
metaphors  fo  common  among  the 
other  people  of  the  Eaft,  I  have 
no  doubt  of  its  being  received  with 
approbation  ;  at  any  rate,  it  will 
ierve  as  a  specimen  of  the  way  of 


CIS  TER,  1778, 

thinking  and  writing  among  a  peo¬ 
ple  whofe  country  and  manners  I 
have  made  the  fffbjedl  of  the  fore¬ 
going  fketch. 

Tranflation  of  a  Letter  from  the 
Tayshoo  La  via  to  Mr.  Has¬ 
tings,  Governor  of  Bengal,  re¬ 
ceived  the  29th  of  March,  1774. 

THE  affairs  of  this  quarter  in 
every  refpeft  flourifft  ;  i  am  night 
and  day  employed  for  the  increafe 
of  your  happlnefs  and  profperity. 
Having  been  informed,  by  travel¬ 
lers  from  your  quarter,  of  your 
exalted  fame  and  reputation,  my 
heart,  like  the  bloffom  of  fpring, 
abounds  with  fatisra&ion,  glad- 
nefs,  and  joy,  Praife  God  that 
the  fiar  of  your  fortune  is  in  its  a f- 
cenlion.  Praife  him,  that  happi- 
nefs  and  eafe  are  the  furrounding 
attendants  of  mvfelf  and  familv. 
Neither  to  moled  or  perfecute  is 
my  aim  :  it  is  even  the  chara&er- 
iftic  of  our  fe£t  to  deprive  ourfelves 
of  the  neceflary  refrefhmeriy  of 
deep,  ihould  an  injury  be  done  to 
a  Angle  individual  ;  but,  in  juf- 
tice  and  humanity,  I  am  informed 
you  furpafs  us.  May  you  ever 
adorn  the  feat  of  juftice  and  power, 
that  mankind  may,  in  the  fhadow 
of  your  bofom,  enjoy  the  blef- 
Angs  of  peace  and  affluence!  By 
your  favour  I  am  the  Rajah  and 
Lama  of  this  country,  and  rule 
ovpr  a  number  of  fubje&s  ;  a  par¬ 
ticular  with  which  you  have  no 
doubt  been  acquainted  by  travel¬ 
lers  from  thefe  parts.  I  have  been 
repeatedly  informed,  that  you  have 
been  engaged  in  hoflilities  again  d 
the  Dah  Terria,  to  which  it  is  faid 
the  Dak’s  own  criminal  conduct, 
in  committing  ravages  and  other 
outrages  on  your  frontiers^,  gave 


3 


C  H  A  R  A 

rife.  As  he  is  of  a  rude  and  igno¬ 
rant  race,  pail  times  are  not  defti- 
tute  of  the  like  mifcondud  which 
his  avarice  tempted  him  to  commit. 
It  is  not  unlikely  but  he  has  now 
renewed  thofe  inllances,  and  the 
ravages  and  plunder  which  he  may 
have  committed  on  the  fkirts  of 
the  Bengal  and  Bahar  Provinces, 
have  given  you  provocation  to  fend 
your  vindictive  army  againll  him. 
However,  his  party  has  been  de¬ 
feated,  many  of  his  people  have 
been  killed,  three  forts  have  been 
taken  from  him,  and  he  has  met 
with  the  punilhment  he  deferved. 
It  is  as  evident  as  the  fun  that  your 
army  has  been  victorious  ;  and 
that,  if  you  had  been  defirous  of 
it,  you  might,  in  the  fpace  of  two 
days,  have  entirely  extirpated  him, 
for  he  had  not  power  to  refill  your 
efforts.  But  1  now  take  upon  me 
to  be  his  mediator  ;  and  to  repre- 
fent  to  you,  that,  as  the  faid  Dah 
Terria  is  dependant  upon  the  De- 
lai  Lama,  who  rules  in  this  coun¬ 
try  with  unlimited  fway  (but,  on 
account  of  his  being  in  his  mino¬ 
rity,  the  charge  of  the  government 
and  adminillration  for  the  prefent 
is  committed  to  me)  fhould  you 
perfill  in  offering  further  moleffa- 
tion  to  the  Dah’s  country,  it  will 
irritate  both  the  Lama  and  all  his 
fubjeCls  againll  you.  Therefore, 
from  a  regard  to  our  religion  and 
culloms,  I  requell  you  will  ceafe 
all  hollilities  againll  him  ;  and,  in 
doing  this,  you  will  confer  the 
greatell  favour  and  friendfhip  upon 
me.  I  have  reprimanded  the  Dah 


CTER  S.  43 

for  his  pall  conduCl;  and  I  have 
admonilhed  him  to  defill  from 
his  evil  praClices  in  future,  and  to 
be  fubrnilfive  to  you  in  all  things. 
I  am  perluaded  he  will  conform  to 
the  advice  which  I  have  given 
him  ;  and  it  will  be  neceffary  that 
you  treat  him  with  compaffion  and 
clemency.  As  to  my  part,  I  am 
but  a  Faquier*  ;  and  it  is  the 
cultcm  of  my  fed,  with  the  rofary 
in  our  hands,  to  pray  for  the  wel¬ 
fare  of  mankind,  and  for  the  peace 
and  happinefs  of  the  inhabitants 
of  this  country  ;  and  1  do  now, 
with  my  head  uncovered,  intreat 
that  you  may  ceafe  all  hollilities 
againll  the  Dah  in  future.  It 
would  be  needlefs  to  add  to  the 
length  of  this  letter,  as  the  bearer 
of  it,  who  is  a  Cofeign  f,  will  re- 
prefent  to  you  all  particulars  ;  and 
it  is  hoped  you  will  comply  there¬ 
with.  In  this  country,  worfhip  of 
the  Almighty  is  the  profeffion  of  all. 
We  poor  creatures  are  in  nothing 
equal  to  you  ;  having,  however,  a 
few  things  in  hand,  I  fend  them  to 
you  by  way  of  remembrance,  and 
hope  for  your  acceptance  of  them. 


Account  of  the  Morlacchi  ',from  T ra¬ 
vels  into  Dalmatia,  by  L’aobe 
Fortis. 

;  / 

F  |^HE  Morlacchi  inhabit  the 
pleafant  valleys  of  Korar, 
along  the  rivers  Kerha,  Cottina, 
Narenta,  and  among  the  moun¬ 
tains  of  Inland  Dalmatia.  Their 
country  is  of  much  larger  extent. 


*  The  original  being  in  Perfian,  this  word  is  nfed,  which  can  only  be  ap^ 
plied  with  propriety  to  a  perfon  of  the  Muffulman  faith:  here  it  can  only  mean, 
a  religious  perfon  in  general.  Perhaps  Monk  would  have  been  the  bell  tranfla- 
tion. 

d  This  means  a  religious  perfon  of  the  Hindoo  fed. 


not 


44  ANNUAL  RE 

not  only  towards  Greece,  but  to, 
wards  Germany  and  Hungary. 
But  our  author  coniines  his  account 
to  the  fmall  part  of  it  which  he 
'  faw.  The  inhabitants  of  the  fea 
coaft  of  Dalmatia,  tell  many  fright¬ 
ful  ftories  about  the  cruelty  of  thofe 
people  ;  but  our  author  allures  us, 
that  they  are  for  the  moll  part 
totally  without  foundation. 

The  greateft  danger  to  be  fear¬ 
ed,  is  from  the  Haiducks,  of  whom 
great  numbers  have  retreated, 
among  the  woods,  and  caves  of 
thofe  dreadful  mountains  on  the 
confines  ;  there,  a  traveller  ought 
to  get  himfelf  ef^orted  by  a  couple 
of  thefe  honeft  fellows,  and  he  is 
quite  fafe  ;  for  they  are  not  capa¬ 
ble  of  betraying  him,,  although  a 
banditti ;  and,  indeed,  their  cafe 
is  commonly  more  apt  to  raife 
companion,  than  diffidence ;  for 
their  character  is  not  eflentialiy 
bad ;  if  it  were  fo,  their  numbers 
would  foon  become  very  formidable 
to  the  maritime  inhabitants  of  Dal. 
snatia.  They  lead  their  life  among 
the  wolves,  wandering  from  one 
precipice  to  another,  agitated  by 
continual  fears  and  fufpicions,  ex¬ 
po  fed  to  the  feverity  of  the  feafons, 
and,  often  deprived  of  the  necefta- 
ries  of  life,  languifh  in  the  moft 
folitary  hideous  caverns.  It  would 
he  no  wonder,  if  fuch  men,  irri¬ 
tated  by  the  conflant  view  of  their 
miferable  fituation,  were  to  com¬ 
mit  adts  of  violence,  efpeeially 
again  ft  thofe  to  whom  they  attri¬ 
bute  the  caufe  of  their  calamities. 
Yet  they  very  feldom  difturb  the 
tranquillity  of  others,  and  prove 
always  faithful  guides  to  travellers. 
The  chief  objects  of  their  ra¬ 
pine  are  oxen  and  fheep,  to  fupply 
themfelves  with  food  and  fhoes  ; 
and  I  have  often  heard  them  bit* 


G  IS  TER,  1778. 

* 

terly  and  juftly  cenfured,  for  the 
barbarous  indifcretion  of  killing  a 
poor  man’s  ox,  in  order  to  ferve 
themfelves  only  with  a  fmall  por¬ 
tion  of  the  meat,  and  the  fkin. 
This  certainly  admits  of  no  apo- 
logy;  yet  humanity  bids  us  to  re¬ 
ft  edt,  that  the  things  coveted  by 
thefe  wretches,  are  articles  of  the 
greateft  neceffity,  as  they  are  con¬ 
demned  to  live  among  defolate 
mountains,  which  have  no  covering 
either  of  grafs  or  earth,  and  are  full 
of  hard  ftiarp  ftones,  that  have  been 
rendered  ftill  more  rough  and  cut¬ 
ting  by  the  adtion  of  the  air  and 
time.  It  happens  fometimes,  in 
their  extreme  neceffity,  that  the 
Haiducks  go  in  parties  to  the  Ihep- 
herds  cottages,  and  rudely  demand 
fomething  to  eat,  which  they  im¬ 
mediately  take  by  force,  if  the  leaft 
hefitation  is  made;  though  they 
feldom  meet  with  a  refufal,  or  re¬ 
finance,  as  their  refolution  and 
fury  are  well  known  to  be  equal 
to  their  wants,  and  to  the  favage 
life  which  they  lead.  Four  Hai¬ 
ducks  are  not  afraid  to  aflault  a  ca¬ 
ravan  of  fifteen  or  twenty  Turks, 
and  generally  plunder  and  put 
them  to  flight.  When  a  Haiduck 
happens  to  be  taken  by  the  Pan - 
duri ,  they  do  not  bind  him,  as  our 
Birri  are  ufed  to  do,  but  untying 
the  ftring  of  his  breeches,  they  fall 
down  on  his  heels,  and  prevent  a 
poffibility  of  efcape,  if  he  at¬ 
tempted  it  ;  an  humane  contri¬ 
vance  to  fecure  a  man  without 
binding  him  like  a  beaft.  The 
greateft  part  of  the  Haiducks  look 
upon  it  as  a  meritorious  adtion,  to 
filed  the  blood  of  the  Turks  ;  a 
miftaken  zeal  for  religion,  joined 
to  their  natural  and  acquired  fero¬ 
city,  eafily  leads  them  to  commit 
fuch  adb  of  violence ;  and  the  ig¬ 
norances 


CHARACTERS. 


xiorance,  and  national  prejudices  of 
their  priefts  are  too  apt  to  inflame 
their  barbarous  fanaticifm. 

On  tbt  moral  and  domejlic  Virtues  of 
the  Morlacchi. 

THE  morals  of  a  Morlack,  at 
a  diftance  from  the  fea  coaft  and 
garrifons,  are  generally  very  dif¬ 
ferent  from  ours.  The  fincerity, 
truft,  and  honefty  of  thefe  poor 
people,  not  only  in  contra&s,  but 
in  all  the  ordinary  a&ions  of  their 
life,  would  be  called  flmplicity  and 
weaknefs  among  us.  It  is  true, 
that  the  Italians,  who  trade  in 
Dalmatia,  and  the  littoral  inhabi¬ 
tants  themfelves,  have  but  too  of¬ 
ten  taken  advantage  of  this  inte¬ 
grity  ;  and  hence  the  Morlacchi 
are  become  much  more  diffident, 
than  they  were  in  former  times  ; 
infomuch,  that  the  want  of  pro¬ 
bity,  which  they  have  fo  often  ex¬ 
perienced,  in  dealing  with  the  Ita¬ 
lians,  is  pafied  into  a  proverb 
among  them,  and  the  word  pajjia- 
'■ viro,  and  Lanzmanzka-viro,  that 
is,  the  faith  of  a  dog,  and  faith  of 
an  Italian,  are  ufed  to  exprefs  the 
fame  reproachful  meaning.  This 
prepofleffion  againft  us  might  prove 
incommodious  to  an  unknown  tra¬ 
veller,  and  yet  it  feldom  happens. 
For  the  Morlack,  naturally  hofpi- 
table  and  generous,  opens  his  poor 
cottage  to  the  ftranger,  and  ferves 
him  to  the  utmoft  of  his  power, 
without  demanding,  nay ,  often 
obftinately  refufing,  the  lead  re- 
compence  ;  and  I  have  more  than 
once  got  a  dinner  from  one  of  thofe 
men,  who  knew  nothing  about  me, 
had  never  feen  me,  and  could  not 
expedl  ever  to  fee  me  again. 

I  fhall  never  forget  the  cordial 
reception  and  treatment  given  me 


45 

by  Per  van  Vaj'vod ,  of  Coecorieb  5 
to  whom  I  had  nothing  elfe  to 
recommend  me  but  my  being  in 
friendffiip  with  a  family  who  were 
alfo  his  friends.  He  fent  his  horles, 
and  an  efcort  to  meet  me  on  the 
road ;  and,  during  the  few  days 
which  I  fpent  in  that  neighbour¬ 
hood,  loaded  me  with  all  the  lux¬ 
ury  of  national  hofpitality.  He 
fent  his  own  fon,  and  feveral  of  his 
people,  to  efcort  me  as  far  as  the 
plains  of  Narenta ,  a  good  day’s 
journey  from  his  houfe,  and  fur¬ 
nished  me  with  provifions  in  abun¬ 
dance  ;  and  all  this  was  done  with¬ 
out  my  being  allowed  to  fpend  a 
Angle  penny.  On  my  departure 
from  that  hofpitable  inanfion,  he 
and  all  his  family  came  out  and 
followed  me  with  their  eyes,  till 
I  was  out  of  fight;  which  affec¬ 
tionate  manner  of  taking  leave 
raifed  a  kind  of  agitation  in  my 
mind,  which  I  never  felt  before, 
and  can  fcarcely  ever  hope  to  feel 
again,  in  travelling  over  Italy. 

The  Morlacchi  are  extremely 
fen  Able  of  mild  treatment,  and, 
when  they  meet  with  it,  are  ready 
to  perform  every  poflihle  fervice, 
and  to  become  cordial  friends. 
Their  hofpitality  is  equally  confpi- 
cuous  among  the  poor  as  among 
the  more  opulent.  The  rich  pre¬ 
pares  a  roafted  iamb,  pr  flieepj 
and  the  poor,  with  equal  cordiali- 
ty,  gives  his  turkey,  milk,  honey, 
or  whatever  elfe  he  has.  Nor  is 
their  generofity  confined  to  (bang¬ 
ers,  but  generally  extends  itfelf  to 
ail  who  are  in  want. 

When  a  Morlack  is  on  a  journey, 
and  comes  to  lodge  at  a  friend’s 
houfe,  the  eldell  daughter  of  the 
family,  or  the  new-married  bride, 
if  there  happens  to  be  one,  re¬ 
ceives,  and  kifle?  him  when  fie 

alighti 


46  ANNU-AL  REGISTER,  1778. 

flights  from  his  horfe,  or  at  the 


door  of  the  houfe.  But  a  foreigner 
is  rarely  favoured  with  thefe  fe¬ 
male  civilities  :  on  the  contrary, 
the  women,  if  they  are  young, 
hide  themfelves,  and  keep  out  of 
his  way.  Perhaps  more  than  one 
violation  pf  the  laws  of  hofpitality 
has  made  them  thus  referved  to 
Grangers  ;  or  perhaps  the  jea¬ 
lous  cuiloms  of  the  neighbouring 
Turks  have  fpread  among  the 
Morlacchi, 

While  there  is  any  thing  to  eat 
in  the  houfes  of  thofe  villagers,  the 
•poor  of  the  neighbourhood  are  wel¬ 
come  to  partake  of  it  ;  and  hence 
it  is,  that  no  Morlack  ever  hum¬ 
bles  hinifelf  to  afk  alms  of  a  paffen- 
ger  ;  at  leaft,  I  never  met  with  one 
example  of  it.  I  indeed  have  of¬ 
ten  been  forced  to  afk  fomething- 
from  poor  ihepherds,  but  I  always 
found  them  liberal;  and  many 
times,  in  travelling  through  the 
fields  in  the  heat  of  fumixier,  I 
have  met  poor  reapers,  who,  of 
their  own  accord,  prefen  ted  me 
with  their  Balks  to  drink,  and  of¬ 
fered  me  a  part  of  their  ruffick 
pro vi lions,  with  an  affecting  cor¬ 
diality.  ' 

'  The  Morlacchi,  in  general  have 
little  liotion  of  domdlic  cecono- 
my,  and  readily  confume  in  a  week, 
as  much  as  would  be  fufficient  for 
feveral  months,  whenever  any  oc- 
cafion  of  merriment  prefents  it- 
felf.  A  marriage,  the  holiday  of 
the  Saint,  prote&or  of  the  family, 
the  arrival  of  relations  or  friends, 
or  any  other  joyful  incident,  con- 
fumes,  of  courfe,  all  that  there  is 
to  eat  and  drink  in  the  houfe. 
Yet  the  Morlack  is  a  great  oecono- 
mift  in  the  ufe  of  his  wearing  ap¬ 
parel  ;  for,  rather  than  fpoil  his 
new  cap,  he  takes  it  off,  let  it 


rain  ever  fo  hard,  and  goes  bare¬ 
headed  in  the  ftorm.  In  the  fame 
manner  he  treats  his  lhoes,  if  the 
road  is  dirty,  and  they  are  not 
very  old.  Nothing  but  an  abfo- 
lute  impoflibility  hinders  a  Mor¬ 
lack  from  being  pundual  ;  and  if 
he  cannot  repay  the  money  he  bor¬ 
rowed,  at  the  appointed  time,  he 
carries  a  fmall  prefent  to  his  credi¬ 
tor,  and  requefts  a  longer  term. 
Thus  it  happens  fometimes,  that, 
from  term  to  term,  and  prefent  to 
prefent,  he  pays  double  what  he 
owed,  without  reflecting  on  it. 

Of  their  Friendjhips .  and  Quarrels. 

FRIENDSHIP,  that  among 
us  is  fo  fubjedi  to  change  on  the 
ilighteff  motives,  is  lafting  among 
the  Morlacchi,  They  have  even 
made  it  a  kind  of  religious  point, 
and  tie  the  facred  bond  at  the  foot 
of  the  altar.  The  Sclavonian  ri¬ 
tual  contains  a  particular  benedic¬ 
tion  for  the  folemn  union  of  two 
male  or  two  female  friends  in  the 
prefence  of  the  congregation.  I 
was  prefent  at  the  union  of  two 
young  women,  who  were  made 
Pofeftre  in  the  church  of  Peruffich. 
The  fatisfadion  that  fparkled  in 
their  eyes,  when  the  ceremony  was 
performed,  gave  a  convincing 
proof,  that  delicacy  of  fentiments 
can  lodge  in  minds  not  formed,  or 
rather  not  corrupted  by  fociety, 
which  we  call  civilized.  The  male 
friends  thus  united,  are  called  Po- 
hratimi ,  and  the  females  Pofeftreme 
which  mean  half  -  brothers,  and 
half-fifters,  Fiiendfhips  betweed 
thofe  of  different  fexes,  are  not  at 
this  day  bound  with  fo  much  fo- 
lemnity,  though  perhaps  in  more 
ancient  and  innocent  ages  it  was 
alfo  the  cuftom. 


From 


CHARACTERS. 


From  thefe  confecrated  friend* 
Oiips  among  the  Morlacchi  and 
other  nations  of  the  fame  origin, 
it  fhould  feem,  that  the  jkvorti  bro~ 
thers  arofe,  a  denomination  fre¬ 
quent  enough  among  our  common 
people,  and  in  many  parts  of  Eu¬ 
rope.  The  difference  between 
thefe  and  the  Pobratrmi  of  Mor- 
lacchia,  confifts,  not  only  in  the 
want  of  the  litual  ceremony,  bat 
in  the  deffgn  of  the  union  itfelf. 
For,  among  the  Morlacchi  the 
foie  view  is  reciprocal  fervice  and 
advantage  ;  but  fuch  a  brother¬ 
hood  among  us,  is  generally  com¬ 
menced  by  bad  men,  to  enable 
them  the  more  to  hurt  and  diffurb 
fociety.  The  duties  of  the  Pcbra - 
timi  are,  to  affift-  each  other  in 
every  cafe  of  need  or  danger,  to 
revenge  mutual  wrongs*  and  fuch 
like.  The  enthufiafm  is  often  car¬ 
ried  fo  far  as  to  rifk,  and  even  to 
lofe  their  -life  for  the  Pobratimi , 
although  thefe  favage  friends  are 
not  celebrated  like  a  Pilades „  If 
difcord  happens  to  arife  between 
two  friends,  it  is  talked  of  over  all 
the  country  as  a  fcandalous  novel¬ 
ty  ;  and  there  have  been  forne  ex¬ 
amples  of  it  of  late  years,  to  the 
great  affii&ion  of  the  old  Morlac¬ 
chi,  who  attribute  the  depravation 
of  their  countrymen  to  their  inter- 
courfe  with  the  Italians.  Wine  and 
ffrong  liquors,  of  which  the  nation 
is  beginning  to  make  daily  abufe, 
after  our  example,  will,  of  courfe, 
produce  the  lame  bad  effects  as 
among  us. 

But  as  the  friendlhips  of  the 
Morlacchi  are  ffrong  and  facred, 
fo  their  quarrels  are  commonly  un- 
extinguilhable.  They  pafs  from 
father  to  fon,  and  the  mothers  fail 
not  to  put  their  children  in  mind 
of  their  duty,  to  revenge  their  fa** 


47 

ther,  if  he  has  had  the  misfortune 
to  be  killed,  and  to  (hew  them  of¬ 
ten  the  bloody  fhirt  and  arms  of 
the  dead.  And  fo  deeply  is  re¬ 
venge  rooted  in  the  minds  of  this 
nation,  that  all  the  miffionaries  in 
the  world  would  not  be  able  to 
eradicate  it.  A  Morlack  is  natur¬ 
ally  inclined  to  do  good  to  his  fel¬ 
low-creatures,  and  is  full  of  grati¬ 
tude  for  the  fmalleft  benefit ;  but 
implacable  if  injured  or  infulted* 
With  him,  revenge  and  juftice 
have  exactly  the  fame  meaning, 
and  truly  it  is  the  primitive  idea  ; 
and  1  have  been  told,  that  in  Al- 
bonia,  the  effects  of  revenge  are 
fiill  more  atrocious  and  more  laft- 
ing.  There  a  man  of  the  mildeft 
charatter,  is  capable  of  the  moll 
barbarous  revenge,  believing  it  his 
pofitive  duty,  and  preferring  the 
mad  chimera  of  falfe  honour,  to  the 
violation  of  the  mo  ft  facred  laws, 
and  to  the  puniftiment  to  which 
he  expofes  himfelf,  with  premedi¬ 
tated  refolution. 

A  Morlack,  who  has  killed  ano¬ 
ther  of  a  powerful  family,  is  com¬ 
monly  obliged  to  fave  himfelf  by 
flight,  and  keep  out  of  the  way 
for  feveral  years.  If,  during  that 
time,  he  has  been  fortunate  enough 
to  efcape  the  fearch  of  his  pur- 
fuers,  and  has  got  a  fmall  fum  of 
money,  he  endeavours  to  obtain 
pardon  and  peace  ;  and,  that  he 
may  treat  about  the  conditions  in 
perfon,  he  afks,  and  obtains  a  fafe 
conduft,  which  is  faithfully  main¬ 
tained  though  only  verbally  grant- 
ed.  Then,  he  finds  mediators, 
and,  on  an  appointed  day,  the  re¬ 
lations  of  the  two  hoftile  families 
are  aflembled,  and  the  criminal  is 
introduced,  dragging  himfelf  along 
on  his  hands  and  feet,  the  mufket, 
piffol  or  .cutlafs  with  which  he 

com- 


REGISTER,  1778. 


48  ANNUAL 

committed  the  murder,  hung  about 
his  neck;  and  while  he  continues 
in  that  humble  pofture,  one  or 
more  of  the  relations  recites  a  pa- 
negyrick  on  the  dead,  which  fome- 
times  rekindles  the  flames  of  re¬ 
venge,  and  puts  the  poor  proftrate 
in  no  (mail  danger.  It  is  the  cuf- 
tom  in  fome  places  for  the  offended 
party  to  threaten  the  criminal, 
holding  all  kind  of  arms  to  his 
throat,  and  after  much  intreaty, 
to  confent  at  laft  to  accept  of  his 
sranfom.  Thefe  pacifications  coft 
dear  in  Albonia,  but  the  Morlac- 
ehi  make  up  matters  fometimes  at  a 
fmall  expence  ;  and  every  where  the 
Bufinefs  is  concluded  with  a  feaft  at 
the  offender's  charge* 

Of  the  'Talents  and  Arts  of  the 
Morlacchi. 

THE  natural  vivacity  and  en- 
terprizing  fpirit  of  the  Morlacchi, 
qualify  them  to  fucceed  in  any 
kind  of  employment.  In  parti¬ 
cular,  they  make  excellent  fol- 
diers,  and,  towards  the  end  of  the 
laft  age,  they  performed  very  ufe- 
ful  fervice,  under  the  brave  gene¬ 
ral  Delfinoy  who  conquered  an  im¬ 
portant  tradl  of  country  belonging 
to  the  Porte,  chiefly  by  their 
means.  They  alfo  become  very 
expert  in  the  direction  of  mercan¬ 
tile  bufinefs ;  and  eafily  learn  to 
read  and  write,  even  after  they 
are  grown  up.  It  is  faid,  that  the 
Morlack  fhepherds,  about  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  this  age,  were  very 
fond  of  reading  a  large  book  of 
the  chriftian  do&rine,  moral  and 
hiftorical,  compiled  by  father  Di<v- 
conjich ,  and  reprinted  feveral  times 
at  Venice,  in  the  Cerilian  Bof- 
nian  ch.ara&er,  which  is  fomewhat 
different  from  the  Ruffian*  It  hap¬ 


pened  often,  that  the  prieft  of  fcBc 
parilh,  more  pious  than  learned, 
in  his  citations,  miftook,  or  al- 
tered  material  circumftances,  and 
then  one  of  the  audience  would 
fay  aloud,  nie  tako9  it  is  not  fo. 
It  is  added,  that  to  prevent  that 
fcandal,  great  pains  were  taken  to 
colledl  all  thofe  books,  and  in  fadl, 
very  few  of  them  are  now  found 
among  the  fhepherds.  This  na¬ 
tion  is  alfo  endowed  with  remark¬ 
able  qaicknefs  of  fancy,  and  are 
very  ready,  on  any  occafion,  at 
giving  pointed  anfwers. 

Notwithftanding  their  excellent 
difpofition  to  learn  every  art,  the 
Morlacchi  have  the  moft  imperfect 
notions  of  husbandry,  and  are  very 
unlkilful  in  the  management  of 
their  cattle,  and  in  curing  their 
difeafes.  They  have  a  fingular 
veneration  for  old  cuftoms,  and 
little  care  has  hitherto  been  taken 
either  to  remove  their  prejudices, 
or  to  teach  them  better  methods. 
Their  ploughs,  and  other  rural 
utenfils  feem  to  be  of  the  moft 
rude  invention,  and  are  as  unlike 
ours,  as  the  other  fafhions  ufed  in 
the  days  of  Triptolemus  would  be 
to  thofe  of  the  prefent  age.  They 
make  cheefe,  butter,  and  cream- 
cheefe  too,  in  their  way  ;  all  which 
might  pafs  well  enough,  if  they 
were  only  done  with  more  cleanli- 
nefs.  The  taylor's  art  is  confined 
to  ancient  and  unalterable  pat¬ 
terns,  which  are  always  cut  from 
the  fame  kind  of  cloth,  fo  that  any 
difference  in  the  ufual  breadth 
would  quite  difconcert  a  Morlack 
taylor.  They  have  fome  notion  of 
dying,  and  their  colours  are  not 
defpicable.  Their  black  is  made 
of  the  bark  of  the  alh-tree,  called 
by  them  JaJfen,  laid  in  warm  wa¬ 
ter  for  eight  days,  with  fome  iron 

drofs, 


CHARACTERS. 


arofs,  which  they  gather  from  the 
blackfmith’s  forges  ;  then  they 
make  ufe  of  this  water,  when  cold, 
to  give  the  colour.  They  alfo  ex¬ 
tract  a  fine  blue  colour  from  the 
infufion  of  wood,  dried  in  the 
fhade,  in  a  lie  of  afhes  well  puri¬ 
fied  ;  they  let  this  mixture  boil  fe- 
veral  hours,  and  tinge  the  cloth  in 
the  water  when  cold.  Scodamus , 
by  them  called  Rug,  gives  yellow 
and  brown  ;  and  they  alfo  ob¬ 
tain  a  yellow  from  the  E<vonimus , 

known  there  by  the  name  of  Puz- 

;•  # 

Kotina. 

Almoft  all  the  Morlack  women 
are  fkilful  in  works  of  embroidery 
and  knitting.  Their  embroidery 
is  curious,  and  exactly  the  fame  on 
both  fides.  They  alfo  make  a  fort 
of  knit,  or  net-work,  that  our  Ita¬ 
lian  women  cannot  imitate,  and 
ufe  it  chiefly  as  a  kind  of  bulkin  to 
their  flippers  and  brogues,  called 
Nazuvka.  They  do  not  want 
looms  to  weave  their  ferge  and 
other  coarfe  cloth  ;  but  the  women 
have  not  much  time  to  apply  to 
thefe  things,  their  offices  among 
the  Morlacchi  not  admitting  of  fe- 
dentary  labours. 

In  fome  of  their  villages,  parti¬ 
cularly  at  Verlika ,  they  make 
earthern  ware,  very  coarfe  indeed, 
but  very  durable. 

Of  the  Superfition  of  the  Mor¬ 
lacchi. 

THE  Morlacks,  whether  they 
happen  to  be  of  the  Roman,  or  of 
the  Greek  church,  have  very  An¬ 
gular  ideas  about  religion  ;  and 
the  ignorance  of  their  teachers 
dailv  augments  this  monftrous  evil. 
They  are  as  firmly  perfuaded  of 
the  reality  of  witches,  fairies,  en- 
Vol.  XXI. 


chantments,  noflurnal  apparitions 
and  fortileges,  as  if  they  had  feen 
a  thoufand  examples  of  them. 
Nor  do  they  make  the  leaff  doubt 
about  the  exiffence  of  Vampires  ; 
and  attribute  to  them,  as  in  Tran- 
filvania,  the  fucking  the  blood  of 
infants.  Therefore  when  a  man 
dies  fufpe&ed  of  becoming  a  vam¬ 
pire,  or  Vukodlak,  as  they  call  it* 
they  cut  his  hams,  and  prick  his 
whole  body  with  pins;  pretending, 
that  after  this  operation  he  cannot 
walk  about.  There  are  even  in- 
fiances  of  Morlacchi,  who  imagin¬ 
ing  that  they  may  poflibly  thirft  for 
children’s  blood  after  death,  in¬ 
treat  their  heirs,  and  fometimes 
oblige  them  to  promife  to  treat 
them  as  vampires  when  they  die. 

The  boldeft  Haiduc  would  fly 
trembling  from  the  apparition  of 
a  fpeflre,  ghoit,  phantom,  or  fuck 
like  goblins  as  the  heated  imagi¬ 
nations  of  credulous  and  prepoflef- 
fed  people  never  fail  to  fee.  Nor 
are  they  afliamed,  when  ridiculed 
for  this  terror,  but  anfvver,  much 
in  the  words  of  Pindar :  “  fear  that 
proceeds  from  fpirits,  caufes  even 
the  fons  of  the  gods  to  fly.5’  The 
women,  as  may  be  naturally  fup- 
pofed,  are  a  hundred  times  more 
timorous  and  vifionary  than  the 
men  ;  and  fome  of  them,  by  fre¬ 
quently  hearing  themfelves  called 
witches,  adlually  believe  they  are 
fo.  The  old  witches  are  acquainted 
with  many  fpells  ;  and  one  of  the 
mod  common  is  to  transfer  the 
milk  of  other  people’s  cows  to  their 
own.  But  they  can  perform  more 
curious  feats  than  this  ;  and  I 
know  a  young  man,  who  had  his 
heart  taken  out  by  two  witches, 
while  he  was  faff  afleep,  in  order 
to  be  roafted  and  eat  by  them. 
The  poor  man  did  not  perceive  his 

E  lofs. 


5o  ,  AN  N  U  A  L  REGIS  T  E Mhi 77s. 

lofs,  as  may  eaflly  be  imagined,  futing  on  the  ground  in  the  church- 
til!  he  awoke  ;  but  then  he  begun  yard,  to  bear  the  confeflion  of  wo- 


to  complain,  on  feeling  the  place 
of  his  heart  void  ;  a  begging  friar, 
who  lay  in  the  fame  place,  but 
was  not  afieep,  beheld  the  whole 
anatomical  operation  of  the  witches, 
but  could  not  hinder  them,  be- 
caufe  they  had  charmed  him.  The 
charm,  however,  loll  its  force, 
when  the  young  man  without  the 
heart  awoke  ;  and  both  wanted  to 
chaftife  the  witches  ;  but  they, 
rubbing  themfelves  with  a  certain 
ointment  flew  away,.  The  friar, 
went  to  the  hearth,  took  the  heart, 
then  well  broiled,  and  gave  it  to 
the  young  man  to  eat ;  which  he 
had  no  fooner  done,  than  he  was 
perfectly  cured,  as  may  reafonabiy 
be  fuppofed.  The  good  father 
told  this  dory,  and  wii!  tel!  it  of¬ 
ten,  fwearing  to  the  truth  of  it ; 
and  the  people  dare  not  fufpeft 
that  wine  had  made  him  fee  one 
thing  for  another,  and  that  the 
two  women,  one  of  whom  was  not 
old,  had  flown  away  for  quite  ano¬ 
ther  reafon,  than  for  being  witches. 
The  enchantrefies  are  called  Gef- 
tize  ;  and  that  the  remedy  may  be 
at  hand,  there  are  others  called 
Bahornize ,  equally  well  (killed  in 
undoing  the  fpells;  and  to  doubt 
of  thefe  two  oppoflte  powers,  would 
be  worfe  chan  infidelity. 

A  molt  perfect  difeord  reigns 
in  Morlaccbia,  as  it  generally  does 
in  other  parts,  between  the  Latin 
2nd  Greek  communion,  which 
their  refpe&ive  prieks  fail  not  to 
foment,  and  tell  a  thoufand  little 
fcaodalous  ftories  of  each  other. 
The  churches  of  the  Latins  are 
poor,  but  not  very  dirty;  thofe  of 
the  Greeks  are  equally  poor,  and 
fliamefully  ill  kept.  I  have  feen 
the  curate  of  a  Morlack  village 


men  on  their  knees  by  his  fide ;  a 
krange  poliure  indeed!  but  a  proof 
of  the  innocent  manners  of  thofe 
good  people,  who  have  the  mod 
profound  veneration  for  their  fpiri- 
tual  pakors,  and  a  total  depend- 
ance  upon  them,  who,  on  their 
part,  frequently  make  ufe  of  a  dif- 
cipline  rather  military,  and  cor- 
re£l  the  bodies  of  their  offending 
flock  with  the  cudgel.  Perhaps 
tms  particular  is  carried  to  an  abufe 
as  well  as  that  of  pubiick  penance, 
which  they  pretend  to  inflift -after 
the  manner  of  the  ancient  church. 
They  moreover,  through  the  filly 
credulity  of  thofe  poor  moun¬ 
taineers,  draw  illicit  profits,  by 
felling  certain  fuperftitious  fcrolls 
and  other  fcandalous  merchandize 
of  that  kind.  They  write  in  a  ca¬ 
pricious  manner,  on  the  fcrolls 
called  Zapiz9  facred  names  which 
ought  not  to  be  trifled  with,  and 
fornetimes  adding  others  very  im¬ 
properly  joined.  The  virtues  at¬ 
tributed  to  thefe  Zapiz  are  much 
of  the  fame  nature  as  thofe  which 
the  Bafllians  attributed  to  their 
monftruoufly  cut  kones.  The 
Morlacchi  ufe  to  carry  them  fevved 
to  their  caps,  to  cure,  or  to  pre¬ 
vent  difeafes ;  and  they  alfo  tie 
them  for  the  fame  purpofe  to  the 
horns  of  their  oxen.  The  compo¬ 
sers  of  this  trumpery  take  every 
method  to  maintain  the  credit  of 
their  profitable  trade,  in  fpite  of 
its  abfurdity,  and  the  frequent 
proofs  of  its  inutility.  And  fo 
great  has  their  fuccefs  been,  that 
not  only  the  Morlacchi,  but  even 
the  Turks  near  the  borders,  pro¬ 
vide  themfelves  plentifully  with 
Zapis  from  the  chriftian  pricks, 
which  not  a  little  increafes  their 

income,. 


CHARACTERS. 


income.,  as  well  as  the  reputation 
of  the  commodity.  The  Moriac- 
chi  have  all'o  much  devotion,  and 
many  of  our  ignorant  people  have 
little  lefs,  to  certain  copper  and 
iilver  coins  of  the  low  empire;  or 
to  Venetian  cotemporary  pieces, 
which  pals  among  them  for  me¬ 
dals  of  St.  Helen,  and  they  think 
they  cure  the  epilepfy  and  fuca 
like.  They  are  equally  fond  of 
an  Hungarian  coin  called  pelizz.a, 
which  has  the  Virgin  and  Child  on 
the  reverfe ;  and  one  of  thefe  is  a 
moll  acceptable  prefent  to  a  Mcr- 
lack. 

The  bordering  Turks  not  only 
keep  with  devotion  the  fuperlli- 
tious  Zapiz,  but  frequently  bring 
prefents,  and  caufe  mafles  to  be 
celebrated,  to  the  images  of  the 
Virgin  ;  which  is  doubtlefs  in  con- 
tradition  to  the  Alcoran  ;  yet 
when  faluted,  in  the  ufual  man¬ 
ner  in  that  country,  by  the  name 
of  jefu',  they  do  not  anfwer. 
Hence  when  the  Morlacchi,  or 
other  travellers,  meet  them  on  the 
confines,  they  do  not  fay  huaglian 
IJ'us,  Jefus  be  praifed  ;  but  huaglian 
Bog ,  God  be  praifed. 

» 

Concerning  the  Manners  of  the  Mor¬ 
lacchi. 

Innocence,  and  the  natural  li¬ 
berty  of  palloral  ages,  are  Hill  pre- 
ferved  among  the  Morlacchi,  or 
at  lead,  many  traces  of  them  re¬ 
main  in  the  places  farthelt  diflant 
from  our  fettlements.  Pure  cor¬ 
diality  of  fentiment  is  not  there 
reflrained  by  other  regards,  and 
difplays  itfelf  without  any  dillinc- 
tion  of  circumflances.  A  hand- 
fome  young  Morlack  girl,  who 
meets  a  man  of  her  diflrift,  on  the 


5* 

road,  kifTes  him  afFeflionately, 
without  the  lead  malice,  or  im- 
modeft  thought ;  and  l  have  feen 
all  the  women  and  girls,  all  the 
young  men  and  old,  killing  one 
another  as  they  came  into  tha 
church  yard  on  a  holiday;  fb  that 
they  looked  as  if  they  had  been  all 
belonging  to  one  family.  I  have 
often  obferved  the  fame  thing  on 
the  road,  and  at  the  fairs  in  the 
maritime  towns,  where  the  Mor- 
lacc  i  came  to  fell  their  commo¬ 
dities.  In  times  of  fealling  and 
merriment,  b.  Tides  the  kifs,  fome 
other  little  liberties  are  taken  with 
the  hands,  which  we  would  not 
reckon  decent,  but  are  not  mind¬ 
ed  among  them ;  and  when  they 
are  told  of  it,  they  anfwer,  it  is 
only  toying  and  means  nothing. 
From  this  toying,  however,  their 
amours  often  take  their  beginning, 
and  frequently  end  ferioufiy  when 
the  two  lovers  are  once  agreed. 
For  it  very  rarely  happens,  in 
places  far  diflant  from  the  coafl, 
that  a  Morlacco  carries  oft  a  girl 
againll  her  will,  or  difhonours  her; 
and  were  fuch  attempts  made,  the 
young  woman  would,  no  doubt,  be 
able  to  defend  herfelf ;  the  women. 
In  that  country  being  generally 
very  little  lefs  robufl  than  the  men. 
But  the  cuftom  is  for  the  woman 
herfelf  to  appoint  the  time  and 
place  of  being  carried  off ;  and  fihe 
does  fo  in  order  to  extricate  herfelf 
from  other  fuitors,  from  whom  fhe 
may  have  received  fome  love  token, 
fuch  as  a  brafs  ring,  a  little  knife, 
or  fuch  like  trifles.  The  Mor¬ 
lack  women  keep  themfelves  fome- 
what  neat  till  they  get  a  hufband, 
but  after  marriage  they  abandon 
themfelves  totally  to  a  loathfome 
dirtinefs,  as  if  they  intended  to 
juflify  the  contempt  with  which 
E  2  they 


52  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


they  are  treated.  Indeed  it  can¬ 
not  be  laid  that  even  the  young 
women  have  a  grateful  odour,  as 
they  are  ufed  to  anoint  their  hair 
with  butter,  which  Toon  becoming 
rancid,  exhales  no  agreeable  ef¬ 
fluvia. 

Of  the  Morlack  Women's  Drefs . 

THE  drefs  of  the  Morlack  wo¬ 
men,  is  different  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  but  it  appears 
every  where  flrange  to  an  Italian. 
That  of  the  unmarried  worsen  is 
the  mo  ft  complex  and  whimfical, 
in  refpefl  to  the  ornaments  of  the 
head  ;  for  when  martied  they  are 
not  allowed  to  wear  any  thing  elfe 
but  a  handkerchief,  either  white 
or  coloured,  tied  about  it.  The 
girls  ufe  a  fcarlet  cap,  to  which 
they  commonly  hang  a  veil  falling 
down  on  the  fhoulders,  as  a  mark 
of  their  virginity.  The  better 
fort  adorn  their  caps  with  firings  of 
fllver  coins,  among  which  are  fre¬ 
quently  feen  very  ancient  and  va¬ 
luable  ones ;  they  have  moreover 
carings  of  very  curious  work,  and 
fmall  fllver  chains  with  the  figures 
of  half  moons  fattened  to  the  ends 
of  them.  But  the  poor  2re  forced 
to  content  themfelves  with  plain 
caps,  or  if  they  have  any  orna¬ 
ments,  they  conn  ft  only  of  fmall 
exotic  fhells,  round  glafs  beads, 
or  bits  of  tin.  The  principal  me¬ 
rit  of  thefe  caps,  which  confiitute 
the  good  tatte,  as  well  as  vanity 
of  the  Morlack  young  ladies,  is 
to  attract  and  fix  the  eyes  of  all 
who  are  near  them,  by  the  mul¬ 
titude  of  ornaments,  and  the  noife 
they  make  on  the  leall  motion  of 
their  heads.  Hence  half  moons 
of  fiver,  or  of  tin,  little  chains 
and  hearts,  falfe  ftones  and  fhells, 

5 


together  with  all  kinds  of  fptendld 
trumpery,  are  readily  admitted 
into  their  head  drefs.  In  fome 
diilri&s,  they  fix  tufts  of  various 
coloured  feathers,  refembling  two 
horns  on  their  caps,  in  others,  tre¬ 
mulous  plumes  of  glafs ;  and  in 
others,  artificial  flowers,  which 
they  purchafe  in  the  fea  port  towns ; 
and  it  muft  be  confefled,  that  in 
the  variety  of  thofe  capricious  and 
barbarous  ornaments,  fometinies  a 
fancy  not  inelegant  is  difplayed. 
Their  holiday  fhifts  are  embroider¬ 
ed  with  red  fiik,  and  fometimes 
with  gold,  which  they  work  them¬ 
felves,  while  they  attend  their 
flocks  ;  and  it  is  furprifing  to  fee 

how  nicely  this  work  is  executed. 

* 

Both  old  and  young  women  wear 
about  their  necks  large  firings  of 
round  glafs  beads  of  various  lize 
and  colour ;  and  many  rings  of 
brafs,  .  tin,  or  fllver  on  their  An¬ 
gers.  Their  bracelets  are  of  lea¬ 
ther  covered  with  wrought  tin,  or 
fllver :  and  they  embroider  their 
ftomachers,  or  adorn  them  with 
beads  or  fhells.  But  the  ufe  of 
flays  is  unknown,  nor  do  they  put 
whalebone  or  iron  in  the  ftoma- 
cher.  A  broad  woollen  girdle  fur- 
rounds  their  petticoat,  which  is 
commonly  decked  with  fhells  and 
of  blue  colour,  and  therefore  called 
Modrina.  Their  gown,  as  well 
as  petticoat,  is  of  a  kind  of  ferge  ; 
and  both  reach  near  to  the  ankle  ; 
the  gown  is  bordered  with  fcarlet 

O 

and  called  Sadack.  They  ufe  no 
Modrina  in  fummer,  and  only  wear 
the  Sadack  without  Beeves  over  a 
linen  petticoat  or  fhift.  The  girls 
always  wear  red  ftockings,  and 
their  fhoes  are  like  thofe  of  the 
men,  called  Opanke .  The  foie  is 
of  undrefled  ox  hide,  and  the  up¬ 
per  part  of  Bleep’s  fkin  thongs 

knotted. 


CHARACTERS.  53 

knotted,  which  they  call  dpute,  to  afk  the  young  woman,  or  rather 
and  thefe  they  fallen  above  the  an-  a  young  woman  of  fuch  a  family, 
kies,  fomething  like  the  ancient  not  having,  commonly,  any  de- 
Coturnus .  terminate  choice.  Upon  this,  all 

The  unmarried  women,  even  of  the  girls  of  the  houfe  are  Ihewn  to 
the  richeft  families,  are  not  per-  him,  and  he  choofes  which  pleafes 
mitted  to  wear  any  other  fort  of  him  bell,  though  generally  re- 
Ihoes  ;  though  after  marriage  they  fpe&ing  the  right  of  feniority.  A 
may,  if  they  will,  lay  afide  the  denial  in  fuch  cafes  is  very  rare, 
Opanke ,  and  ufe  Turkilh  flippers,  nor  does  the  father  of  the  maid  en- 
The  girls  keep  their  hair  treffed  quire  much  into  the  circumllances 
under  their  caps,  but  when  mar-  of  the  family  that  alks  her.  Some- 
ried  they  let  it  fall  dilhevelled  on  times  a  daughter  of  the  mailer  is 
the  break  ;  fometimes  they  tie  it  given  in  marriage  to  the  fervant, 
under  the  chin  ;  and  always  have  or  tenant,  as  was  ufual  in  pa- 
medals,  beads,  or  bored  coins,  in  triarchal  times  :  fo  little  are  the 
the  Tartar  or  American  mode,  women  regarded  in  this  country, 
twilled  amongll  it.  An  unmarried  On  thefe  cccafions,  however,  the 
woman  who  falls  under  the  impu-  Morlacchi  girls  enjoy  a  privilege 
tation  of  want  of  chafli ty ,  runs  the  which  ours  would  alfo  wilh  to 
ri Ik.  of  having  her  red  cap  torn  off  have,  as  in  jull’ice  they  certainly 
her  head  publickly  in  church  by  ought.  For  he  who  ads  by  proxy, 
the  curate,  and  her  hair  cut  by  having  obtained  his  fuit,  is  oblig- 
fome  relation  in  token  of  infamy,  ed  to  go  and  bring  the  bridegroom  ; 
Hence,  if  any  of  them  happen  to  and  if,  on  feeing  each  other,  the 
have  fallen  into  an  illicit  amour,  young  people  are  reciprocally  con- 
they  commonly  of  their  own  ac-  tent,  the  marriage  is  concluded, 
cord,  lay  afide  the  badge  of  virgi-  but  not  otherwife.  In  fome  parts, 
nity,  and  remove  into  another  part  it  is  the  cullom  for  the  bride  to  go 
of  the  country.  to  fee  the  houfe  and  family  of  the 

propofed  hulband,  before  Ihe  gives 
Of  their  Marriages ,  Pregnancy ,  and  a  definitive  anfwer  ;  and,  if  the 
Childbirth.  place  or  perfons  are  difagreeable  to 

her,  fne  is  at  liberty  to  annul  the 
NOTHING  is  more  common  contrail.  But,  if  fhe  is  contented, 
among  the  Morlacchi  than  mar-  ihe  returns  to  her  fathers  houfe, 
riages  concluded  between  the  old  efcorted  by  the  bridegroom  and 
people  of  the  refpedive  families,  neared  relations.  There  the  mar- 
efpecially  when  the  parties  live  at  riage  day  is  appointed  ;  on  which 
a  great  didance,  and  neither  fee  the  bridegroom  comes  to  the  bride’s 
r.or  know  each  other  ;  and  the  or-  houfe,  attended  by  all  his  friends 
dinary  motive  of  thefe  alliances  is  of  greated  note,  who,  on  this  oc- 
the  ambition  of  being  related  to  a  cafion,  are  called  Svati,  and  are 
numerous  and  powerful  family,  all  armed,  and  on  horfeback,  in 
famous  for  having  produced  va-  their  holiday  cloaths,  with  a  pea- 
liant  men.  The  father  of  the  fu-  cock’s  feather  in  their  cap,  which 
ture  bridegroom,  or  fome  other  is  the  didin&ive  ornament  ufed  by 
pear  relation,  of  mature  age,  goes  thofe  who  are  invited  to  weddings, 

E  i  Ttaf 


v 


54  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 

The  company  go  armed  to  re-  He  fpread  his  mantle  on  the 
piiiie  any  attack,  or  ambufh,  that  ground,  threw  a  handful  of  gold 
might  be  intended  to  diftarb  the  rings  on  it,  and  then  gallantly  ad- 
feaft.  For,  in  old  times,  thefe  dreffed  the  Ladies  as  follows  ; 
encounters  were  not  un frequent,  <c  Lovely  maid,  who  art  deilined 
according  to  the  records  of  many  to  be  Jancoh  wife,  do  thou  pick: 
national  heroic  fongs.  In  one  of  up  thefe  golden  rings,  and  wear 
thefe  is  told  the  ftory  of  fanco  Voj~  them;  but  if  any  other  dares  to 
*vod  of  Sebigne ,  who  was  co tempo-  touch  one  of  them,  I  will  cut  off 
rary  with  the  famous  George  Ca~  her  arm  at  a  blow.”  The  nine 
fir  iot  rich,  named  Scantier  berg,  and  young  wom'en  were  very  naturally 
berrotlied  to  Jagna.  of  Temefvear^  afraid  of  the  danger,  and  did  not 
whofe  brothers,  being  not  his  chafe  to  advance,  fo  janco’s  bride 
•friends,  when  he  came  to  conclude  coliefted  the  rings,  and  thus  the 
the  marriage,  engaged  him  in  the  nuptial  games  were  finifhed.  When, 
pun&iiio  of  performing  certain  upon  trials  of  this  nature,  one  of 
feats,  upon  condition,  that,  if  he  the  parties  found  himfelf  exclud- 
fucceeded,  he  was  to  have  the  ed,  and  another  preferred,  as  he 
bride,  and,  if  not,  he  was  to  lofe  thought  unjuftly,  he  commonly 
his  life.  Thefe  were,  as  the  fong  had  recourfe  to  arms  for  fed  refs ; 
relates ;  that,  he  was  to  pierce  an  and  much  blood  was  often  fhed  in 
apple  fiuck  on  the  point  of  a  fpear,  thofe  combats:  and  many  tombs 
with  his  dart,  at  a  certain  didance;  of  the  ancient  Slavi,  are  dill  to  be 
then  , he  was  to  fpring  over  nine  feen  in  the  woods,  and  defert 
horfes,  placed  one  behde  another,  places  of  Morlacchia,  whereon  thefe 
at  one  leap  ;  and  lailly,  to  difco-  feuds  are  engraved  in  coarle  bafs- 
ver  his  future  fpoufe,  among  nine  relief*, 

young  women,  all  covered  with  The  bride  is  conduced  to  a 
veils,  fanco ,  it  feems,  was  a  va-  church,  veiled,  and  furrounded  by 
liant  foldier,  but  not  expert  in  fuch  the  S<vati  on  horfeback,  and  the 
trials  of  fidll  ;  however,  his  ne-  facred  ceremony  is  performed  / 
phew  undertook  them  in  his  place,  amidft  the  noife  of  mufquets,  pif- 
and  no  obje&ion  was  made,  as  tols,  barbaric  fhouts,  and  accla- 
they  fay,  is  the  cuftom  in  a  cer-  mations,  which  continue  till  (he 
tain  ifland,  to  hire  one  to  light  for  returns  to  her  father’s  houfe,  or  to 
another  at  a  boxing  match.  The  that  of  her  hufband,  if  not  far  off. 
expedient  made  ule  of  by  Zeculo ,  Each  Vf  the  Svati  has  his  particu- 
Janco* s  nephew,  to  know  the  bride  Jar  infpedbon,  as  well  during  the 
among  the  other  nine  young  wo-  cavalcade,  as  at  the  marriage  feaft, 
men,  was  lingular,  and  merits  a  which  begins  immediately  on  their 
prolongation  of  my  drgreffion.  return  from  church.  The  Parvi- 

*  Some  of  thefe  tombs  are  to  be  feen,  particularly  in  the  wood  between  Gliu 
hujki  and  V e  ‘goraz,  on  the  banks  of  the  Prebefat ;  and  along  the  military  way, 
that  leads  rom  Salcna  to  N dr  on  a.  At  Le-vrecb ,  Gif  a ,  Mr  amor ,  and  between 
Soign  and  Imojki ,  there  are  many.  There  is  one  ifolated  at  Der-venicb,  in  Pri- 
mrjo,  called  Coflagnichi'a  Greb ;  and  another  at  Nakucaz ,  which,  they  fay, 
was  erefled  on  the  fpot  where  the  combat  happened. 


naz 


C  II  A  R  A 

uasz  precedes  all  the  reft,  Tinging 
fuch  longs,  as  he  thinks  fuitable  to 
the  occafion.  The  Bar iattar  bran- 
difties  a  lance  with  a  lilken  banner 
faftened  to  it,  and  an  apple  ftuck 
on  the  point;  there  are  two  Ba- 
naitars ,  and  fometimes  f*;iir,  at 
the  more  noble  marriages.  The 
Stari-fivat  is  the  principal  perfo- 
nage  of  the  brigade,  and  the  molt 
refpeCtabie  relation  is  commonly 
invefted  with  this  dignity.  The 
Stacbeo's  duty  is  to  receive  and 
obey  the  orders  of  the -Star  i-fv  at. 
The  two  Divert,  who  ought  to  be 
the  bridegroom’s  brothers,  when 
he  has  any,  are  appointed  to  lerve 
the  bride.  The  Knun  correfponds 
to  our  fponfors  ;  and  the  Komorgia, 
or  Sek/ana  is  deputed  to  receive, 
and  guard  the  dowery.  A  Ciacus 
carries  the  mace,  and  attends  to 
the  order  of  the  march,  as  mafter 
of  the  ceremonies ;  he  goes  ftnging 
aloud,  Breber  i  y  Dauori,  Dokraj - 
ricbiciy  Jara,  Pico,  names  of  an¬ 
cient  propitious  deities.  Buklia  is 
the  cup-bearer  of  the  company,  as 
well  on,  the  march,  as  at  table; 
and  ail  the  offices  are  doubled, 
and  fotne  times  tripled,  in  propor¬ 
tion  to  the  number  of  the  com¬ 
pany. 

The  firft  day’s  entertainment  is 
fometimes  made  at  the  bride’s 
houfe,  but  generally  at  the  bride- 
goom’s,  whither  the  Svati  haften 
immediately  after  the  nuptial  be¬ 
nediction  ;  and  at  the  fame  time, 
three  or  four  men  run  omfoot  to 
tell  the  good  news  ;  the  firft  who 
gets  to  the  houfe  has  a  kind  of 
towel,  embroidered  at  the  ends,  as 
a  premium.  The  Dcmachin ,  or 
head  of  the  houfe,  comes  out  to 
meet  his  daughter-in-law,  and  a 
child  is  handed  to  her,  before  lhe 
alights,  to  carels  it  j  and,  if  there 


C  T  E  R  S.  55 

happens  to  be  none  in  the  houfe, 
the  child  is  borrowed  from  one  of 
the  neighbours.  When  (lie  alights, 
ftie  kneels  down,  and  kiftes  the 
threfhold.  Then  the  mother-in- 
law,  or,  in  her  place,  Time  other 
female  relation,  presents  a  corn 
fieve,  full  of  different  kinds  of 
grain,  nuts,  almonds,  and  other 
f'mall  fruit,  which  the  bride  fcat- 
ters  upon  the  Svatiy  by  hand- 
falls,  behind  her  back.  The  bride 
does  not  fit  at  the  great  table,  the 
firft  day,  but  has  one  apart  for  her- 
felf,  the  two  Divert  and  the  St  a- 
cheo.  The  bridegroom  fits  at  ta¬ 
ble  with  the  Svatiy  but  in  all  that 
day,  confecrated  to  the  .matrimo¬ 
nial  union,  he  muft  neither  un- 
loofe,  nor  cut  any  thing  whatever. 
The  Knum  carves  hie  meat,  and 
cuts  his  bread.  It  is  the  Doma- 
c bin's  bufinefs  to  give  the  toafts  ; 
and  the  Stari-Jvat  is  the  firft  who 
pledges  him.  Generally  the  Buk~ 
karay  a  very  large  wooden  cup, 
goes  round,  firft  to  the  Saint  Pro¬ 
testor  of  the  family  ;  next  to  the 
profperity  of  the  holy  faith  ;  and, 
fometimes,  to  a  name,  the  moft 
fublime,  and  venerable.  The 
moft  extravagant  abundance  reigns 
at  thefe  feafts,  and  each  of  the 
Snjati  contributes,  by  fending  a 
fhare  of  provisions.  The  dinner 
begins  with  fruit,  and  cheefe,  and 
the  fbup  comes  laft,  juft  contrary 
to  our  cuftom.  All  forts  of  do- 
meftic,  fowls,  kid,  lamb,  and 
fometimes  venifon,  are  heaped  in 
prodigal  quantities  upon  their  ta¬ 
bles  ;  but  very  rarely  a  Morlacco 
eats  veal*  and  perhaps  never, 
unlefs  he  has  been  perfuadcd  to 
do  it  out  of  his  own  country. 
This  abhorrence  to  calves  flefh  is 
very  ancient  among  the  Morlac- 
chi.  Sr,  Jerome,  again!!  ]o- 
E  4.  vinian. 


5 6  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i77S. 


vinian  #,  takes  notice  of  it;  and 
cTomeo  Marnavich ,  a  Bofnian  wri¬ 
ter,  who  lived  in  the  beginning  of 
the  laft  age,  fays,  that  the  Dal¬ 
matians,  uncorrupted  by  the  vices 
of  ftrangers,  abiiained  from  eating 
calves  flelh,  as  an  unclean  food, 
even  to  his  day  f .  The  women 
relations,  if  they  are  invited,  never 
dine  at  table  with  the  men,  it  be¬ 
ing  an  eftablilhed  cuftom  for  them 
to  dine  by  themfelves.  After  din¬ 
ner,  they  pafs  the  reft  of  the  day  in 
•dancing,  finging  ancient  fongs, 
and  in  games  of  dexterity,  or  of 
wit,  and  fancy  :  and  in  the  even¬ 
ing,  at  a  convenient  hour  after  Tap¬ 
per,  the  three  ritual  healths  having 
firft  gone  round,  the  Knum  accom¬ 
panies  the  bridegroom  to  the  ma¬ 
trimonial  apartment,  which  com¬ 
monly  is  the  cellar,  or  the  liable, 
whither  the  bride  is  a]fo  condufted 
by  the  Divert,  and  the  Stacbeo  ; 
but  the  three  laft  are  obliged  to  re¬ 
tire,  and  the  Knum  remains  alone 
with  the  new  married  couple.  If 
there  happens  to  be  any  bed  pre¬ 
pared  better  than  llraw,  lie  leads 
them  to  it,  and  having  untied  the 
bride’s  girdle,  he  caufes  them  both 
to  undrefs  each  other  reciprocally. 
Jt  is  not  long  fince  the  Knum  was 
obliged  to  undrefs  the  bride  en¬ 
tirely,  but  that  cuftom  is  now  out 
of  ufe  ;  and,  inftead  of  it,  he  has 
the  privilege  of  killing  her  as  often 
as  he  pleafes,  wherever  he  meets 
3ier  ;  which  privilege  may  poftibly 
be  agreeable  for  the  Iirft  months, 
but  muft  foon  become  very  difguft- 
ful.  When  they  are  both  un- 


drefted  the  Knum  retires,  and 
Hands  liftening  at  the  door,  if  there 
be  a  door.  It  is  his  bulinefs  to  an¬ 
nounce  the  confummation  of  the 
marriage,  which  he  does,  by  dif- 
charging  a  piftol,  and  is  anfwered 
by  many  of  the  company.  The 
next  day,  the  bride,  without  her 
veil,  and  virginal  cap,  dines  at  table 
with  the  Svati ,  and  is  forced  to 
hear  the  coarfe  equivocal  jells  of 
her  indelicate,  and  fometimes  in¬ 
toxicated  company.. 

Thefe  nuptial  feafts,  called  Sdravs 
by  the  ancient  Huns,  are  by  our 
Morlacchi  called  S  dravize ,  from 
whence  our  Italian  word  Stravizzo 
is  undoubtedly  derived.  They 
continue  three,  fix,  eight  or  more 
days,  according  to  the  ability  or 
prodigal  difpofition  of  the  family 
where  they  are  held.  The  new 
married  wife  gets  no  inconfiderable 
profit  in  thefe  days  of  joy.  And  it 
ufually  amounts  to  much  more 
than  all  the  portion  ihe  brings  with 
her,  which  often  confifts  of  nothing 
but  her  own  cloaths,  and  perhaps  a 
cow  ;  nay,  it  happens,  fometimes, 
that  the  parents,  inftead  of  giving 
money  with  their  daughter,  get 
fomething  from  the  bridegroom  by 
way  of  price.  The  bride  carries 
water  every  morning,  to  walh  the 
hands  of  her  guefts,  as  long  as  the 
feafting  lafts  ;  and  each  of  them 
throws  a  fmall  piece  of  money  into 
the  bafon,  after  performing  that 
fun£iion,  which  is  a  very  rare  one 
among  them,  excepting  on  fuch  oc- 
cafions.  The  brides  are  alfo  per- 
mitted  to  raife  other  little  contribu- 


X).  Hier.  contra 


Jovin^  m  n0l^l  a  Pr0Vinc^a  fcelus  putant  vitulos  devorare, 

lorL^ilT  d'em  ^a!mat8^  Jcluos  peregrina  ,vitia  non  infecere,  ab  efu  vitu- 
*  aUh0nent'  J°*  T0m‘Marn*  in  ^ined‘ 

tipm 


CHAR  A  CTERS. 


tions  among  the  Svati,  by  hiding 
their  (hoes,  caps,  knives,  or  fome 
Other  neceffary  part  of  their  equi¬ 
page,  which  they  are  obliged  to 
ranfom  by  a  piece  of  money,  ac¬ 
cording  as  the  company  rates  it. 
And,  befides  all  thefe  voluntary, 
or  extorted  contributions  already 
mentioned,  each  gueft  mud  give 
fome  prefent  to  the  new  married 
wife,  at  taking  leave  the  laftday  of 
the  Sdra-vize,  and  then  (he  alfo 
didributes  fome  trifles  in  return, 
which  commonly  confids  in  fhirts, 
caps,  handkerchiefs,  and  fuch  like. 

The  nuptial  rites  are  almod  pre- 
cifely  the  fame  through  all  the  vad 
country  inhabited  by  the  Morlac- 
chi  ;  and  thofe  in  ufe  among  the 
peafants,  and  common  people  of 
the  fea  coads  of  Dalmatia,  Idria, 
and  the  iflands,  differ  but  little 
from  them.  Yet  among  thefe  par¬ 
ticular  varieties,  there  is  one  of  the 
iflands  Zlarine ,  near  Sebenico ,  re¬ 
markable  enough  ;  for  there,  the 
Stari-S'-vat  (who  may  naturally  be 
fuppofed  drunk  at  that  hour)  mud, 
at  one  blow,  with  his  naked  broad 
fvvord,  flrike  the  bride’s  crown  of 
flowers  off  her  head,  when  (he  is 
ready  to  go  to  bed.  And  in  the 
ifland  of  Pago ,  in  the  village  of 
No-voglia>  (probably  the  GiJJ'a  of 
ancient  geographers)  there  is  a  cuf- 
tom  more  comical,  and  lefs  dan¬ 
gerous,  but  equally  favage  and 
brutal.  After  the  marriage  con¬ 
tract  is  fettled,  and  the  bridegroom 
comes  to  condudl  his  bride  to 
church  ;  her  father,  or  mother,  in 
delivering  her  over  to  him,  makes 
an  exaggerated  enumeration  of  her 
jll  qualities  ;  “  Know,  fince  thou 
wilt  have  her,  that  (he  is  good  for 
nothing,  ill  -  natured,  obdinate, 
&c.”  On  which  the  bridegroom, 
affe&ing  an  angry  look,  turns  to 


57 

the  young  woman,  with  an  <(  Ah  ! 
flnce  it  is  fo,  I  will  teach  you  to 
behave  better  and  at  the  fame 
time  regales  her  with  a  blow,  or  a 
kick,  or  fome  piece  of  fimilar  gal¬ 
lantry,  which  is  by  no  means  figu¬ 
rative.  And  it  feems  in  general, 
that  the  Morlack  women,  and  per¬ 
haps  the  greated  part  of  the  Dal¬ 
matians,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
cities  excepted,  do  not  diflike  a 
beating,  either  from  their  hufbands, 
or  lovers. 

In  the  neigbourhood  of  Dernijb , 
the  women  are  obliged,  during  the 
fird  year  after  marriage,  to  kifs  all 
their  national  acquaintances  who 
come  to  the  houfe  ;  but  after  the 
fird  year,  they  are  difpenfed  from 
that  compliment  ;  and  indeed,  they 
become  fo  intolerably  nady,  that 
they  are  no  longer  fit  to  pra&ife  it. 
Perhaps  the  mortifying  manner  in 
which  they  are  treated  by  their 
hufbands,  and  relations,  is  at  the 
fame  time,  both  the  caufe  and  ef¬ 
fect  of  this  (hameful  negledt  of 
their  perfons.  When  a  Morlack 
hufband  mentions  his  wife,  he  al¬ 
ways  premifes,  by  your  leave,  or 
begging  your  pardon.  And  when 
the  hufband  has  a  beddead,  the  wife 
mud  deep  on  the  floor  near  it.  I 
have  often  lodged  in  Morlack 
houfes,  and  obferved,  that  the  fe¬ 
male  fex  is  univerfally  treated  with 
contempt;  it  is  true,  that  the  wo¬ 
men  are  by  no  means  amiable  in 
that  country  ;  they  even  deform,  and 
fpoil  the  gifts  of  nature. 

The  pregnancy  and  births  of 
thofe  women,  would  be  thought 
very  extraordinary  among  us, 
where  the  ladies  fuffer  fo  much, 
notvvithdanding  all  the  care  and 
circumfpe&ion  ufed  before  and  af¬ 
ter  labour.  On  the  contrary,  a 
Morlack  woman  neither  changes 

her 


5S  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  j778 


her  food*  nor  interrupts  her  daily 
fatigue,  on  account  of  her  preg¬ 
nancy  ;  and  is  frequently  delivered 
in  the  fields,  or  on.  the  road,  by 
Jrerfelf ;  and  takes  the  infant, 
wafhes  it  in  the  firit  water  (he  finds, 
carries  it  home  and  returns  the  day 
nfter  to  her  ofua'l  labour,  or  to  feed 
her  flock.  The  cultom  of  the  na¬ 
tion  is  invariable  in  walking  the 
new-born  infants  in  cold  water  ; 
and  the  Moriaechi  may  juttiy  fay 
of  them-felves  what  the  ancient  in¬ 
habitants  of  Italy  did. 

Durum  a  Jtlrpe  genus  natos  ad fitmmaprhtum 
Defer  .mus  fa-vogue  gelu  duramus ,  et  undls. 

And  it  is  certain  that  the  cold 
bath  produces  not  fuch  bad  efFefts 
on  infants,  as  Mac  hard  pretends*'  ; 
who  condemns  the  prefen t  cullom 
of  the  Scotch  and  Irifh,  as  prejudi¬ 
cial  to  the  nerves,  and  derives  the 
jmmerfions  of  the  ancient  Germans 
from  fuperflition  and  ignorance. 

The  little  creatures,  thus  care- 
lefsly  treated  in  their  tendered;  mo¬ 
ments,  are  afterward  wrapped  in 
miferable  rags,  where  they  remain 
three  or  four  months,  under  tbs 
fame  ungentle  management ;  and 
when  chat  term  is  el  a  5  fed,  they  are 
fet  at  liberty,  and  left  to  crawl 
about  the  cottage,  and  before  the 
door,  till  they  learn  to  walk  up¬ 
right  by  thernfelves  ;  and  at  the 
fame  time  acquire  that  Angular 
degree  of  ftrengih,  and  health,  with 
which  the  Morlacchi  are  endowed, 
and  are  able,  without  the  leak  in¬ 
convenience,  to  expofe  their  naked 
breaks  to  the  fevered:  froffc  and 
(now,  The  infants  are  allowed  to 
fuck  their  mother’s  milk  while  fhe 
has  any,  or  till  fhe  is  with  child 
again  ;  and  if  that  fiiOuld  not  hap¬ 


pen  for  three,  four,  or  fix  years, 
they  continue  all  that  time  to  receive 
nourifhment  from  the  break.  The 
prodigious  length  of  the  breaks  of 
the  Mprlacchian  women  is  fo me¬ 
wl,  at  extraordinary  ;  for  it  is  very 
certain,,  that  they  can  give  the  teat 
to  their  children  ever  their  {boul¬ 
ders,  or  under  their  arms.  They 
let  the  boys  run  about,  without 
breeches,  in  a  fhirt  that  reaches 
only  to  the  knee,  till  the  age  of 
thirteen  or  fourteen,  following  the 
cukotn  of  Bojjina. ,  fubject  to  the 
Porte,  where  no  Hara&y.  or  capita¬ 
tion  tax  is  paid  for  the  boys  till  they 
wear  breeches,  they  being  confi- 
dered  before  that  time  as  children, 
not  capable  of  labouring,  or  of 
earning  their  bread.  On  the  occa- 
fion  of  births,  efpecially  of  the 
find,  all  the  relations,  and  friends 
fend  pre/ents  of  eatables  to  the  wo¬ 
man  in  childbed,  or  rather  to  the 
woman  delivered  ;  and  the  family 
make  a  Tapper  of  all  thole  prefenEs 
together.  The  women  do  not  enter 
the  church  till  forty  days  after 
child  birth. 

The  Morlacchi  pafs  their  youth 
in  the  woods,  attending  their  flocks 
and  herds,  and  in  that  life  of  quiet, 
and  leifure,  they  often  become  dex¬ 
terous  in  carving  with  a  Ample 
knife;  they  make  wooden  cups, 
and  whittles  adorned  with  fanciful 
baflreliefs,  which  are  not  void  of 
merit,  and  at  leak,  fiiew  the  genius 
of  the  people. 

Of  the  Food  of  the  Morlacchi. 

MILK  coagulated  in  various 
ways,  is  the  ordinary  nourifhment 
of  the  Morlacchi ;  they  fbmetirhes 
give  it  an  agrdeahle  acid  by  the 


infufion 


•  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  Oecon.  de  Berne,  an.  1764,  iii.  partie. 


CHARACTERS. 


in fu lion  of  vinegar,  wherebv  the 
curd  becomes  extremely  refrefhing  ; 
and  the  whey  is  their  favourite  com¬ 
mon  drink,  nor  is  it  at  all  ui  plea- 
fant  to  a  ftranger’s  tsfte.  When  a 
guefl  arr  ves  unexpectedly,  their 
re?diefi  and  bell  di(h,  is  new  cheefe 
fried  with  butter.  They  are  not 
much  accullomed  -to  bread  baked 
after  our  manner,  but  they  make 
cakes  of  millet,  barley,  Indian 
corn,  and  fometimes  of  wheat, 
which  they  bake,  or  toall  on  the 
hearth  every  day,  for  prefent  ufe; 
but  vvheaten  bread  is  hardly  ever 
feen  in  the  cottages  of  the  poor. 
They  make  a  large  provifion  of  our 
cabbages,  like  thofe  ufed  in  Ger- 
many  ;  and  roots,  and  aty  kinds  of 
efculent  herbs,  which  they  find  in 
the  woods,  or  in  the  fields,  ferve 
them  Tor  a  cheap  and  falutary  diet. 
But  garlick  and  fhalots  are  the  food 
mod  uni  verbally  plealing  to  that 
people,  next  to  roaft  meat,  which 
is  their  mo  ft  luxurious  difh,  I  re¬ 
member  to  have  read  fomewhere, 
that  Stilpo,  being  reproved  for  go¬ 
ing  to  the  temple  of  Ceres,  after 
having  eaten  garlick,  which  was 
forbid,  anfwered  ;  “  give  me  fome- 
thing  better,  and  I  will  leave  it 
off.”  But  the  Morlacchi  would 
not  accept  even  of  that  condition  ; 
and  if  they  did  fo,  it  is  more  than 
probable  they  would  repent  it:  for 
it  is  reafonable  to  think,  that  the 
conftant  ufe  of  thefe  plants,  corrects 
in  part  the  bad  quality  of  their 
water,  and  contributes  to  keep 
them  long  healthy  and  robuft. 
Nothing  is  more  common  in  that 
country,  than  to  fee  very  old  men, 
ltrong,  aftive,  and  lively  to  an  ex¬ 
traordinary  degree ;  and  I  am  in- 


59 

dined  to  think  that  this  is  partly 
owing  to  the  garlick,  and  their 
regular  vegetable  diet.  Yet,  not- 
wichfianding  the  large  quantity  of 
onions,  garlick,  and  fhalots,  which, 
the  Morlacchi  confume,  it  is  won¬ 
derful  to  obferve,  that  in  their  own 
vail  and  rich  fields,  not  one  of  thefe 
articles  is  produced;  and  thus  they 
find  themfelves  obliged,  year  after 
year,  to  give  away  no  inconfiderabie 
fum  to  the  people  of  Ancona,  and 
Rimini,  which  might  fo  eafily  be 
faved.  It  would  certainly  be  a 
falutary  violence,  or  rather  an  adt 
of  paternal  charity,  to  force  them 
to  cultivate  thofe  products,  without 
which  they  cannot  live,  and  which 
require  fb  final!  a  degree  of  induftry. 
It  would  perhaps  be  looked  upon 
with  derifion,  if,  on  this  occafion, 
premiums  were  offered  them  to 
ferve  themfelves  ;  and  yet;  that  is 
doubtlefs  the  beft  and  eafieft  way  of 
improving  agriculture, 

A  late  governor-general  of  Dal¬ 
matia  introduced  and  encouraged 
the  cultivation  of  hemp  in  Mor- 
lacchia,  and  it  fucceeded  well ;  but 
the  public  encouragement  not  con¬ 
tinuing,  iiiduftry  alfo  decayed,  and 
now  only  a  fm all  voluntary  cultiva¬ 
tion  goes  on,  which  nevertheless 
fomewhat  diminifhes  the  fum  re¬ 
quired  to  purchafe  foreign  linen, 
and  maintains  a  few  looms  in  the 
country. 

Many  a  Macrobius  is  to  be  found 
in  Morlacchia,  efpecially  on  the 
brows  of  hills,  where  the  purity  of 
the  air  joined  to  frugality,  and  a 
laborious  life,  lengthens  out  old 
age  without  infirmity.  Yet  I  did 
not  find,  nor  indeed  enquire  after 
a  Datidoji  *  ;  though  I  thought  I  faw 


*  Alex.  Cornelius  memorat  Dandonem  Illyricum  D.  annos  vixiffe  Plin.  1.  7  c.  48. 

more 

1 1 


6o 


ANNUAL  R 

more  than  one  old  man  who  might 
be  compared  to  the  old  Englifh 
Farr  ;  but  the  Morlacchi  are  fo 
carelefsiy  ignorant,  that  they  can 
give  no  account  of  their  own  age, 
long  before  they  come  to  that  pe¬ 
riod  of  their  exigence. 

Of  the  Utenjihy  Cottages ,  Cloaths , 
and  Arms  of  the  Morlacchi. 

A  Morlack  in  eafy  circumftances 
has  no  other  bed  than  a  coarfe 
blanket  made  of  goats  hair,  and  of 
Turkifh  manufadure  ;  very  few  of 
the  richeft  people  in  the  country 
have  fuch  a  piece  of  luxurious  fur¬ 
niture  as  a  bed  after  our  falhion  ; 
and  there  are  not  many  who  have 
fo  much  asabedflead;  which  how¬ 
ever,  when  they  happen  to  get 
made  in  their  rough  manner,  they 
fleep  in,  between  two  goat  hair 
blankets,  without  fheets,  or  any 
other  bedding.  The  greateil  part 
of  the  inhabitants  content  them- 
felves  with  the  bare  ground,  wrapt 
in  the  ufual  blanket,  and  only 
fometimes  a  little  draw  under  it. 
But  in  fummer  they  chufe  to  fleep 
in  the  open  air,  perhaps  to  be  de¬ 
livered  from  the  domeflic  infers. 
Their  houfhold  furniture  corjflfts  of 
few  and  Ample  articles,  fuch  as 
fhepherds,  and  peafants,  little  ad¬ 
vanced  in  arts,  require.  Their 
boufes  are  not  often  covered  with 
tiles,  or  flates ;  and  when  they 
have  any  beams  intended  to  fop- 
pcrt  a  fecond  floor,  the  family’s 
wardrobe  is  placed  on  them,  and 
may  be  imagined  well  provided 
where  there  is  fo  much  magnifi¬ 
cence  ;  yet  the  ladies  fleep  on  the 
floor,  even  in  fuch  noble  houfes. 
J  have  been  lodged  in  one  of  them, 
where  feveral  of  thefe  women  were 
grinding  corn  till  pall  midnight. 


EG  IS  TER,  i778. 

{creaming  certain  diabolical  fongs, 
in  the  fame  place  where  I  was  laid 
to  fleep,  and  where  ten  others  were 
{{retched  on  the  ground,  and  ac¬ 
tually  faffc  afleep,  notwithflanding 
their  frightful  vociferation.  The 
Morlacchi,  who  have  little  or  no 
correfpondence  with  the  fea  towns, 
and  are  at  a  great  diflance  from 
them,  have  feldom  any  other  houfes 
but  cottages  covered  with  ftraw,  or 
Kimble  \  fo  they  call  a  kind  of  laths, 
ufed  inftead  of  tiles.  The  animals 
inhabit  the  fame  cottage,  divided 
from  the  mafters,  by  a  flight  parti¬ 
tion  made  of  twigs,  and  plaiftered 
with  clay,  and  the  dung  of  cattle  ; 
the  walls  of  the  cottage  are  either 
of  the  fame  materials,  or  of  large 
ftones  laid  one  upon  another,  with¬ 
out  cement. 

The  fire-place  {lands  in  the  mid¬ 
dle  of  the  cottage,  and  the  fmoke 
finds  its  way  out  of  the  door,  there 
being  rarely  any  other  aperture. 
Hence  every  thing  within  thefe 
wretched  habitations  is  varnifhed 
with  black,  and  loathfome  with 
fmoke  ;  hot  excepting  the  milk, 
which  forms  a  great  part  of  their 
fuflenance,  and  of  which  they  are 
very  liberal  to  Grangers.  Their 
cloaths,  perfons,  and  every  thing 
in  foort,  contrad  the  fame  fmokey 
fmell.  The  whole  family  fl  ts  round 
this  fire-place,  in  the  cold  feafon  ; 
and,  when  they  have  flipped,  lay 
themfelves  down  to  fleep  in  the 
fame  place  where  they  fat  at  fopper  * 
for,  in  every  cottage,  they  have 
not  even  benches  to  fit,  and  to  lie 
upon.  They  burn  butter  inftead 
of  oil,  in  their  lamps  5  but  for  the 
moft  part  they  ufe  pieces  of  cleft 
fir,  in  lieu  of  candles,  the  fmoke 
of  which  fometimes  tinges  their 
muftaches  curioufly.  A  very  few 
rich  Morlacchi  have  houfes  in  the 

Turkifh 


r 


CHARACTERS.  6 1 


Turkifh  fafhion,  with  ftools,  and 
Tome  few  of  our  moveables  ;  but  in 
general,  the  richeft  of  them  live 
but  a  lavage  kind  of  life.  Al- 
though  they  have  no  idea  of  clean- 
linefs  in  their  habitations,  yet,  in 
one  refped,  they  are  nicer  than  we 
are;  nor  do  they  fail  to  reproach 
us  on  that  account,  and  call  us 
barbarous  and  bealily  :  and  it  is  a 
real  fadl,  that  no  man,  nor  woman 
of  that  nation,  let  the  diforder  be 
ever  fo  fevere,  or  painful,  was  ever 
known  to  eafe  nature  within  the  cot¬ 
tage  ;  even  dying  perlons  are  car¬ 
ried  out  to  perform  that  operation 
in  the  open  air  ;  and  if  a  ftranger 
Ihould  through  ignorance,  or  con¬ 
tempt,  pollute  their  houfe  in  that 
manner,  he  would  fcarcely  efcape 
with  his  life,  and  certainly  not 
without  very  ill  treatment. 

A  Morlacco  cloaths  himfelf  with 
great  plainnefs  and  oeconomy.  The 
Opanke  ferve  for  fhoes,  both  to 
men  and  women,  and  under  them 
they  wear  a  kind  of  ihort  woollen 
ltocking,  called  Navlabaza,  which 
reaches  above  the  ankle,  and  joins 
to  the  breeches,  whereby  all  the  leg 
is  covered.  The  breeches  are  of 
coarfe  white  ferge,  and  they  draw 
them  tight  about  their  waift,  like 
a  purfe,  by  means  of  a  woollen 
firing.  Their  fhirt  is  very  fhort, 
and  over  it  they  wear  a  fhort  dou¬ 
blet,  which  they  call  Jacerma ,  and 
in  winter  they  add  a  kind  oi  fhort 
cloak,  made  of  very  coarfe  red 
cloth,  and  call  it  Kabaniza,  or  Ja- 
pungia .  On  their  head  they  wear  a 
red  cloth  cap,  and  above  it,  a  fort 
of  cylindrical  turban  called  Kalpak. 
They  fhave  their  heads,  leaving 
only  a  fmall  tuft  behind,  like  the 
Poles  and  Tartars.  They  bind 
their  loins  with  a  ftrong  reticular 
fillet  of  wooJlen  yarn,  and  fome. 


times  of  filk  :  and  in  this  fillet,  or 
bandage,  and  their  breeches,  they 
carry  all  their  neceft'ary  imple¬ 
ments  :  fuch  as,  one  or  two  piftols 
ftuck  in  behind,  and  before,  a  very 
large  knife,  which  they  call  Han - 
zar ,  with  the  handle  of  braids,  fet 
round  with  falfe  fiones.  This 
knife  is  often  made  fall  to  a  light 
brafs  chain  rolled  about  the  ban¬ 
dage  ;  and  near  it  is  placed  a  horn, 
with  greafe  for  their  arms,  or  for 
themfelves.  Next  follows  a  little 
bag  with  their  tinder  box,  and 
money,  if  they  have  any  ;  and 
then  their  tobacco  in  a  dried  blad¬ 
der.  The  tobacco  pipe  is  placed 
behind,  the  reed  fiuck  in  below 
their  fhirt,  and  the  bowl  appears 
without.  No  Morlacco  ever  goes 
out  of  doors  without  his  gun  upon 
his  fhoulder. 

The  chiefs  of  the  nation,  how¬ 
ever,  are  better  drefied. 

Of  their  Mufck  and  Poetry ,  Dances 
and  Diverfons, 

THE  Morlacchi  have  their 
ru  flick  affemblies,  efpecially  in 
houfes  where  there  are  feveral  young 
women  ;  and  in  thefe  the  memory 
of  ancient  national  ilories  is  perpe¬ 
tuated.  A  mufician  always  at¬ 
tends  thefe  meetings,  and  fings  the 
old  pifme  or  fongs,  accompanying 
them  with  an  inftrument  called 
guzla ,  which  has  but  one  firing, 
compofed  by  many  horfe  -  hairs* 
The  tune  to  which  thefe  he¬ 
roic  fongs  are  fung,  is  extremely 
mournful,  and  monotonous  ;  be- 
fides,  they  bring  the  found  a  little 
through  the  nofe,  which  agrees 
perfectly  well  with  their  inftru¬ 
ment;  the  verfes  of  the  mod  an- 
cie  t  traditional  fongs  are  of  ten 
fyllables,  not  rhimed.  Their  poe- 

try 


/ 


6  2  A  N  N  U  A  L  IlE 

try  does  not  want  ftrength  of  ex- 
preffion,  bat  the  fmalleft  ray  of 
imagination  rarely  appears  in  it, 
and  the  little  that  is  attempted  is 
feldom  happy.  Yet  thofe  fongs 
have  a  great  effebl  on  the  minds 
of  the  hearers,  who  are  at  pains  to 
get  them  by  heart ;  and  I  have  feen 
fome  of  them  iigh,  and  weep  at  a 
palTage,  which  did  not  appear  to 
me  the  lea  ft  moving.  Perhaps  the 
force  of  the  II lyric  words,  better 
underftood  by  the  Morlacchi,  might 
produce  this  effect  ;  and  perhaps, 
as  fee  ms  to  me  more  probable, 
their  artlefs  minds,  little  ftored 
with  ideas,  might  more  readily  be 
affe&ed  with  any  turn  of  exprelion 
that  appeared  to  them  extraor¬ 
dinary.  That  kind  of  fimplicity, 
and  want  of  order,  which  are  fre¬ 
quently  feen  in  the  ancient  Proven¬ 
cal  Romancers,  form,  in  general, 
the  principal  character  of  the  Mor- 
lacchian  poetry.  Yet  they  have 
fome  pieces  not  deficient  in  point 
of  order  ;  only,  whoever  reads,  or 
hears  them,  mud  be  contented  to 
fupply  the  want  of  detail,  and  pre- 
cifton,  which  the  Morlacchi  neg- 
left,  and  which  'are  carefully  at¬ 
tended  to  by  the  civilized  nations  of 
Europe,  in  all  compofitions,  whe¬ 
ther  in  profe  or  verfe.  I  could 
find  none  of  their  fontrs,  of  well 

O  7 

authenticated  date,  before  the  four¬ 
teenth  century  ;  and  I  fear  the  rea- 
fon  is  analogous  to  that,  by  which 
we  loft  fo  many  Greek  and  Latin 
books,  in  the  times  of  religious 
barbarifm.  I  fufpedt,  never thelefs, 
that  fome  thing  more  ancient  might 
be  found,  further  within  the  coun¬ 
try,  among  the  Merediti ,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Clementine 
mountains,  who  lead  a  paftoral  life, 
feparaied  entirely  from  the  com¬ 
merce  of  other  nations.  But,  who 


GISTER,  1775. 

can  flatter  himfelf  to  be  able  to  pe¬ 
netrate  with  fafety  among  thofe  un- 
fociable,  and  favage  tribes  ?  1  con- 
fefs,  I  fhould  like  fuch  a  jour¬ 
ney,  and  want  nor  courage  to  at¬ 
tempt  it :  not  only  with  the  view 
of  difcovering  ancient  pieces  of 
poetry,  but  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  natural  hiftory  of  thofe 
countries,  hitherto  undefended  and 
unknown  ;  and  alfo  with  a  view  to 
difcover  fame  ( rare  Greek,  or  Ro¬ 
man  antiquities  :  but  too  many 
things  are  wanting  to  put  fuch  a 
projedl  in  execution. 

I  have  tranilated  feveral  heroic 
fongs  of  the  Morlacchi,  and  fome 
of  them  appear  to  me  both  well 
conducted  and  interelting ;  but  X 
very  readily  allow,  that  they  can¬ 
not  be  put  in  competition  with  the 
poems  of  the  celebrated  Scotch  bard 
which  we  have  lately  had  the  plea- 
fure  of  feeing  tranilated7  nto  our 
language,  with  true  poetical  fpirit, 
by  the  Abbe  Cefarotti ,  and  repub- 
liihed  in  a  more  complete  form, 
through  the  generous  bounty  of  a 
noble  countryman  of  the  bard,  who 
patronizes  learning  in  all  parts  of 
Europe.  Yet  the  Morlack  poetry 
is  not  deftitute  of  merit  ;  and  has, 
atdeaft,  the  fimplicity  of  Homer’s 
times,  and  ferves  to  iiluftrate  the 
manners  of  the  nation.  The  Illy- 
rian  language  is  alfo  well  adapt¬ 
ed  to  poetry,  and  muftc  ;  being 
harmonious  and  abounding  with 
vowels ;  and  yet  it  is  almoft  totally 
abandoned,  even  by  the  civilized 
nations  who  fpeak  it.  Ovid,  whea 
he  lived  among  the  Slavi  on  the 
Black  Sea,  condescended  to  exer- 
cife  his  poetical  talent,  by  writing 
verfes  in  their  language,  and  gain¬ 
ed  applaufe  from  thofe  favages  ; 
but  his  Roman  pride  returning,  he 
was  aftiamed  of  having  profaned  the 

Lada 


C  H  A  R  A 

Latin  harmony  *.  The  city  of 
Raguji  has  produced  many  elegant 
poets,  and  Tome  poetelTes  in  the 
Illyrian  tongue ;  and  among  them 
Giovanni  Gondola  is  much  cele¬ 
brated  ;  nor  were  the  other  cities, 
and  iilands  of  Dalmatia  without 
their  poets  ;  but  the  many  Italia- 
nifms  now  introduced  into  their 
dialeils  have  corrected  the  ancient 

k 

fimpiicity  of  the  language.  Even 
the  dialed  of  the  Morlacchi  is  be¬ 
come  equally  barbarous,  and  full  of 
foreign  words,  and  phrafes,  as  I 
am  informed  by  thofe  who  have  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  the  language, 
and  particularly  by  Matteo  Soviet) 
Archdeacon  of  OJJero ,  the  moft 
learned  man  of  that  country-  Yet, 
I  confefs,  that  the  Bofnian  dialed, 
fpeken  by  the  inland  Morlacchi,  is 
more  harmonious,  in  my  opinion, 
than  the  littoral  Illyrian  ;  but  I 
hope  not  to  incur  the  difpleafure  of 
the  maritime  Dalmatians  by  this 
declaration,  as  I  do  not  pretend  to 
be  a  competent  judge  of  the  mat¬ 
ter. —  Let  us,  if  you  pieafe,  return 
to  the  fongs. 

A  Morlacco  travels  along  the 
defert  mountains  Tinging,  especi¬ 
ally  in  the  night  time,  the  actions 
of  ancient  Slavi  kings,  and  barons, 
or  fome  tragic  event  ;  and  if  ano¬ 
ther  happens  to  be  travelling  on  a 
neighbouring  mountain,  he  repeats 
the  fame  verfe,  when  the  other  has 
fung  it,  and  this  alternation  con¬ 
tinues,  as  long  as  they  can  hear  each 
other.  A  loud,  and  long  howl, 
which  is  an  oh  !  barbaroufly  modu¬ 
lated,  conftantly  precedes  the  verfe. 


CTERS.  63 

the  words  of  which  are  pronounced 
rapidly,  almoft  without  any  modu¬ 
lation,  which  is  all  refer ved  for  the 
laft  fyllable,  and  ends  with  another 
long  howl,  by  way  of  trill,  railed 
louder  and  louder,  while  the  breath 
lalts. 

Although  the  Morlacchi  ufually 
fing  their  ancient  fongs,  yet  other 
poetry  is  not  altogether  extinguiih- 
ed  among  them;  and  their  mufi- 
ciatis,  after  finging  an  ancient  piece, 
accompanied  with  the gu%la,  fome- 
times  finifh  it  with  fome  extempore 
verfes,  in  p'raife  of  the  perfonage 
by  whom  they  are  employed  ;  ami 
forne  of  them  are  capable  of  Tinging 
extempore  during  the  whole  enter¬ 
tainment  ;  always  accompanying 
the  voice  with  th eguzla.  There  is 
alfo  fame  written  poetry  among 
them,  when  the  memory  of  a  fig- 
nal  event  happens  to  be  preferved 
in  that  manner.  The  whittle,  or 
flageiet,  and  a  kind  of  pafloral  bag¬ 
pipe,  are  the  common  mufical  in¬ 
struments  among  the  Morlacchi. 
Thefe  traditional  fongs  Contribute 
much  to  maintain  the  ancient  cuf- 
toms  ;  hence  their  rites,  games, 
and  dances,  are  derived  from  very 
remote  originals. 

Their  games  and  diversions  al- 
moft  all  con  fill  in  trials  of  ftrength, 
or  agility  ;  fuch,  as,  leaping,  run¬ 
ning,  or  flinging  a  large  heavy 
flone.  They  dance  to  the  found  of 
the  bag-pipe,  and  the  voices  of  their 
fingers,  a  favourite  dance,  which 
they  call  kolo,  or  circle,  which  foon 
turns  into  Jkocci  goji ,  that  is,  high 
dancing.  All  the  dancers,  men. 


/ 


*  Ah  !  pudet,  et  Getico  fcripfi  fermone  libellum, 

Strudaque  funt  nottris  barbara  verba  modis. 

Et  placui  (gratare  mihi)  cepique  Poetae 
Inter  homanos  nomen  habere  Getas. 

JDe  Pont.  iv.  Bp.  1 5. 

1  ^ 


and 


4 


64  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i778 


and  women,  taking  hold  of  each 
others  hands,  form  a  circle,  and 
turn  flowly  round,  to  the  harfh 
notes  of  the  inftrument.  Then  the 
circle  changes  its  form,  fometimes 
into  an  ellipfis,  and  fometimes  a 
fquare,  according  as  the  dance  be¬ 
comes  more  animated  ;  and,  at 
la.ft,  transforms  itfelf  into  the  moll 
violent  fprings  and  leaps,  in  which 
the  women  alfo  join,  and  the  whole 
becomes  wild  confufion.  The  Mor- 
lacchi  have  an  incredible  transport 
for  this  rude  dance,  for  neither 
the  fatigues  of  the  day,  nor  a  long 
journey,  nor  hunger  itfelf,  can  de¬ 
tain  them  from  it,  or  from  con¬ 
tinuing  feveral  hours,  with  very 
little  intermillion,  in  fuch  a  vio¬ 
lent  exercife. 

On  the  medical  Art  among  the  Mor- 
lacclii. 

IT  happens  frequently  enough, 
that  inflammatory  fevers  are  the 
immediate  confequences  of  thefe 
violent  dances  juft  mentioned  ;  in 
which  cafe,  and  in  all  others  of  the 
like  nature,  the  Morlacchi  do  not 
apply  to  the  phyfician,  becaufe, 
happily  for  them,  there  is  none  of 
that  profeffion  among  them,  but 
cure  themfelves,  after  their  own 
way.  A  large  draught  of  a  fpiri- 
tuous  liquor,  which  they  call  rakia , 
is  commonly  their  fir  ft  medicinal 
potion  ;  and  if  that  does  not  effec¬ 
tuate  the  cure,  they  repeat  the  dofe, 
together  with  a  large  infufion  of 
pepper,  or  gun  -  powder.  After 
this,  they  cover  themfelves  up,  in 
winter  ;  or  lie  down  in  the  hotteft 
rays  of  the  fun,  if  in  fummer,  to 
J'<voeat  the  illnefs ,  as  they  exprefs  it. 
Their  cure  for  agues  is , more  me¬ 


thodical  ;  the  firft  and  fecorid  day, 
they  take  a  glafs  of  wine,  in  which 
as  much  pepper  as  they  can  take 
up  between  their  finger  and  thumb, 
has  been  infufed  for  feveral  hours ; 
and  the  third  and  fourth  day,  the 
dofe  is  doubled  ;  and  I  have  adlnafly 
feen  more  than  one  Morlacco  per- 
fe&Iy  cured  by  this  ftrange  febri¬ 
fuge.  Their  remedy  for  obftruc  - 
tions  is  to  lay  a  large  flat  flone  on 
the  fick  perfan’s  belly ;  and  for 
rheumatifms,  they  ufe  a  mo  ft  vio¬ 
lent  fridlion,  which,  at  leaft,  ren¬ 
ders  the  patient’s  back  quite  livid, 
and  fometimes  ftrips  off  the  fkin. 
Sometimes,  they  apply  a  red-hot 
ftone,  wrapt  in  wet  rags,  for  rheu¬ 
matic  pains  ;  and  they  ufe  to  drink 
a  great  quantity  of  vinegar,  to  re¬ 
cover  their  appetite,  after  a  long 
feries  of  fevers.  But  the  laft  re¬ 
medy  of  all,  which  is  taken  only  in. 
defperate  cafes,  is  fugar,  when  they 
can  find  any  ;  and  they  put  it  into 
the  mouths  of  dying  perfons,  to 
make  them  pafs  into  the  other  world 
with  lefs  bitternefs.  Criptamus  and 
Chamcephiiis  are  ufed  for  articular 
pains,  and  they  frequently  apply 
horfe  leeches  to  the  fwelled,  or 
aching  parts.  They  apply  a  red 
ochrous  earth,  frequently  found  in 
the  fields,  as  the  beft  remedy  for 
excoriations,  or  wounds  ;  and  the 
fame  ufe  is  made  of  it  in  fome  parts 
of  Bohemia  and  Mifnia,  where 
that  earth  abounds  *.  Grifelius , 
who  takes  notice  of  this  pra&ice, 
has  tried  the  experiment  often  with 
fuccefs  upon  himfelf ;  as  I  have 
alfo  done  in  Dalmatia.  The  Mor¬ 
lacchi  are  very  dexterous  in  fetting 
diflocated,  or  broken  bones,  with¬ 
out  having  ftudied  ofteology  like 
our  furgeons,  who,  notwithftand- 


#  Suppl,  A61,  Nat.  Curiof.  Dec.  i,  an,  2,  Obf.  78. 


C  H  A  R  A 

ing,  lame  us  frequently,  by  the 
rules  of  art.  They  perform  phle¬ 
botomy  with  an  inrtrument  like 
that  ufed  for  horfes,  and  yet  there 
is  no  example  of  any  bad  accident 
happening  by  that  coarfe  opera¬ 
tion. 

Funerals  of  the  M  or  lac  chi. 

THE  family  weeps  and  howls 
over  the  dead,  while  they  lie  in 
the  houfe,  and  when  they  are  car¬ 
ried  out  to  be  buried,  much  in 
the  fame  manner  as  with  us.  But 
the  Morlacchi  have  feveral  cuftoms 
peculiar  to  themfelves,  on  thefe 
occafions  ;  fuch  as,  whifpering  in 
the  ear  of  the  dead  perfon,  and 
giving  exprefs  commifiions  for  the 
other  world.  After  this  ceremony 
is  finifhed,  the  body  is  covered 
with  a  white  cloth,  and  carried 
to  church,  where  the  lamentations 
begin  anew,  and  the  praifes  of  the 
deceafed  are  fung,  by  the  relations, 
or  others  appointed  for  that  pur- 
pofe,  weeping.  After  the  corpfe 
is  buried,  the  whole  company,  to¬ 
gether  with  the  curate,  returns  to 
the  houfe,  where  there  is  a  ftrange 
mixture  of  feafting,  and  lamenta¬ 
tion.  The  men  let  their  beards 
grow  a  long  time,  in  fign  of  mourn¬ 
ing  ;  a  cuftom  derived  from  the 
Jews,  as  is  that  of  unleavened 
bread,  purifications,  and  feveral 
others.  Violet  or  blue-coloured 
caps  are  alfo  the  mark  of  mourn¬ 
ing.  The  women  wear  black  or 
blue  handkerchiefs,  and  cover  all 
the  red  of  their  garments  with 
fomething  black.  During  the  firft 
year,  the  Morlack  women  go  every 
holiday  to  renew  their  lamenta¬ 
tions,  ftrevving  flowers  and  fweet 
herbs  upon  the  grave;  and  if  ne- 
ceflarily  detained  from  that  vifit, 
Vol.  XXI. 


CTER'S.  65 

they  next  time  make  a  formal  ex- 
cufe  to  the  dead,  giving  a  minute 
account  of  the  caufe  of  their  ne¬ 
glect.  They  alfo  aflc  news  about 
the  other  world,  and  propofe  many 
qurious  interrogations.  All  thele 
ceremonies  are  furtg  in  a  kind  of 
verfe  in  a  doleful  tone,  and  fome- 
times  the  giris  accompany  the  wo¬ 
men  in  order  to  learn  thefe  fu¬ 
neral  arts,  and  form  a  concert  truly 
difmal. 


Of  the  Manner  of  snaking  War 
amongjl  the  Indians  cf  North 
America.  From  Carver’*  Tra¬ 
vels. 

^T^HE  Indians  begin  to  bear 
X  arms  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
and  lay  them  afide  when  they  ar¬ 
rive  at  the  age  of  fixty.  Some  na¬ 
tions  to  the  fouthward,  I  have  been 
informed,  do  not  continue  their 
military  exercifes  after  they  are 
fifty. 

In  every  band  or  nation  there  is 
a  feled  number  who  are  Ailed  the 
warriors,  and  who  are  always  ready 
to  ad  either  oftenfively  or  defen- 
fively,  as  occafion  requires.  Thefe 
are  well  armed,  bearing  the  wea- 
pons  commonly  in  ufe  among  them, 
which  vary  according  to  the  fitua- 
tion  of  their  countries.  Such  as 
have  an  intercourfe  with  the  Eu¬ 
ropeans  make  ufe  of  tomahawks, 
knives,  and  fire-arms  ;  but  tftofe 
whofe  dwellings  are  fituated  to  the 
weftward  of  the  Miffiflippi,  and  who 
have  not  an  opportunity  of  pur- 
chafing  thefe  kinds  of  weapons, 
ufe  bows  and  arrows,  and  alfo  the 
Cafle  Tete  or  war-club. 

The  Indians  that  inhabit  fifll 
farther  to  the  weftward,  a  country 
which  extends  to  the  South  Sea, 
F  .  ufe 


66  ANNUAL  RE 

ufe  in  fight  a  warlike  inftrument 
that  is  very  uncommon.  Having 
great  plenty  of  horfes,  they  always 
attack  their  enemies  on  horfeback, 
and  encumber  themfelves  with  no 
other  weapon,  than  a  ftone  of  a 
middling  fize,  curioufly  wrought, 
which  they'  fallen  by  a  firing, 
about  a  yard  and  half  long,  to 
their  right  arms,  a  little  above  the 
elbow.  Thefe  hones  they  con¬ 
veniently  carry  in  their  hands  till 
they  reach  their  enemies,  and  then 
Twinging  them  with  great  dexte¬ 
rity,  as  they  ride  full  fpeed,  ne¬ 
ver  fail  of  doing  execution.  The 
country  which  thefe  tribes  pofTefs 
abounding  with  large  extenfive 
plains,  thofe  who  attack  them  fel- 
dom  return  ;  as  the  fwiftnefs  of 
the  horfes  on  which  they  are  mount¬ 
ed  enables  them  to  overtake  even 
the  fleeted  of  their  invaders. 

The  Nau  do  wellies,  who  had  been 
at  war  with  this  people,  informed 
me,  that  unlefs  they  found  mo- 
raffles  or  thickets  to  which  they 
could  retire,  they  were  fure  of  be¬ 
ing  cut  oft:  to  prevent  this  they 
always  took  care,  whenever  they 
made  an  onfet,  to  do  it  near  fuch 
retreats  as  were  impafflable  for 
cavalry,  they  then  having  a  great 
advantage  over  their  enemies,  whofe 
weapons'  would  not  there  reach 
them. 

Some  nations  make  ufe  of  a  ja¬ 
velin  pointed  with  bone  worked 
into  different  forms ;  but  their  In¬ 
dian  weapons  in  general  are  bows 
and  arrows,  and  the  fhort  club  al¬ 
ready  mentioned.  The  latter  is 
made*  of  a  very  hard  wood,  and 
the  head  of  it  fafiuoned  round  like 
3  bail,  about  three  inches  and  a 
half  diameter  ;  in  this  rotund  part 
is  fixed  an  edge  refembling  that  of 


GISTER,  1778. 

a  tomahawk,  either  of  fleel  op 
flint,  whichever  they  can  pro¬ 
cure. 

The  dagger  is  peculiar  to  the 
Naudoweffe  nation,  and  of  an¬ 
cient  coriilrudtion,  but  they  can 
give  no  account  how,  long  it  has 
been  in  ufe  among  them.  It  was 
originally  made  of  flint  or  bone, 
but  fince  they  have  had  commu¬ 
nication  with  the  European  tra^ 
ders,  they  have  formed  it  of  Heel. 
The  length  of  it  is  about  ten  in¬ 
ches,  and  that  part  clofe  to  the 
handle  nearly  three  inches  broad. 
Its  edges  are  keen,  and  it  gra¬ 
dually  tapers  towards  a  point. 
They  wear  it  in  a  (heath  made  of 
deers  leather,  neatly  ornamented 
with  porcupines  quills;  and  it  is 
ufualfy  hung  by  a  firing,  decorated 
in  the  fame  manner,  which  reaches 
as  low  only  as  the  bread.  This 
Curious  weapon  is  worn  by  a  few 
of  the  principal  chiefs  alone,  and 
confidered  both  as  a  ufeful  inflru- 
ment,  and  an  ornamental  badge  of 
fuperiority. 

1  obferved  amonv  the  Naudow- 

O 

e flies  a  few  targets  or  fhields  made 
of  raw  buffalo  hides,  and  in  the 
form  of  thofe  ufed  by  the  ancients. 
But  as  the  number  of  thefe  was 
fmall,  and  I  could  gain  no  intel¬ 
ligence  of  the  aera  in  which  they 
firil  were  introduced  among  them, 
I  fuppofe  thofe  I  flaw  had  descended 
froiigfather  to  fon  for  many  gene¬ 
rations. 

The  reafons  the  Indians  give  for 
making  war  againfl  one  another, 
are  much  the  fame  as  thofe  urged 
by  more  civilized  nations  for  dif» 
turbing  the  tranquillity  of  their 
neighbours.  The  pleas  of  the  for¬ 
mer  are  however  in  general  more 
rational  and  juft,  than  fuch  as  are 

brought 


CHARACTERS.  6j 


brought  by  Europeans  in  vindica¬ 
tion  of  their  proceedings. 

The  extenlion  of  empire  is  fel- 
dom  a  motive  with  thefe  people  to 
invade,  and  to  commit  depreda¬ 
tions  on  the  territories  of  thole  who 
happen  to  dwell  near  them.  To 
fecure  the  rights  of  hunting  within 
particular  limits,  to  maintain  the 
liberty  of  palling  through  their 
accullomed  tracks,  and  to  guard 
.thofe  lands  which  they  confider 
from  a  long  tenure  as  their  own, 
againd  any  infringement,  are  the 
general  caufes  of  thofe  diffenfions 
that  fo  often  break  out  between 
the  fndian  nations,  and  which  are 
carried  on  with  fo  much  animolity. 
Though  ftrangers  to  the  idea  of 
feparate  property,  yet  the  mod:  un¬ 
cultivated  amonor  them  are 'well  ac- 

O 

quainted  with  the  rights  of  their 
community  to  the  domains  they 
poffefs,  and  oppofe  with  vigour 
every  encroachment  on  them. 

Notwithstanding  it  is  generally 
fuppofed  that  from  their  territories 
being  fo  extenfive,  the  boundaries 
of  them  cannot  be  afcertained,  yet 
I  am  well  allured  that  the  limits  of 
each  nation  in  the  interior  parts 
are  laid  down  in  their  rude  plans 
with  great  precilion.  By  theirs, 
as  I  have  before  obferved,  was  I 
enabled  to  regulate  my  own  ;  and 
after  the  mod  exadl  obfervations 
and  enquiries,  found  very  few  in- 
ltances  in  which  they  erred. 

But  intered  is  not  either  the 
moll  frequent  or  mod  powerful  in¬ 
centive  to  their  making  war  on 
each  other.  The  paflion  of  re¬ 
venge,  which  is  the  dillinguilhing 
charadleridic  of  thefe  people,  is 
the  mod  general  motive.  Inju¬ 
ries  are  felt  by  them  with  exqui- 
fite  fenfibiiity,  and  vengeance  pur- 
fued  with  unremitted  ardour.  To 


this  may  be  added,  that  natural 
excitation  which  every  Indian  be¬ 
comes  fenfible  of  as  foon  as  he 
approaches  the  age  of  manhood, 
to  give  proofs  of  his  valour  and 
prowefs. 

As  they  are  early  podeded  with 
a  notion  that  war  ought  to  be  the 
chief  bufinefs  of  their  lives,  that 
there  is  nothing  more  defirous  than, 
the  reputation  of  being  a  great 
warrior,  and  that  the  fcalps  of 
their  enemies  or  a  number  of  pri»  » 
foners  are  alone  to  be  edeemed  va¬ 
luable,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  the  younger  Indians  are  con¬ 
tinually  redlefs  and  uneafy  if  their 
ardour  is  reprelTed,  and  they  ara 
kept  in  a  date  of  inactivity.  Ei¬ 
ther  of  thefe  propenddes,  the  delire 
of  revenge,  or  the  gratification  of 
an  impulfe  that  by  degrees  be¬ 
comes  habitual  to  them,  is  fuffi- 
cient,  frequently,  to  induce  them 
to  commit  hoilili ties  on  fome  of  the 
neighbouring  nations. 

When  the  chiefs  find  any  occa- 
don  for  making  war,  they  endea¬ 
vour  to  aroufe  thefe  habitudes,  and 
by  that  means  foon  excite  their 
warriors  to  take  arms.  To  this 
purpofe  they  make  ufe  of  their 
martial  eloquence  nearly  in  the 
following  words,  which  never  fails 
of  proving  ededlual  :  “  The  bones 
of  our  deceafed  countrymen  lie  un¬ 
covered,  they  call  out  to  us  to  re¬ 
venge  their  wrongs,  and  we  mud 
fatisfy  their  requed.  Their  fpirits 
cry  out  againd  us,  they  mud  be 
appeafed.  The  genii,  who  are 
the  guardians  of  our  honour,  in- 
fpire  us  with  a  refolution  to  feek 
the  enemies  of  our  murdered  bro¬ 
thers.  Let  us  go  and  devour  thofe 
by  whom  they  were  llain.  Sit 
therefore  no  longer  inactive,  give 
way  to  the  impulfe  of  your  natural 

E  2  '  valour^ 


6%  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


valour,  anoint  your  hair,  paint 
your  faces,  fill  your  quivers,  caufe 
the  forefts  to  refound  with  your 
fongs,  confole  the  fpirits  of  the 
dead,  and  tell  them  they  fliall  be 
revenged. ” 

Animated  by  thefe  exhortations 
the  warriors  finatch  their  arms  in  a 
tranfport  of  fury,  fing  the  fong  of 
war,  and  burn  with  impatience  to 
imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of 
their  enemies. 

Sometimes  private  chiefs  affem- 
ble  fmall  parties,  and  make  ex- 
curfions  againft  thofe  with  whom 
they  are  at  war,  or  fuch  as  have 
^injured  them.  A  fingle  warrior, 
prompted  by  revenge,  or  a  defire  to 
Ihow  his  prowefs,  will  march  un¬ 
attended  for  feveral  hundred  miles, 
to  furprize  and  cut  off  a  itraggling 
party. 

Thefe  irregular  fallies,  however, 
are  not  always  approved  of  by  the 
elder  chiefs,  though  they  are  often 
obliged  to  connive  at  them  ;  as 
in  the  infiance  before  given  of 
the  Naudoweffie  and  Chipeway  na¬ 
tions. 

But  when  a  war  is  national, 
and  undertaken  by  the  community, 
their  deliberations  are  formal  and 
flow.  The  elders  affemble  in  coun¬ 
cil,  to  which  all  the  head  war¬ 
riors  and  young  men  are  admit¬ 
ted,  where  they  deliver  their  opi¬ 
nions  in  folemn  fpeeches,  weigh¬ 
ing  with  maturity  the  nature  of 
the  enterprize  they  are  about  to 
engage  in,  and  balancing  with 
great  fagacity  the  advantages  or 
inconveniencies  that  will  arife  from 
it. 

Their  priefis  are  alfo  confulted 
on  the  fubjeft,  and  even,  fome- 
times,  the  advice  of  the  moil  intelli¬ 
gent  of  their  women  is  afkcde 


If  the  determination  be  for  war, 
they  prepare  for  it  with  much  ce¬ 
remony. 

The  chief  wajrior  of  a  nation 
does  not  on  all  occafions  head  the 
war  party  himfelf,  he  frequently 
deputes  a  warrior  of  whofe  valour 
and  prudence  he  has  a  good  opi¬ 
nion.  The  perfon  thus  fixed  on 
being  firft  bedawbed  with  black, 
obferves  a  fail  of  feveral  days, 
during  which  he  invokes  the  Great 
Spirit,  or  deprecates  the  anger  of 
the  evil  ones,  holding  whilfi:  it 
lafis  no  converfe  with  any  of  his 
tribe. 

He  is  particularly  careful  at  the 
fame  time  to  obferve  his  dreams, 
for  on  thefe  do  they  fuppofe  their 
fuccefs  will  in  a  great  meafure  de¬ 
pend ;  and  from  the  firm  per fua-  i 
fion,  every  Indian  adluated  by  his 
own  prefuroptuous  thoughts  is  im- 
preffed  with,  that  be  fhali  march 
forth  to  certain  victory,  thefe  are 
generally  favourable  to  his  withes. 

After  he  has  failed  as  long  as 
cufiom  prefcribes,  he  affembles  the 
warriors,  and  holding  a  belt  of 
wampum  in  his  hand  thus  addreffes 
them  : 

“  Brothers !  by  the  infpiration 
of  the  Great  Spirit  I  now  fpeak 
unto  you,  and  by  him  am  I  prompt¬ 
ed  to  carry  into  execution  the  in¬ 
tentions  which  I  am  about  to  aif- 
clofe  to  you.  The  blood  of  our 
deceafed  brothers  is  not  yet  wiped 
away  ;  their  bodies  are  not  yet  co¬ 
vered,  and  I  am  going  to  perform 
this  duty  to  them.” 

Having  then  made  known  to 
them  all  the  motives  that  induce 
him  to  take  up  arms  againft  the 
nation  with  whom  they  are  to  en¬ 
gage,  he  thus  proceeds :  “  I  have 
therefore  refolved  to  march  through 
-  ■  1  the 


CHARACTERS.  6a 


the  war  path  to  furprize  them. 
We  will  eat  their  fleffi  and  drink 
their  blood  ;  we  will  take  fcalps, 
and  make  prifoners ;  and  fiiouid 
we  perifh  in  this  glorious  enter- 
prize,  we  Avail  not  be  for  ever  hid 
in  the  dull,  for  this  belt  fhall  be 
a  recompence  to  him  who  buries 
the  dead.”  Having  faid  this,  he 
lays  the  belt  on  the  ground,  and 
he  who  takes  it  up  declares  him- 
felf  his  lieutenant,  and  is  con- 
fidered  as  the  fecond  in  command  ; 
this,  however,  is  only  done  by 
fome  dillinguilhed  warrior  who  has 
a  right,  by  the  number  of  his  lcalps, 
to  the  poll. 

Though  the  Indians  thus  aftert 
that  they  will  eat  the  £U/h  and 
drink  the  blood  of  their  enemies, 
the  threat  fs  only  to  be  confidered 
as  a  figurative  expreffion.  Not¬ 
withstanding  they  fometimes  de¬ 
vour  the  hearts  of  thofe  they  Aay, 
and  drink  their  blood,  by  way  of 
bravado,  or  to  gratify  in  a  more 
complete  manner  their  revenge, 
yet  they  are  not  naturally  anthro¬ 
pophagi,  nor  ever  feed  on  the  flefh 
of  men. 

The  chief  is  now  walked  from 
his  fable  covering,  anointed  with 
bears  fat,  and  painted,  with  their 
red  paint,  in  fuch  figures  as  will 
make  him  appear  moll  terrible  to 
his  enemies.  He  then  fmgs  the 
war-fong,  and  enumerates  his  war¬ 
like  actions.  Having  done  this,  he 
fixes  his  eyes  on  the  fun,  and  pays 
his  adorations  to  the  Great  Spirit, 
in  which  he  is  accompanied  by  all 
the  warriors. 

This  ceremony  is  followed  with 
dances,  fuch  as  I  have  before  de¬ 
fended  ;  and  the  whole  concludes 
with  a  feall  which  ufually  confiils 
of  dogs  flefh. 


This  feall  is  held  in  the  hut  or 
tent  of  the  chief  warrior,  to  which 
all  thofe  who  intend  to  accompany 
him  in  his  expedition  fend  their 
difiles  to  be  filled  ;  and  during  the 
feall,  notwithftanding  he  has  failed 
fo  long,  he  fits  compofedly  with 
his  pipe  in  his  mouth,  and  re¬ 
counts  the  valorous  deeds  of  his 
family. 

As  the  hopes  of  having  their 
wounds,  fiiould  they  receive  any, 
properly  treated,  and  expeditioufiy 
cured,  mull  be  fome  additional  in¬ 
ducement  to  the  warriors  to  ex- 
pofe  themfelves  more  freely  to  dan¬ 
ger,  the  priefts,  who  alfo  are  their 
dodlors,  prepare  fuch  medicines  as 
will  prove  efficacious.  With  great 
ceremony  they  colledt  various  roots 
and  plants,  and  pretend  that  they 
impart  to  them  the  power  of  heal¬ 
ing. 

Notwithftanding  this  fuperfti- 
tious  method  of  proceeding,  it  is 
very  certain  that  they  have  acquir¬ 
ed  a  knowledge  of  many  plants  and 
herbs  that  are  of  a  medicinal  qua¬ 
lity,  and  which  they  know  how  to 
ufe  with  great  {kill. 

From  the  time  the  refolution  of 
engaging  in  a  war  is  taken,  to 
the  departure  of  the  warriors,  the 
nights  are  fpent  in  feftivity,  and 
their  days  in  making  the  needful 
preparations.  * 

If  it  is  thought  necefiary  by  the 
nation  going  to  war,  to  folicit  the 
alliance  of  any  neighbouring  tribe, 
they  fix  upon  one  of  their  chiefs 
who  fpeaks  the  language  of  that 
people  well,  and  who  is  a  good 
orator,  and  fend  to  them  by  him  a 
belt  of  wampum,  on  which  is  fpe- 
cified  the  purport  of  the  embafiy, 
in  figures  that  every  nation  is  well 
acquainted  with.  At  the  fame 
F  3  time 


s 


70  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177E. 


time  he  carries  with  him  a  hatchet 
fainted  red. 

As  foon  as  he  reaches  the  camp 
Or  village  to  which  he  is  deftined, 
he  acquaints  the  chief  of  the  tribe 
with  the  general  tenor  of  his  com- 
midion,  who  immediately  affera. 
bles  a  council,  to  which  the  am- 
ballad  or  is  invited.  There  having 
laid  the  hatchet  on  the  ground,  he 
holds  the  belt  in  his  hand,  and 
enters  more  minutely  into  the  oc- 
cafion  of  his  embafty.  In  his 
fpeech  he  invites  them  to  take  up 
the  hatchet,  and  as  foon  as  he  has 
finished  fpeaking  delivers  the  belt. 

If  his  hearers  are  inclined  to  be¬ 
come  auxiliaries  to  his  nation,  a 
chief  Heps  forward  and  takes  up 
the  hatchet,  and  they  immediately 
efpoufe  with  fpirit  the  caufe  they 
have  thus  engaged  to  fopport. 
But  if  on  this  application  neither 
the  belt  'or  hatchet  are  accepted, 
the  emififary  concludes  that  the 
people  whole  affi dance  he  folicits 
have  already  entered  into  an  al¬ 
liance  with  the  foes  of  his  nation, 
and  returns  with  fpeed  to  inform 
his  countrymen  of  his  ill-fuccefs. 

The  manner  in  which  the  In¬ 
dians  declare  war  again!!  each 
other,  is  by  fending  a  Have  with  a 
hatchet,  the  handle  of  which  is 
painted  red,  to  the  nation  which 
they  intend  to  break  with  ;  and 
themefienger,  notwithftanding  the 
danger  to  which  he  is  expofed 
front  the  fudden  fury  of  thofe 
whom  he  thus  fets  at  defiance, 
executes  his  commiffion  with  great 
fidelity. 

Sometimes  this  token  of  de¬ 
fiance  has  fitch,  an  inftantaneous 
rfteft  on  thofe  to  whom  it  is  pre- 
fented,  that  in  the  firft  tranfports 
of  their  fury  a  fmall  party  will 
iffoe  forth  without  waiting :  for 


the  permifiion  of  the  elder  chiefs, 
and  flaying  the  firft  of  the  offend¬ 
ing  naiion  they  meet,  cut  open 
the  body,  and  flick  a  hatchet  of 
the  fame  kind  as  that  they  have 
juft  received  into  the  heart  of 
their  flaughtered  foe.  Among  the 
more  remote  tribes  this  is  done 
with  an  arrow  or  fpear,  the  end 
of  which  is  painted  red.  And  the 
more  to  exafperate,  they  difmem- 
ber  the  body,  to  fhow  that  they 
efteem  them  not  as  men  but  as  old 
women. 

The  Indians  feldom  take  the 
field  in  large  bodies,  as  fuch 
numbers  would  require  a  greater 
degree  of  induftry  to  provide  for 
their  fubfiftence,  during  their  te¬ 
dious  marches  through  dreary  fo¬ 
re  ds  ,  or  long  voyages  over  lakes 
and  rivers,  than  they  would  care  to 
beftovv. 

Their  armies  are  never  encum¬ 
bered  with  baggage  or  military 
ftores.  Each  warrior,  befides  his 
weapons,  carries  with  him  only  a 
mat,  and  whilft  at  a  diftance  from 
the  frontiers  of  the  enemy  fuppGrts 
himfelf  with  the  game  he  kills  or 
the  fifh  he  catches. 

When  they  pafs  through  a  coun¬ 
try  where  they  have  no  appre- 
henfions  of  meeting  with  an  ene¬ 
my,  they  ufe  very  little  precaution  : 
fometimes  there  are  fcarcely  a  do¬ 
zen  warriors  left  together,  the  reft 
being  difperfed  in  purfuit  of  their 
game;  but  though  they  fhould  have 
roved  to  a  very  confiderable  dif¬ 
tance  from  the  war-path,  they  are 
fure  to  arrive  at  the  place  of  ren¬ 
dezvous  by  the  hour  appointed. 

They  always  pitch  their  tents 
long  before  fun-fet ;  and  being 
naturally  prefuraptuous  take  very 
little  care  to  guard  again  ft  a  fur- 
prize,.  They  place  great  confi¬ 
dence 


CHARACTERS, 


uence  in  their  Manitous,  or  houf- 
iiold  gods,  which  they  always 
carry  with  them  ;  and  being  per¬ 
suaded  that  they  take  upon  them 
the  office  of  centinels,  they  fleep 
very  fecurely  under  their  protec¬ 
tion. 

Thefe  Manitous,  as  they  are 
called  by  fome  nations,  but  which 
are  termed  Wakon,  that  is.  Spirits, 
by  the  Naudoweffies,  are  nothing 
more  than  the  otter  and  martins 
fkins  I  have  already  defcribed,  for 
which,  however,  they  have  a  great 
veneration. 

After  they  have  entered  the  ene¬ 
mies  country,  no  people  can  be 
more  cautious  and  circumfpedt  : 
fires  are  no  longer  lighted,  no 
more  fhouting  is  heard,  nor  the 
game  any  longer  purfued.  They 
are  not  even  permitted  to  Speak  ; 
but  mull  convey  whatever  they 
have  to  impart  to  each  other  by 
figns  and  motions. 

They  now  proceed  wholly  by 
ilratagem  and  ambufeade.  Hav¬ 
ing  difeovered  their  enemies,  they 
fend  to  reconnoitre  them  ;  and  a 
council  is  immediately  held,  dur¬ 
ing  which  they  ipeak  only  in  whlf- 
pers,  to  conlider  of  the  intelli¬ 
gence  imported  by  thofe  who  were 
Sent  out. 

The  attack  is  generally  made 
juft  before  day-break,  at  which  pe¬ 
riod  they  fuppofe  their  foes  to  be 
in  the  foundeft  deep.  Throughout 
the  whole  of  the  preceding  night 
they  will  lie  flat  upon  their  faces, 
without  ftirring ;  and  make  their 
approaches  in  the  fame  pofture, 
creeping  upon  their  hands  and  feet 
till  they  are  got  within  bovv-fnot  of 
thofe  they  have  deftined  to  deftruc- 
tion.  On  a  Signal  given  by  the 
chief  warrior,  to  which  the  whole 
body  makes  anfwer  by  the  moft 


7* 

hideous  yells,  they  all  ftart  up, 
and  difeharging  their  arrows  in  the 
fame  initant,  without  giving  their 
adversaries  time  to  recover  from 
the  confufion  into  which  they  are 
thrown,  pour  in  upon  them  with 
their  war-clubs  or  tomahawks. 

The  Indians  think  there  is  little 
glory  to  be  acquired  from  attacking 
their  enemies  openly  in  the'  field-; 
their  greateft  pride  is  to  Surprize 
and  deftroy.  They  Seldom  en¬ 
gage  without  a  manifeft  appearance 
of  advantage.  If  they  find  the 
enemy  on  their  guard,  too  ftrong- 
ly  entrenched,  or  Superior  in  num¬ 
ber?,  they  retire,  provided  there 
is  an  opportunity  of  doing  So.  And 
they  efteem  it  the  greateft  qualifi¬ 
cation  of  a  chief  warrior,  to  be 
able  to  manage  an  attack.  So  as  to 
deftroy  as  many  of  the  enemy  as 
poffibie,  at  the  expence  of  a  few 
men. 

Sometimes  they  Secure  themfelves 
behind  tree?,  hillocks,  or  ftones, 
and  having  given  one  or  two  rounds 
retire  before  they  are  difeovered. 
Europeans  who  are  unacquainted 
with  this  method  of  fighting  too 
often  find  to  their  coft  the  deftruc- 
tive  efficacy  of  it. 

General  Braddock  was  one  of 
this  unhappy  number.  Marching, 
in  the  .year  1755,  to  attack  Fort 
Du  Quefne,  he  was  intercepted  by 
a  party  of  confederate  Indians  in. 
the  intereft  of  the  French,  who  by 
this  infidicus  method  of  engaging 
found  means  to  defeat  his  army, 
which  confifted  of  about  three 
thoufand  brave  and  well -disciplined 

A 

troops.  So  fecurely  were  the  In¬ 
dians  pofted,  that  the  Englifh 
Scarcely  knew  from  whence  or  by 
whom  they  were  thus  annoyed. 
During  the  whole  of  the  engage¬ 
ment  the  latter  had  Scarcely  a  fight 
F  4  '  ©/ 


?2  ANNUAL  RE 

of  an  enemy  ;  and  were  obliged 
to  retreat  without  the  fatislaclion 
of  being  able  to  take  the  lead  de¬ 
gree  of  revenge  for  the  havock 
made  among  them.  The  General 
paid  for  his  temerity  with  his  life, 
and  was  accompanied  in  his  fall  by 
a  great  number  of  brave  fellows  ; 
whilft  his  invifible  enemies  had 
only  two  or  three  of  their  number 
wounded. 

When  the  Indians  fiicceed  in 
their  lilent  approaches,  and  are 
able  to  force  the  camp  which  they 
attack,  a  fcene  of  horror,  that  ex¬ 
ceeds  defcription,  enfues.  The 
lavage  fiercenefs  of  th$  conquer¬ 
ors,  and  the  defperation  of  the 
conquered,  who  well  know  what 
they  have  to  expecl  (hould  they 
fall  alive  into  the  hands  of  their 
affailants,  occafion  the  mod  ex¬ 
traordinary  exertions  on  both  lides. 
The  figure  of  the  combatants,  all 
be'meared  with  black  and  red 
paint,  and  covered  with  the  blood 
of  the  flain,  their  horrid  yells,  and 
ungovernable  fury,  are  not  to  be 
conceived  by  thole  who  have  never 
eroded  the  Atlantic. 

I  have  frequently  been  a  fpe&a- 
tor  of  them,  and  once  bore  a  part 
In  a  dmilar  fcene.  But  what  ad¬ 
ded  to  the  horror  of  it,  was,  that 
I  had  not  the  confolation  of  being 
able  to  oppofe  thefe  favage  attacks. 
Every  circumdance  of  the  adven¬ 
ture  dill  dwells  on  my  remem¬ 
brance,  and  enables  me  to  deferibe 
with  greater  perfpicoity  the  brutal 
fiercenefs  of  the  Indians  when  they 
have  furprized  or  overpowered  an 
enemy. 

As  a  detail  of  the  madacre  at 
Fort  William  Henry,  in  the  year 
1757,  the  fcene  to  which  I  refer, 
cannot  appear  foreign  to  the  de- 
%n  of  this  publication,  but  will 


GiSTER,  1778: 

ferve  to  give  my  readers  a  juft  idea 
of  the  ferocity  of  this  people,  I 
fliall  take  the  liberty  to  infert  it, 
apologizing  at  the  fame  time  for 
the  length  of  the  aigreffion,  and 
thofe  egotifms  which  the  relation 
renders  unavoidable. 

General  Webb,  who  command¬ 
ed  the  Englidi  army  In  North  Ame¬ 
rica,  which  was  then  encamped  at 
Fort  Edward,  having  intelligence 
that  the  French  troops  under  Monf. 
Montcalm  were  making  feme 
movements  towards  Fort  William 
Henry,  he  detached  a  corps  of 
about  fifteen  hundred  men,  con¬ 
fiding  of  Engiifh  and  Provincials, 
to  drengthen  the  garrifon.  In  this 
party  I  went  as  a  volunteer  among 
the  latter. 

The  apprehen dons  oftheEnglilh 
general  were  not  without  founda¬ 
tion  ;  for  the  day. after  our  arrival 
we  faw  Lake  George  (formerly 
Lake  Sacrament)  to  which  it  lies 
contiguous,  covered  with  an  ira- 
menfe  number  of  boats  ;  and  in  a 
few  hours  we  found  our  lines  at¬ 
tacked  by  the  French  general,  who 
had  jud  landed  with  eleven  thou- 
fand  Regulars  and  Canadians,  and 
two  thoufand  Indians.  Colonel 
Monro,  a  brave  officer,  command¬ 
ed  in  the  fort,  and  had  no  more 
than  two  thoufand  three  hundred 
men  with  him,  our  detachment  in¬ 
cluded. 

With  thefe  he  made  a  gallant 
defence,  and  probably  would  have 
been  able  at  laft  to  preferve  the 
fort,  had  he  been  properly  fup- 
ported,  and  permitted  to  continue 
his  efforts.  Oh  every  fummons  to 
furrender  fent  by  the  French  ge¬ 
neral,  who  offered  the  mod  ho¬ 
nourable  terms,  his  anfwer  re¬ 
peatedly  was.  That  he  yet  found 
himfelf  in  a  condition  to  repel  the 

mod 


I 


I 


C  H  A  R  A 

mod  vigorous  attacks  his  befiegers 
were  able  to  make ;  and  if  he 
thought  his  prefent  force  infuffi- 
cient,  he  could  foon  be  fupplied 
with  a  greater  number  from  the 
adjacent  army. 

But  the  colonel  having  acquaint¬ 
ed  General  Webb  with  his  fitua- 
tion,  and  defired  he  would  fend 
him  fome  frefh  troops,  the  gene¬ 
ral  difpatched  a  meflenger  to  him 
with  a  letter,  wherein  he  informed 
him  that  it  was  not  in  his  power  to 
alii  ft  him,  and  therefore  gave  him 
orders  to  furrender  up  the  fort  on 
the  beft  terms  he  could  procure. 
This  packet  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  French  general,  who  im¬ 
mediately  fent  a  flag  of  truce,  de- 
iiring  a  conference  with  the  go¬ 
vernor. 

They  accordingly  met,  attended 
only  by  a  fmall  guard,  in  the  cen¬ 
tre  between  the  lines  ;  when  Monf. 
Montcalm  told  the  colonel,  that 
he  was  come  in  perfon  to  demand 
pofleflion  of  the  fort,  as  it  belong¬ 
ed  to  the  king  his  mafter.  The 
colonel  replied,  that  he  knew  not 
how  that  could  be,  nor  fhould  he 
furrender  it  up  whillt  it  was  in  his 
power  to  defend  it. 

The  French  general  rejoined, 
at  the  fame  time  delivering  the 
packet  into  the  colonel's  hand, 
“  By  this  authority  do  I  make  the 
requifition.,>  The  brave  governor 
had  no  fooner  read  the  contents  of 
it,  and  was  convinced  that  fuch 
were  the  orders  of  the  commander 
in  chief,  and  not  to  be  difobeyed, 
than  he  hung  his  head  in  filence, 
and  reluCtantly  entered  into  a  ne- 
gociation. 

Jn  confideration  of  the  gallant 
defence  the  garrifon  had  made, 
they  were  to  be  permitted  to  march 
out  with  all  the  honours  of  war, 


C  T  E  R  S.  73 

to  be  allowed  covered  waggons  to 
tranfport  their  baggage  to  fort  Ed¬ 
ward,  and  a  guard  to  protect  them, 
from  the  fury  of  the  favages. 

The  morning  after  the  capitu¬ 
lation  was  ligned,  as  foon  as  day 
broke,  the  whole  garrifon,  now 
confiding  of  about  two  thoufand 
men,  befides  women  and  children, 
were  drawn  up  within  the  lines, 
and  on  the  point  of  marchin  g  °ff. 
when  great  numbers  of  the  Indians 
gathered  about,  and  began  to 
plunder.  We  were  at  fir  ft  in  hopes 
that  this  was  their  only  view,  and 
fuffered  them  to  proceed  without 
oppofnion.  Indeed  it  was  not  in 
our  power  to  make  any,  had  we 
been  fo  inclined  ;  for  though  we 
were  permitted  to  carry  off  our 
arms,  yet  we  were  not  allowed  a 
Angle  round  of  ammunition.  In 
thefe  hopes  however  we  were  dis¬ 
appointed  ;  for  prefentiy  fome  of 
them  began  to  attack  the  fick  and 
wounded,  when  fuch  as  were  not 
able  to  crawl  into  the  ranks,  not- 
withftanding  they  endeavoured  to 
avert  the  fury  of  their  enemies  by 
their  fhrieks  or  groans,  were  foon 
difpatched. 

Here  we  were  fully  in  expecta¬ 
tion  the  difturbance  , would  have 
concluded  ;  and  ouf  little  army 
began  to  move  ;  but  in  a  (hort 
time  we  faw  the  front  divifion  dri¬ 
ven  back,  and  difeovered  that  we 
were  entirely  encircled  by  the  fa¬ 
vages.  We  expeCted  every  mo¬ 
ment  that  the  guard,  which  the 
French,  by  the  articles  of  capitu¬ 
lation,  had  agreed  to  allow  us, 
would  have  arrived,  and  put  an 
end  to  our  apprehenflons but 
none  appeared.  The  Indians  now 
began  to  ftrip  every  one  without 
exception,  of  their  arms  and 
cloaths,  and  thofe  who  made  the 

leaft 


ANNUAL  REGISTER;  1778. 


leaft  refinance  felt  the  weight  of 
their  tomahawks. 

I  happened  to  be  in  the  rear  di- 
viiion,  but  it  was  not  long  before 
1  fhared  the  fate  of  my  compa¬ 
nions.  Three  or  four  of  the  ra¬ 
vages  laid  hold  of  me,  and  whilft 
fome  held  their  weapons  over  my 
head,  the  others  foon  difrobed  me 
of  my  coat,  waiftcoat,  hat,  and 
buckles,  omitting  not  to  take  from 
me  what  money  I  had  in  my 
pocket.  As  this  was  tranfacled 
clofe  by  the  p adage  that  led  from 
the  lines  on  to  the  plain  near  which 
a  French  centinel  was  polled,  1  ran 
to  him,  and  claimed  his  protection  ; 
but  he  only  called  me  an  Englifh 
dog,  and  thruft  me  with  violence 
back  again  into  the  midft  of  the 
Indians, 

I  now  endeavoured  to  loin  a 
body  of  our  troops  that  were 
crowded  together  at  fome  diftance  ; 
but  innumerable  were  the  blows 
that  were  made  at  me  with  differ¬ 
ent  weapons  as  I  palled  on;  lucki¬ 
ly  however  the  favages  were  fo 
clofe  together,  that  they  could  not 
ftrike  at  me  without  endanger¬ 
ing  each  other.  Notwithdapding 
which  one  of  them  found  means  to 
make  a  thruft  at  me  with  a  fpear, 
which  grazed  my  fide,  and  from 
another  I  received  a  wound,  with 
the  fame  kind  of  weapon,  in  my 
ankle.  At  length  1  gained  the 
fpot  where  my  countrymen  flood, 
and  forced  myfelf  into  the  midft 
of  them.  But  before  I  got  thus 
far  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Indians, 
the  collar  and  writ!  bangs  of  my 
fhirt  were  all  that  remained  of  it, 
and  toy  ftefh  was  fc  rate  bed  and 
torn  in  many  places  by  their  favage 
gripes. 

By  this  time  the  war-hoop  was 
giver.,  and  the  Indians  began  to 


murder  thofe  that  were  neareft  fed 
them  without  diftinflion.  It  ii 
not  in  the  power  of  words  to  give 
any  tolerable  idea  of  the  horrid 
feene  that  now  enfued  ;  men,  wo¬ 
men,  and  children  were  difpatched 
in  the  molt  wanton  and  cruel 
manner,  and  immediately  fealped. 
Many  of  thefe  favages  drank  the 
blood  of  their  vi&irns,  as  it  flowed 
warm  from  the  fatal  Wound. 

We  now  perceived,  though  too 
late  to  avail  us,  that  vve  were  to 
expert  no  relief  from  the  French  ; 
and  that,  contrary  to  the  agree¬ 
ment  they  had  fo  lately  figned,  to 
allow  us  a  fufficient  force  to  pro¬ 
tect  us  from  thefe  infults,  they  ta¬ 
citly  permitted  them  ;  for  I  could 
plainly  perceive  the  French  officers 
walking  about  at  fome  diftance, 
difcourling  together  with  apparent 
unconcern.  For  the  honour  of  hu¬ 
man  nature  I  would  hope  that  this 
flagrant  breach  of  every  facred  law- 
proceeded  rather  from  the  favage 
difpofttion  of  the  Indians,  which 
I  acknowledge  it  is  fometimes  a!- 
meft  impoftible  to  controul,  and 
which  might  now  unexpectedly 
have  arrived  to  a  pitch  not  eafiiy 
to  be  reftrained,  than  to  any  pre¬ 
meditated  defign  in  the  French 
commander.  An  unprejudiced  ob- 
ferver  would,  however,  be  apt  to 
conclude,  that  a  body  of  ten  thou* 
land  chriftian  troops,  mod  chriftian 
troops,  had  it  in  their  power  to 
prevent  the  mafFacre  from  becom¬ 
ing  fo  general.  But  whatever  was 
the  caufe  from  which  it  arofe,  the 
confequences  of  it  were  dreadful, 
and  not  to  be  paralleled  in  modern 
hiftory. 

As  the  circle  in  which  I  ftood  in» 
clofed  by  this  time  was  much  thin¬ 
ned,  and  death  feemed  to  be  ap¬ 
proaching  with  hafty  ftrides,  it  was 

p  ropofed 


/ 


C  H  A  R  A 

propofed  by  fome  of  the  moft  refo- 
d uce  to^make  one  vigorous  effort, 
and  endeavour  to  force  our  way 
through  the  favages,  the  only  pro¬ 
bable  method  of  preferving  our  lives 
that  now  remained.  This,  however 
defperate,  was  refolved  on,  and 
about  twenty  of  us  fprung  at  once 
into  the  midft  of  them.. 

In  a  moment  we  were  all  fe- 
parated,  and  what  was  the  fate  of 
my  companions  I  could  not  learn 
till  fome  months  after,  when  I 
found  that  only  fix  or  feven  of  them 
effeded  their  defign.  Intent  only 
on  my  own  hazardous  lituation,  I 
endeavoured  to  make  my  way 
through  my  favage  enemies  in  the 
bell  manner  pofiible.  And  I  have 
often  been  aftonifhed  fince,  when 
I  have  recollected  with  what  com- 
pofure  I  took,  as  I  did,  every  ne- 
ceffary  ftep  for  my  prefervation. 
Some  1  overturned,  being  at  that 
time  young  and  athletic,  and  others 
I  palled  by,  dextroufly  avoiding 
their  weapons  ;  till  at  laid  two  very 
flout  chiefs,  of  the  moil  favage 
tribes,  as  I  could  diflinguifh  by 
their  drefs,  whofe  flrength  I  could 
not  refill,  laid  hold  of  me  by  each 
arm,  and  began  to  force  me  through 
the  crowd. 

1  now  refigned  myfelf  to  my  fate, 
not  doubting  but  that  they  in¬ 
tended  to  difpatch  me,  and  then  to 
fatiate  their  vengeance  with  my 
blood,  as  I  found  they  were  hur¬ 
rying  me  towards'  a  retired  fvvamp 
that  lay  at  fome  diflance.  But  be¬ 
fore  we  had  got  many  yards,  an 
Englifh  gentleman  of  fome  diftinc- 
tion,  as  I  could  difcover  by  his 
breeches,  the  only  covering  he  had 
on,  which  were  of  fine  fcarlet  vel¬ 
vet,  rufhed  clofe  by  us.  One  of 
the  Indians  inftantly  relinquifhed 
his  hold,  and  fpringing  on  this 


new  object,  endeavoured  to  feize 
him  as  his  prey  ;  but  the  gentle¬ 
man  being  itrong,  threw  him  on 
the  ground,  and  wquld  probably 
have  got  away,  had  not  he  who  held 
my  other  arm,  quitted  me  to  affift 
his  brother.  I  feized  the  opportu¬ 
nity,  and  haftened  away  to  join 
another  party  of  Englifh  troops  that 
were  yet  unbroken,  and  flood  in 
a  body  at  fome  diflance.  But  be¬ 
fore  I  had  taken  many  fleps,  I 
haflily  call  my  eye  towards  the 
gentleman,  and  faw  the  Indian’s 
tomahawk  gafh  into  his  back,  and 
heard  him  utter  his  lafl  groan  ;  this 
added  both  to  my  fpeed  and  defpe- 
ration. 

I  had  left  this  Blocking  fcene 
but  a  few  yards,  when  a  fine  boy 
about  twelve  years  of  age,  that 
had  hitherto  efcaped,  came  up  to 
me,  and  begged  that  I  would  let 
him  lay  hold  of  me,  fo  that  he 
might  {land  fome  chance  of  get¬ 
ting  out  of  the  hands  of  the  la¬ 
vages.  I  told  him  that  I  would 
give  him  every  a ffi fiance  in  my 
power,  and  to  this  purpofe  bid  him 
lay  hold  ;  but  in  a  few  moments 
he  was  torn  from  my  fide,  and  by 
his  fhrieks,  I  judge  was  foon  de- 
molifhed.  I  could  not  help  for¬ 
getting  my  own  cares  for  a  minute, 
to  lament  the  fate  of  fo  young  a 
fufFerer  ;  but  it  was  utterly  impof- 
fible  for  me  to  take  any  methods  to 
prevent  it. 

I  now  got  once  more  into  the 
mid  ft  of  friends,  but  we  were  un¬ 
able  to  afford  each  other  any  fuc- 
cour.  As  this  was  the  divifion  that 
had  advanced  the  furtheft  from  the 
fort,  I  thought  there  might  be  a 
poffibility  (though  but  a  very  bare 
one)  of  my  forcing  a  way  through 
the  outer  ranks  of  the  Indians,  and 
getting  to  a  neighbouring  wood, 

which 


J 


76  'ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


which  I  perceived  at  fame  diftance. 
I  was  ftill  encouraged  to  hope  by 
the  aim  oft  miraculous  prefervation 
I  had  already  experienced. 

Nor  were  my  hopes  vain,  or  the 
efforts  I  made  ijneffe  final.  Suffice 
it  to  fay  that  I  reached  the  wood, 
'but  by  the  time  I  had  penetrated  a 
little  way  into  it,  my  breath  was  fo 
exhausted  that  I  threw  rnyfelf  into 
a  brake,  and  lay  for  fome  minutes 
apparently  at  the  I  a  ft  gafp.  At 
length  I  recovered  the  power  of 
refpiration,  but  my  apprehenftons 
returned  with  all  their  former  force, 
when  I  law  fevera?  favages  pafs  by, 
probably  in  purfuit  of  me,  at  no 
very  great  diftance.  In  this  flota¬ 
tion  1  knew  not  whether  it  was 
better  to  proceed,  or  endeavour  to 
conceal  myfelf  where  I  lay,  till 
night  came  on  ;  fearing,  however, 
that  they  would  return  the  farpe 
way,  [  thought  it  moft  prudent  to 
get  farther  from  the  dreadful  fcene 
of  my  pail  diftreffes.  Accordingly, 
ftriking  into  another  part  of  the 
wood,  I  haftened  on  as  fail  as  the 
briars  and  the  lofs  of  one  of  my 
fhoes  would  permit  me  ;  and  after 
a  flow  progrefs  of  fome  hours, 
gained  a  hill  that  overlooked  the 
plain  which  I  had  juft  left,  from 
whence  I  could  difcern  that  the 
bloody  ftorm  ftill  raged  with  una¬ 
bated  fury. 

But  not  to  tire  my  readers,  I 
fhall  only  add,  that  after  p ailing 
three  days  without  fubiiltence,  and 
enduring  the  feverity  of  the  cold 
dews  for  three  nights,  I  at  length 

O  C 

reached  Fort  Edward  ;  where  with 
proper  care  my  body  foon  recovered 
its  wonted  ftrength,  and  my  mind, 
as  far  as  the  recollection  of  the  late 
melancholy  events  would  permit, 
its  uiual  compofure. 


It  was  computed  that  fifteen 
hundred  per  Ions  were  killed  or 
made  prisoners  by  thefe  favages 
during  this  fatal  day.  Many  of 
the  latter  were  carried  off  by 
them  and  never  returned.  A  few, 
through  favourable  accidents,  found 
their  way  back  to  their  native 
country,  after  having  experienced  a 
long  and  fevere  captivity. 

The  brave  Colonel  Monro  had 
haftened  away,  foon  after  the  con- 
fufion  began,  to  the  French  camp, 
to  endeavour  to  procure  the  guard 
agreed  by  the  ftipulation  ;  but  his 
application  proving  ineffectual,  he 
remained  there  till  General  Webb 
fent  a  party  of  troops  to  demand 
and  protect  him  back  to  Fort  Ed¬ 
ward.  But  thefe  unhappy  occur¬ 
rences,  which  would  probably  have 
been  prevented,  had  he  been  left 
to  purfue  his  own  plans,  together 
with  the  lofs  of  fo  many  brave  fel¬ 
lows,  murdered  in  cold  blood,  to 
whofe  valour  he  had  been  fo  lately 
a  witnefs,  made  fuch  an  impreffioa 
on  his  mind,  that  he  did  not  long 
furvive.  He  died  in  about,  three 
months  of  a  broken  heart,  and  with 
truth  might  it  be  faid,  that  he  was 
an  honour  to  his  country. 

I  mean  not  to  point  out  the  fol¬ 
lowing  clrcumftance  as  the  imme¬ 
diate  judgment  of  Heaven,  and  in¬ 
tended  as  an  atonement  for  this 
flaughter,  but  I  cannot  omit  that 
very  few  of  thefe  different  tribes,  of 
Indians  that  fhared  in  it  ever  lived 
to  return  home.  The  fmall-pox, 
by  means  of  their  communication 
with  the  Europeans,  found  its  way 
among  them,  and  made  an  equal 
havock  to  what  they  themfelves 
had  done.  The  methods  they  pur- 
fued  on  the  ftrft  attack  of  that  ma¬ 
lignant  diforder,  to  abate  the  fever 

attending 


4 


C  H  A  R  A 

attending  it,  rendered  it  fatal. 
Whilft  their  blood  was  in  a  Hate 
of  fermentation,  and  nature  was 
ftriving  to  throw  out  the  peccant 
matter,  they  checked  her  opera¬ 
tions  by  plunging  into  the  water  : 
the  confcquence  was,  that  they 
died  by  hundreds.  The  few  that 
furvived  were  transformed  by  it 
into  hideous  objeCts,  and  bore  with 
them  to  the  grave  deep  indented 
marks  of  this  much- dreaded  dif- 
eafe. 

Monficur  Montcalm  fell  foon  af¬ 
ter  on  the  plains  of  Quebec. 

That  the  unprovoked  cruelty  of 
this  commander  was  not  approved 
of  by  the  generality  of  his  country¬ 
men,  I  have  fince  been  convinced 
of  by  many  proofs.  One  only 
however,  which  I  received  from  a 
perfon  who  was  witnefs  to  it,  (hall 
I  at  prefent  give.  A  Canadian 
merchant,  of  fome  confideration, 
having  heard  of  the  furrender  of  the 
Englifli  fort,  celebrated  the  fortu¬ 
nate  event  with  great  rejoicings  and 
hofpitality,  according  to  the  cuftom 
of  that  country  ;  but  no  fooner  did 
the  news  of  the  maffacre  which  en- 
fued  reach  his  ears,  than  he  put  an 
immediate  Hop  to  the  feftivity,  and 
exclaimed  in  the  fevereft  terms 
againft  the  inhuman  permiffion  ; 
declaring  at  the  fame  time  that 
thofe  who  had  connived  at  it,  had 
thereby  drawn  down  on  that  part 
of  their  king’s  dominions  the  ven¬ 
geance  of  Heaven.  To  this  he 
added,  that  he  much  feared  the 
total  lofs  of  them  would  aefervedly 
be  the  confequence.  How  truly 
this  prediction  has  been  verified  we 
all  know.  '  "  < 

But  to  return:  though  the  In¬ 
dians  are  negligent  in  guarding 
againft  furprizes,  they  are  alert  and 
dexterous  in  furprizing  their  ene- 


CTER  S:  77 

mies.  To  their  caution  and  per- 
feverance  in  Healing  on  the  party 
they  defign  to  attack,  they  add 
that  admirable  talent,  or  rather  in- 
ftinCtive  qualification,  I  have  al¬ 
ready  defcribea,  of  tracing  out 
thofe  they  are  in  purfuit  of.  On 
the  fmootheft  grafs,  on  the  hardeft 
earth,  and  even  on  the  very  Hones, 
will  they  difcover  the  traces  of  an 
enemy,  and  by  the  fliape  of  the 
footfteps,  and  the  diftance  between 
the  prints,  diftinguifh,  not  only 
whether  it  is  a  man  or  woman  who 
has  paffed  that  way,  but  even  the 
nation  to  which  they  belong.  How¬ 
ever  incredible  this  might  appear, 
yet  from  the  many  proofs  I  re¬ 
ceived  whilft  among  them  of  their 
amazing  fagacity  in  this  point,  I 
fee  no  reafon  to  difcredit  even  thefe 
extraordinary  exertions  of  it. 

When  they  have  overcome  an 
enemy,  and  victory  is  no  longer 
doubtful,  the  conquerors  firft  dis¬ 
patch  all  fuch  as  they  think  they 
(hall  not  be  able  to  carry  off  with¬ 
out  great  trouble,  and  then  endea¬ 
vour  to  take  as  many  prifoners  as 
poflible  ;  after  this  they  return  to 
fcalp  thofe  who  are  either  dead,' 
or  too  much  wounded  to  be  taken 
with  them. 

At  this  bufinefs  they  are  exceed¬ 
ingly  expert.  They  feize  the  head 
of  the  difabled  or  dead  enemy,  and 
placing  one  of  their  feet  on  the 
neck,  twift  their  left-hand  in  the 
hair;  by  this  means,  having  ex¬ 
tended  the  (kin  that  covers  the  top 
of  the  head,  they  draw  out  their 
fcalping-knives,  which  are  always 
kept  in  good  order  for  this  cruel 
purpofe,  and  with  a  few  dexterous 
ftrokes  take  off'  the  part  that  is 
termed  the  fcalp.  They  are  fo  ex¬ 
peditious  in  doing  this,  that  the 
whole  time  required  fcarcely  ex¬ 
ceeds 


j8  s  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


ceeds  a  minute.  Thefe  they  pre¬ 
fer  ve  as  monuments  of  their  prow- 
efs,  and  at  the  fame  time  as  proofs 
of  the  vengeance  they  have  in¬ 
flicted  on  their  enemies. 

If  two  Indians  teize  in  the  fame 
Inftant  a  prifoner,  and  ieem  to 
have  an  equal  claim,  the  canted 
between  them  is  foon  decided  ;  for, 
to  put  a  fpeedy  end  to  any  difpute 
that  might  arife,  the  perfon  that  is 
app  rehen  five  he  ft  all  loTe  his  ex¬ 
pected  reward,  immediately  has  re- 
courfe  to  his  tomahawk  or  war- 
club,  and  knocks  on  the  head  the 
unhappy  caufe  of  their  conten¬ 
tion. 

Having  completed  their  pur- 
pofes,  and  made  as  much  havock 
as  poffible,  they  immediately  retire 
towards  their  own  country,  with 
the  fpoil  they  have  acquired,  for 
fear  of  being  purfued. 

Should  this  be  the  cafe,  they 
make  ufe  of  many  dratagems  to 
elude  the  fearches  of  their  pur- 
fuers.  They  fometimes  fcatter 
leaves,  fand,  or  dud  over  the 
prints  of  their  feet ;  fometimes 
tread  in  each  others  footdeps  ;  and 
fometimes  lift  their  feet  fo  high, 
find  tread  fo  lightly,  as  not  to 
make  any  impreihon  on  the  ground. 
But  if  they  find  all  thefe  precau¬ 
tions  unavailing,  and  that  they  are 
near  being  overtaken,  they  firil  d if- 
patch  and  fcalp  their  prisoners,  and 
then  dividing,  each  endeavours  to 
regain  his  native  country  by  a  dif¬ 
ferent  route.  This  prevents  all 
farther  purfuit ;  for  their  purfuers 
now  defpairing,  either  of  gratify¬ 
ing  their  revenge,  or  of  releafing 
thofe  of  their  friends  who  were 
made  captives,  return  home. 

if  the  fuccefsful  party  is  fo  lucky 
as  to  make  good  their  retreat 


unmoleded,  they  haden  with  the 
greated  expedition  to  reach  a  coun¬ 
try  where  they  may  be  perfectly  fe- 
care ;  and  that  their  wounded 
companions  may  not  retard  their 
flight,  they  carry  them  by  turns  in 
litters,  or  if  it  is  in  the  winter  fea- 
fon  draw  them  on  fledges. 

Their  litters  are  made  in  a  rude 
manner  of  the  branches  of  trees. 
Their  fledges  con  fid  of  two  fmall 
thin  boards  about  a  foot  wide  when' 
joined,  and  near  fix  feet  long. 
The  fore  part  is  turned  up,  and 
the  hides  are  bordered  with  fmall 
hands.  The  Indians  draw  thefe 
carriages  with  great  eafe,  be  they 
ever  fo  much  loaded,  by  means  of 
a  firing  which  pafTes  round  the 
bread.  This  collar  is  called  a  Me- 
tump,  and  is  in  ufe  throughout 
America,  both  in  the  fettlements 
and  the  internal  parts,  Thofe  ufed 
in  the  latter  are  made  of  leather, 
and  very  curioufly  wrought. 

The  prifoners  during  their  march 
are  guarded  with  the  g rested  care. 
During  the  day,  if  the  journey  is 
over  land,  they  are  always  held  by 
fome  of  the  victorious  party  ;  if  by 
water,  they  are  fadened  to  the  ca¬ 
noe.  In  the  night-time  they  are 
flretched  along  the  ground  quite 
naked,  with  their  legs,  arms,  and 
neck  fadened  to  hooks  fixed  in  the 
ground.  Befides  this,  cords  are 
tied  to  their  arms  or  legs,  which 
are  held  by  an  Indian,  who  in- 
dandy  awakes  at  the  lead  motion  of 
them. 

Notwithdanding  fuch  precau¬ 
tions  are  ufua'tly  taken  by  the  In¬ 
dians,  it  is  recorded  in  the  annals 
of  New  England,  that  one  of  the 
weaker  fex,  almod  alone,  and  un- 
affided,  found  means  to  elude  the 
vigilance  of  a  party  of  warriors, 
6  and 


C  H  A  R  A 

and  not  only  to  make  her  efcape 
from  them,  but  to  revenge  the 
caufe  of  her  countrymen. 

Some  years  ago,  a  fmall  band  of 
Canadian  Indians,  confiding  of 
ten  warriors  attended  by  two  of 
their  wives,  made  an  irruption  into 
the  back  fettlements  of  New  Eng- 
land.  They  lurked  for  fome  time 
in  the  vicinity  of  one  of  the  mod 
exteiior  towns,  and  at  length,  after 
having  killed  and  fcalped  feveral 
pe.ople,  found  means  to  take  pri - 
foner  a  woman  who  had  with  her  a 
fon  of  about  twelve  years  of  age. 
Being  fatisfied  with  the  execution 
they  had  done,  they  retreated  to¬ 
wards  their  native  country,  which 
lay  at  three  hundred  miles  didance, 
and  carried  off  with  them  their 
two  captives. 

The  fecond  nmht  of  their  re- 

O 

treat,  the  woman,  whole  name  if 
I  miftake  not  was  Rowe',  formed  a 
refolution  worthy  of  the  molt  in¬ 
trepid  hero.  She  thought  fhe 
fhould  be  able  to  get  from  her 
hands  the  manacles  by  which  they 
were  confined,  and  determined  if 
fhe  djd  fo  to  make  a  defperate  effort 
for  the  recovery  of  her  freedom. 
To  this  purpofe’,  when  fhe  con¬ 
cluded  that  her  conquerors  were  in 
their  founded:  fleep,  fhe  drove  to 
dip  the  cords  from  her  hands.  In 
this  lhe  fucceeded  ;  and  cautioning 
her  fon,  whom  they  had  fuffered 
to  go  unbound,  in  a  whifper, 
againd  being  furprized  at  what  fhe 
was  about  to  do,  die  removed  to  a 
didance  with  great  warinefs  the 
defenfive  weapons  of  the  Indians, 
which  lay  by  their  fides. 

Having  done  this,  (he  put  one  of 
the  tomahawks  into  the  hands  of 
the  boy,  bidding  him  to  follow  her 
.example;  and  taking  another  her- 
felf,  fell  upon  the  deeping  Indians, 


C  T  E  R  S.  y9 

feveral  of  whom  fhe  indantly  dis¬ 
patched,  But  her  attempt  was 
nearly  frudrated  by  the  imbecility 
of  her  fon,  who  wanting  both 
drength  and  refolution,  made  a 
feeble  droke  at  one  of  them,  which 
only  ferved  to  awaken  him  ;  fhe 
however  fprung  at  the  ridng  war¬ 
rior,  and  before  he  could  recover 
his  arms,  made  him  fink  under  the 
weight  of  her  tomahawk  ;  and  this 
fhe  alternately  did  to  all  the  red, 
except  one  of  the  women,  who 
awoke  in  time,  and  made  her 
efcape. 

The  heroine  then  took  off  the 
fcalps  of  her  vanquilhed  enemies, 
and  feizing  alfo  thofe  they  were 
carrying  away  with  them  as  proofs 
of  their  fuccefs,  fhe  returned  in 
triumph  to  the  town  from  whence 
lhe  had  fo  lately  been  dragged,  to 
the  great  adonilhment  of  her 
neighbours,  who'  could  fcarcely 
credit  their  fenfes,  or  the  tedimo- 
nies  lhe  bore  of  her  Amazonian  in¬ 
trepidity. 

During  their  march  they  oblige 
their  prifoners  to  ling  their  death- 
fong,  which  generally  confids  of 
thefe  or  fimilar  fentences  ;  “  I  am 

going  to  die,  I  am  about  to  fuffer; 
but  I  will  bear  the  fevered  tortures 
my  enemies  can  inflift  with  be¬ 
coming  fortitude.  I  will  die  like  a 
brave  man,  and  I  fhall  then  go  to 
join  the  chiefs  that  have  fuffered  on 
the  fame  account.”  Thefe  fongs 
are  continued,  with  neceffary  in¬ 
tervals,  until  they  reach  the  vil¬ 
lage  or  camp  to  which  they  are  go¬ 
ing- 

When  the  warriors  are  arrived 
within  hearing,  they  fet  up  dif¬ 
ferent  crie%  which  communicates 
to  their  friends  a  general  hidory  of 
the  fuccefs  of  the  expedition.  The 
number  of  the  death-cries  they 

g'Ive, 


t 


I 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


So 

give,  declares  how  many  of  their 
own  party  are  loft  ;  the  number  of 
war»hoops,  the  number  of  pri- 
foners  they  have  taken. 

It  is  difficult  to  defcribe  thefe 
cries,  but  the  beft  idea  I  can  con¬ 
vey  of  them,  is  that  the  former 
confifts  of  the  found  Whoo,  Whoo, 
Whoop,  which  is  continued  in  a 
long  ill  rill  tone,  nearly  till  the 
breath  is  exhaufted,  and  then 
broken  off  with  a  fudden  elevation 
of  the  voice.  The  latter,  of  a  loud 
'  cry,  of  much  the  fame  kind,  which 
Is  modulated  into  notes  by  the  hand 
being  placed  before  ,  the  mouth. 
Both  of  them  might  be  heard  to  a 
very  considerable  in  (lance. 

Whilft  thefe  are  uttering,  the 
perfons  to  whom  they  are  deligned 
to  convey  the  intelligence  continue 
motionlefs  and  all  attention.  When 
this  ceremony  is  performed,  the 
whole  village  iffae  out  to  learn  the 
particulars  of  the  relation  they  have 
juft  heard  in  general  terms,  and 
according  as  the  news  proves 
mournful  or  the  contrary,  they  an- 
fwer  by  fo  many  acclamations  or 
cries  of  lamentation. 

Being  by  this  time  arrived  at  the 
village  or  camp,  the  women  and 
children  arm  themfelves  with  flicks 


and  bludgeons,  and  form  them- 
felves  into  two  ranks,  through 
which  the  prifoners  are  obliged  to  e 
pafs.  The  treatment  they  undergo 
before  they  reach  the  extremity  of 
the  line,  is  very  fevere.  Some¬ 
times  they  a re  fo  beaten  over  the 
head  and  face,  as  to  have  fcarcely 
any  remains  of  life  ;  and  happy 
would  it  be  for  them  if  by  this 
ufage  an  end  was  put  to  their 
wretched  beings.  But  their  tor¬ 
mentors  take  care  that  none  of  the 
blows  they  give  prove  mortal,  as 
they  wifh  to  referve  the  miferable 
fufferers  for  more  fevere  inflidlions. 

After  having  undergone  this  in¬ 
troductory  difcipiine  they  are  bound 
hand  and  foot,  whilft  the  chiefs 
hold  a  council  in  which  their  fate 
is  determined.  Thofe  who  are 
decreed  to  be  put  to  death  by  the 
ufual  torments,  are  delivered  to 
the  chief  of  the  warriors ;  fuch  as 
are  to  be  fpared,  are  given  into  the 
hands  of  the  chief  of  the  nation  : 
fo  that  in  a  fhort  time  all  the  pri« 
foners  may  be  allured  of  their  fate, 
as  the  fentence  now  pronounced  is 
irrevocable.  The  former  they 
term  being  configned  to  the  houfe 
of  death,  the  latter  to  the  houfe  of 
grace. 


V 


\ 


NATURAL 


NATURAL  HISTORY. 


Account  of  the  interior  Parts  of  Su¬ 
matra,  and  of  a  neighbouring 
Ijland  never  known  to  have  been 
vifited  by  any  European.  From 
the  Philojophical  Tranjaftions , 

/  |  A  H  E  climate  is  far  from  being 
fo  difagreeably  hot  as  it  is 
reprefented  to  be,  or  as  one  might 
expedt  from  our  vicinity  to  the 
line  ;  the  thermometer  (of  which 
I  have  kept  a  journal  for  a  year 
paft)  is  never  lower  in  a  morning 
at  fix  than  69  deg.  or  higher  than 
76  deg.  At  noon  it  varies  from 
79  to  88  deg.  and  at  eight  P.  M. 
from  73  to  78  Qr  8c  deg.  I  have 
once  only  feen  it  at  qo  deg.  and  in 
the  Batta  country,  immediately  un¬ 
der  the  line,  I  have  feen  it  fre¬ 
quently  at  fix  A.  M.  as  low  as  61 
deg.  We  have  always  a  fea- 
breeze,  which  fets  in  at  about  nine 
o’clock,  and  continues  to  fun-fet, 
and  is  generally  pretty  frefh  ;  this 
tempers  the  heat  fo  much,  that  I 
have  never  been  incommoded  by  it 
(even  in  the  mid  ft  of  the  day)  fo 
much  as  I  have  frequently  been  on 
a  fummer’s  day  in  England.  Rain 
is  very  frequent  here  ;  fometimes 
very  heavy,  and  almoft  always  at¬ 
tended  with  thunder  and  lightning. 
Earthquakes  are  not  uncommon  ; 
we  have  had  one  in  particular, 
fince  my  arrival,  which  was  very 
violent,  and  did  much  damage  in 
Vol,  XXI. 


the  country.  There  are  feveral 
volcanos  on  the  illand ;  one  within 
fight  of  Malbro’,  which  almoft 
conftantly  emits  fmoke,  and,  at 
the  time  of  the  earthquake,  emitted 
fire. 

The  FngHfti  fettled  here  (exclu- 
five  of  the  military)  are  between 
feventy  and  eighty,  of  which  about 
fifty  are  at  Malbro’.  They  live 
full  as  freely  as  in  England,  and 
yet  we  have  loft  but  one  gentleman 
during  the  laft  fix  months  ;  a  proof 
that  this  climate  is  not  very  un¬ 
healthy. 

The  people  who  Inhabit  the  coaft 
are  Malays,  who  came  hither  from 
the  peninfula  of  Malacca:  but  the 
interior  parts  are  inhabited  by  a 
very  different  people,  and  who 
have  hunerto  had  no  connexion 
with  the  Europeans.  Their  lan¬ 
guage  and  character  differ  much 
from  thofe  of  the  Malays,  the  lat¬ 
ter  ufino;  the  Arabic  character  ;  but 

O  #  / 

all  tlje  interior  nations  which  I 
have  vifited,  though  they  differ 
from  one  another  in  language,  ufe 
the  fame  chara&er. 

The  people  between  the  diftridls 
of  the  Englifh  comoany,  and  thofe 
of  the  Dutch  at  Palimban  on  the 
other  fide  th*e  illand,  write  on  long 
narrow  flips  of  the  bark  of  a  tree, 
with  a  piece  of  bamboo  ;  they  be¬ 
gin  at  the  bottom,  and  write  from 
the  left  hand  to  the  right,  which  I 
G  '  think 


82  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


think  is  contrary  to  the  cuflom  of 
all  other  eaffern  nations. 

This  country  is  very  hilly,  and 
the  accefs  to  it  exceedingly  difficult, 
there  being  no  poffibility  of  a  horfe 
going  over  the  hills.  I  was  obliged 
to  walk  the  whole  way,  and  in 
many  places  bare- foot,  on  account 
of  the  fteepnefs  of  the  precipices. 
The  inhabitants  are  a  free  people, 
and  live  in  fmall  villages  called 
Doofans  independent  of  each  other, 
and  governed  each  by  its  own 
chief  [Doopattee],  .All  of  them 
have  laws,  forne  written  ones,  by 
which  they  punifh  offenders,  and 
terminate  difputes,  They  have  al- 
moff  all  of  them,  particularly  the 
women,  large  fwellings  ^  in  the 
throat,  forne  nearly  as  big  as  a 
man’s  head,  but  in  general  as  big 
as  an  oilnch’s  egg,  like  the  goitres, 
oi  the  Alps.  It  is  by  them  faid  to 
be  owing  to  their  drinking  a  cold 
white  water  ;  X  fancy  it  muff:  be 
fome  mineral  water  they  mean. 
Near  their  country  is  a  volcano: 
it  is  very  mountainous,  and  a- 
bounds  with  fulphur,  and  I  dare 
fay,  with  metals  too,  though  no 
mines  are  worked  here.  If  this 
diftemper  be  produced  here  by  this 
caule,  perhaps  ii>  the  Alpine  coun¬ 
tries  it  may  take  its  origin  from  a 
iimilar  one,  and  not,  as  has  been 
imagined,  from  fnow  water ;  cer¬ 
tain  it  is,  there  is  no  fnow  here  to 
occafion  it.  In  almoff  all  the  ceru 
tral  parts  from  Moco-moco  north¬ 
ward,  they  find  gold  and  fome 
iron  ;  but  this  diftemper  is  un¬ 
known  there.  I  have  met  here 
with  a  rivulet  of  a  ftrong  fulphu- 
rated  water,  which  was  Yo  hot  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  below  its  fource, 
that  I  could  not  walk  acrofs  it. 

The  country  called  the  Caffia 
country  lies  in  latitude  i  deg.  north 


inland  of  our  fettlement  of  Tap- 
panooly  ;  it  is  well  inhabited  by  a 
people  called  Battas,  who  differ 
from  all  the  other  inhabitants  of 
Sumatra  in  language,  manners, 
and  cuffoms.  They  have  no  reli¬ 
gious  worfhip,  but  have  fome  con- 
fufed  idea  of  three  fuperior  beings  ; 
two  of  which  are  of  a  benign  na¬ 
ture  ;  and  the  third  an  evil  genius, 
whom  they  ft  lie  Murgifo,  and  to 
whom  they  ufe  fome  kind  of  in¬ 
cantation  to  prevent  his  doing  them 
hurt.  They  feem  to  think  their 
^nceffors  are  a  kind  of  fuperior  be¬ 
ings,  attendant  always  upon  them. 
They  ha  ve  no  king,  but  live  in 
villages  [’Compongs]  abfolutely  in¬ 
dependent  of  each  other,  and  per¬ 
petually  at  war  with  one  another: 
their  villages  they  fortify  very 
i  ffrongly  with  double  fences  of  cam¬ 
pfire  plank  pointed,  and  placed 
with  their  points  proje&ing  out¬ 
wards,  and  between  thefe  fences 
they  put  pieces  of  bamboo,  har¬ 
dened  by  fire,  and  likewife  pointed, 
which  are  concealed  by  the  grafts, 
but  will  run  quite  through  a  man’s 
foot.  Without  thefe  fences  they 
plant  a  prickly  fpecies  of  bamboo, 
which  foon  forms  an  impenetrable 
hedge.  They  never  ill r  out  of 
thefe  Compongs  unarmed  ;  their 
arms  are  match-lock  guns,  which, 
as  well  as  the  powder,  are  made  in 
the  country,  and  ftpears  with  long 
iron  heads.  They  do  not  fight  in 
an  open  manner,  but  way -lay  and 
fhoot  or  take  prifoner  Tingle  people 
in  the  woods  or  paddyffiefds.  Thefe 
prifoners,  if  they  happen  to  be  the 
people  who  have  given  the  offence, 
they  put  to  death  and  eat,  and 
their  fculls  they  hang  up  as  tro¬ 
phies  in  the  houfes  where  the  un¬ 
married  men  and  boys  eat  and 
fleep.  They  allow  of  polygamy  ; 

2  a  maa 


NATURAL 

a  man  may  purchafe  as  many  wives 
as  he  pleafes ;  but  their  number 
feldom  exceeds  eight.  They  have 
no  marriage  ceremony  ;  but,  when 
the  purchafe  is  agreed  on  by  the 
father,  the  man  kills  a  buffalo  or 
a  horfe,  invites  as  many  people  as 
he  can  ;  and  he  and  the  woman  fit 
and  eat  together  before  the  whole 
company,  and  are  afterwards  con- 
fidered  as  man  and  wife.  If  after¬ 
wards  the  man  choofes  to  part  with 
his  wife,  he  fends  her  back  to  her 
relations  with  all  her  trinkets,  but 
they  keep  the  purchafe  money  ;  if 
the  wife  diflikes  her  hufband,  her 
relations  mull  repay  double  the 
purchafe-money, 

A  man  detected  in  adultery  is 
punifhed  with  death,  and  the  body 
eaten  by  the  offended  party  and  his 
friends  :  the  woman  becomes  the 
Have  of  her  hufband,  and  is  ren¬ 
dered  infamous  by  cutting  off  her 
hair.  Public  theft  is  alfo  punifhed 
with  death,  and  the  body  eaten. 
All  their  wives  live  in  the  fame 
houfe  with  the  hufband,  and  the 
houfes  have  no  partition  ;  but  each 
wife  has  her  feparate  fire-place. 

Girls  and  unmarried  women 
wear  fix  or  eight  large  rings  of 
thick  brafs  wire  about  their  neck, 
and  great  numbers  of  tin  rings  in 
their  ears  ;  but  all  thefe  ornaments 
are  laid  afide  when  they  marry. 

They  often  preferve  the  dead 
bodies  of  their  Radjas  (by  which 
name  they  call  every  freeman  that 
has  property,  of  which  there  are 
fometimes  one,  fometimes  more, 
in  one  Compong,  and  the  rell  are 
vaffals)  for  three  months  and  up¬ 
wards  before  they  bury  them  :  this 
they  continue  to  do  by  putting  the 
body  into  a  coffin  well  caulked  with 
dammar  (a  kind  of  rezin)  :  they 
place  the  coffin  in  the  upper  part 


HISTORY.  83 

of  the  houfe,  and  having  made  a 
hole  at  the  bottom,  fit  thereto  a 
piece  of  bamboo,  which  reaches 
quite  through  the  houfe,  and  three 
or  four  feet  into  the  ground :  this 
ferves  to  convey  all  putrid  moif. 
ture  from  the  corpfe  without  occa- 
fioning  any  fmell.  They  feem  to 
have  great  ceremonies  at  thefe  fu¬ 
nerals  ;  but  they  would  not  allow 
me  to  fee  them.  I  faw  feveral 
figures  drefTed  up  like  men,  and 
heard  a  kind  of  finging  and  danc¬ 
ing  all  night  before  the  body  was 
interred  :  they  alfo  fired  a  great 
many  guns.  At  thefe  funerals  they 
kill  a  great  many  buffaloes ;  every 
Radja,  for  a  confiderable  diflance, 
brings  a  buffalo  and  kills  it  at  the 
grave  of  the  deceafed,  fometimes 
even  a  year  after  his  interment  ; 
we  affifled  at  the  ceremony  of  kil¬ 
ling  the  106th  buffalo  at  a  radja’s 
grave. 

The  Battas  have  abundance  of 
black  cattle,  buffaloes,  and  horfes, 
all  which  they  eat.  They  alfo  have 
great  q uantities  of  fmall  black  dogs, 
with  ereft  pointed  ears,  which 
they  fatten  and  eat.  Rats  and 
all  forts  of  wild  animals,  whether 
killed  by  them  or  found  dead,  they 
eat  indifferently.  Man’s  flefh  may 
rather  be  faid  to  be  eaten  in  ter - 
rorem ,  than  to  be  their  common 
food  ;  yet  they  prefer  it  to  all 
others,  and  fpeak  with  peculiar 
rapture  of  the  foies  of  the  feet  and 
palms  of  the  hands.  They  ex- 
preffed  much  furprize  on  being  in¬ 
formed  that  white  people  did  not 
kill,  much  lefs  eat,  their  pri¬ 
soners. 

Thefe  people,  though  cannibals, 
received  me  with  great  hofpitality 
and  civility  ;  and  though  it  was 
thought  very  dangerous  for  any 
European  to  venture  among  them, 
G  £  as 


*4  N  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


as  they  are  a  warlike  people,  and 
extremely  jealous  of  Grangers  ;  yet 
I  took  only  fix  Malays  as  a  guard, 
but  was  efcorted  from  place  to 
place  by  thirty,  forty,  and  fame- 
times  one  hundred  of  the  natives, 
armed  with  match-lock  guns  and 
matches  burning. 

It  is  from  this  country  that  mok 
of  the  caffia  fent  to  Europe  is  pro¬ 
cured  ;  and  I  went  there  in  hopes 
of  finding  the  cinnamon,  but  with¬ 
out  fuccefs.  The  cafiia  tree  grows 
to  fifty  or  fixty  feet,  with  a  Item  of 
about  two  feet  diameter,  with  a 
beautiful  regular  fpreading  head  ; 
its  flowers  or  fruit  I  could  not  then 
fee,  and  the  country  people  have  a 
notion  that  it  produces  neither. 

Camphire  and  Benjamin  trees 
are  in  this  country  in  great  abun¬ 
dance  ;  the  former  grows  to  the 
fize  of  our  larged  oaks,  and  is  the 
common  timber  in  ufe  :  I  have  feen 
trees  near  one  hundred  feet  high. 
Its  leaves  are  accuminated  and  very 
different  from  the  camphire  tree 
feen  in  the  botanic  gardens,  which 
is  the  tree  from  which  the  Japanefe 
procure  their  camphire  by  a  che¬ 
mical  procefs  ;  whereas  in  thefe 
trees  the  camphire  is  found  native 
in  a  concrete  form.  Native  cam¬ 
phire  fells  here  at  upwards  of  200 1. 
per  cwt.  to  carry  to  China ;  what 
the  Chinefe  do  to  it,  I  cannot  fay  ; 
but,  though  they  purchafe  it  at 
250k  or  300I.  they  fell  it  again 
for  Europe  at  about  a  quarter ,of  the 
money.  I  have  never  been  able 
to  fee  the  flower  of  the  camphire 
tree ;  fonie  abortive  fruit  I  have 
frequently  found  under  the  trees, 
they  are  in  a  cup,  like  an  acorn, 
but  the  lac. ini te  calycis  are  four  or 
five  times  longer  than  the  feed. 

I  have  taken  other  journies  into 
different  parts  of  the  interior  coun¬ 
try,  never  before  vifited  by  any 


Europeans.  Thefe  journies  were 
performed  on  foot,  through  fuch 
roads,  fwamps,  Sec.  as  were  to 
appearance  almofi:  impaffable,  I 
have  been  hitherto  fo  fortunate  as 
to  meet  with  no  obftru&ion  from 
the  natives  ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
have  been  hofpitably  received  every 
where.  Almoil  all  the  country  has 
been  covered  with  thick  woods  of 
trees  moftly  new  and  undeferibed, 
and  is  not  one-hundredth  part  in^ 
habited. 

It  is  amazing  how  poor  the 
Fauna  of  this  country  is,,  particu¬ 
larly  in  the  mammalia  and  a:ves,  We 
have  abundance  of  the  fiimia  gibbon 
of  Buffqn  :  they  are  quite  blacks 
about  three  feet  high,  and  their 
arms  reach  to  the  ground  when  they 
Band  ered ;  they  walk  on  their 
hind  legs  only,  but  I  believe  very 
rarely  come  down  to  the  ground. 
I  have  feen  hundreds  of  them  to¬ 
gether  on  the  tops  of  high  trees. 
We  have  feveral  other  fpecies  of 
the  fimia  alfo  ;  but  one  feldom  fees 
them  but  at  a  great  diflance.  The 
oerang  oaian,  or  wild-man  (for  that 
is  the  meaning  of  the  words)  I  have 
heard  much  talk  of,  but  never 
feen  ;  nor  can  I  find  any  of  the  na¬ 
tives  here  that  have  feen  it.  The 
tiger  is  to  be  heard  of  in  almok 
every  part  of  this  ifland  :  1  have 
never  feen  one  yet,  though  I  have 
frequently  heard  them  when  I  have 
flept  in  the  woods,  and  often  feen 
the  marks  of  their  feet.  They  an¬ 
nually  deitroy  near  one  hundred 
people  in  the  country  where  the 
pepper  is  planted  ;  yet  the  people 
are  fo  infatuated  that  they  feldom 
kill  them,  having  a  notion  that 
they  are  animated  by  the  fouls  of 
their  anceftors. 

Of  tiger-cats  we  have  two  or 
three  forts ;  elephants,  rhinoceros, 
elks,,  one  ©r  two  other  kind  of 

deer. 


NATURAL 

*!eer,  buffaloes,  two  or  three  forts 
of  muftelae,  porcupine,  and  the 
fmall  hog-deer,  almoft  compleat 
the  catalogue  of  our  mammalia. 

Birds  I  have  feen  very  few  in¬ 
deed,  and  very  few  fpecies  of  in¬ 
fers.  Ants,  of  twenty  or  thirty 
kinds,  abound  here  fo  much  as  to 
make  it  almoft  impoffible  to  pre- 
lerve  birds  or  infefls,  I  have  fre¬ 
quently  attempted  it,  but  in  vain. 

I  have  met  with  one  inftance, 
and  only  one,  of  a  ftratum  of  foflil 
fhells.  I  had  fome  notion  that  it 
was  an  obfervation  (of  Conda- 
mine’sI  think)  that  no  fuch  thing 
was  to  be  found  between  the  tro¬ 
pics. 

The  iiland  of  Enganho,  thbugh 
lituated  only  about  ninety  miles  to 
the  fouthvvard  of  Malbro’,  was  fo 
little  known,  on  account  of  the 
terrible  recks  and  breakers  which 
entirely  furround  it,  that  it  was 
even  doubtful  whether  it  was  in¬ 
habited  :  to  this  ifland  I  have  made 
a  voyage.  With  great  difficulty 
and  danger  we  beat  up  the  whole 
fouth-weft  fide  of  it,  without  find¬ 
ing  any  place  where  we  could  at¬ 
tempt  to  land  ;  and  we  loft  two  an¬ 
chors,  and  had  very  near  fufFered 
Shipwreck  before  we  found  a  fecure 
place  into  which  we  might  run  the 
veftel.  At  laft,  however,  we  dif- 
covered  a  fpacious  harbour  at  the 
fouth-eaft  end  of  the  ifland,  and 
I  immediately  went  into  it  in  the 
boat,  and  ordered  the  veftel  to  fol¬ 
low  me  as  foon  as  poffible,  for  it 
was  then  a  dead  calm.  We  rowed 
direflly  into  this  bay  ;  and  as  foon 
as  we  had  got  round  the  points  of 
an  ifland  which  lay  off  the  harbour, 
we  difeovered  all  the  beach  covered 
with  naked  favages,  who  were  all 
armed  with  lances  and  clubs ;  and 
twelve  canoes  full  of  them,  who, 


HISTORY.  85 

till  we  had  paffed  them,  had  lain 
concealed,  immediately  rufhed  out 
upon  me,  making  a  horrid  noife: 
this,  you  may  fuppofe,  alarmed  us 
greatly;  and  as  1  had  only  one 
European  and  four  black  foldiers, 
befides  the  four  lafears  that  rowed 
the  boat,  I  thought  it  belt  to  re¬ 
turn,  if  poffible,  under  the  guns 
of  the  veftel,  before  I  ventured  to 
fpeak  with  them.  In  cafe  we  were 
attacked,  I  ordered  the  feapoys  to 
refer ve  their  fire  till  they  could  be 
fure  their  balls  would  take  effedl ; 
and  then  to  take  advantage  of  the 
ccnfufton  our  firing  would  throw 
the  favages  into,  and  attack  them, 
if  poffible,  with  their  bayonets. 
The  canoes,  however,  after  hav¬ 
ing  purfued  for  a  mile,  or  a  mile 
and  a  half,  luckily  flopped  a  little 
to  confult  together,  which  gave  us 
an  opportunity  to  efcape  them,  as 
they  did  not  care  to  purfue  us  out 
to  fea.  The  fame  afternoon  the 
veftel  came  to  an  anchor  in  the  bay, 
and  we  were  prefently  viftted  by 
fifty  or  fixty  canoes  full  of  people. 
They  paddled  round  the  veftel,  and 
called  to  us  in  a  language  which  no¬ 
body  on  board  underftood,  though 
I  had  people  with  me  who  under¬ 
ftood  the  languages  fpoken.  on  all 
the  other  ifland.  They  feemed  to 
look  at  every  thing  about  the  veftel 
very  attentively  ;  but  more  from 
the  motive  of  pilfering  than  from 
curiofity,  for  they  watched  an  op¬ 
portunity  and  unfhipped  the  rudder 
of  the  boat,  and  paddled  away  with 
it,  I  fired  a  mufquet  over  their 
heads,  the  noife  of  which  frighten, 
ed  them  fo,  that  all  of  them  im¬ 
mediately  leaped  into  the  fea,  but 
foon  recovered  themfelves  and  pad- 
died  oft. 

They  are  a  tall,  well-made  peo¬ 
ple  ;  the  men  in  general  about  five 
G  3  feet 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


86 

feet  eight  or  ten  inches  high  ;  the 
women  fhorter  and  more  clumfily 
built.  They  are  of  a  red  colour, 
and  have  llraight,  black  hair,  which 
the  men  cut  fhort,  but  the  women 
let  grow  long,  and  roll  up  in  a 
circle  on  the  top  of  their  heads 
very  neatly.  The  men  go  entirely 
naked,  and  the  women  wear  no¬ 
thing  more  than  a  very  narrow  flip 
of  plantain  leaf.  The  men  always 
go  armed  with  fix  or  eight  lances, 
made  of  the  wood  of  the  cabbage- 
tree,  which  is  extremely  hard ; 
they  are  about  fix  feet  long,  and 
topped  with  the  large  bones  of  fifh 
iharpened  and  barbed,  or  with  a 
piece  of  bamboo  hardened  in  the 
fire,  very  fharp-pointed,  and  its 
concave  part  armed  with  the  jaw 
bones  and  teeth  of  fifh,  fo  that  it 
would  be  almofl  impoffihle  to  ex- 
tratt  them  from  a  wound.  They 
have  no  iron  or  other  metal  that  l 
could  fee,  yet  they  build  very  neat 
canoes ;  they  are  formed  of  two 
thin  boards  fewed  together,  and 
the  fearn  filled  with  a  refinous  fub- 
fcance,  They  are  about  ten  feet 
Jong,  and  about  a  foot  broad,  and 
have  an  outtrigger  on  each  fide,  to 
prevent  their  overfetting.  They 
Split  trees  into  boards  with  flone 
wedges. 

Their  houfes  are  circular,  fup- 
ported  on  ten  or  twelve  iron-wood 
flicks  about  fix  feet  long  :  they  are 
neatly  floored  with  plank,  and  the 
roof  rifes  immediately  from  the 
floor  in  a  conical  form,  fo  as  to  re¬ 
ferable  a  draw  bee-hive  ;  their  dia¬ 
meter  is  not  above  eight  feet. 

Thefe  people  have  no  rice,  fowls, 
or  cattle,  of  any  kind :  they  feem 
to  live  upon  cocoa-nuts,  fweet  po¬ 
tatoes,  and  fugar  -  canes.  They 
catch  filh,  and  dry  -them  in  the 
fmoke  i  thefe  filh  they  either  ftrike 


with  their  lances,  or  catch  In  & 
drawing  net,  of  which  they  make 
very  neat  ones. 

They  do  not  chew  betel,  a  cuf- 
tom  which  prevails  univerfally  a- 
mong  the  eallern  nations. 

I  went  on  fhore  the  day  after  the 
veffel  anchored  in  the  bay,  hoping 
to  be  able  to  fee  fomething  of  the 
country,  and  to  meet  with  fome  of 
the  chiefs.  I  faw  a  few  houfes  near 
the  beach,  and  went  towards  them; 
but  the  natives  flocked  down  to  the 
beach,  to  the  number  of  fixty  or 
feventy  men,  well  armed  with  their 
lances.  See.  and  put  thernfelves  in 
our  way  ;  yet,  when  we  approach¬ 
ed  them,  they  retreated  flowly, 
making  fome  few  threatening  gef- 
tures.  I  then  ordered  my  compa¬ 
nions  to  halt  and,  be  well  on  their 
guard,  and  went  alone  towards 
them  :  they  permitted  me  to  come 
among  them,  and  I  gave  them 
fome  knives,  pieces  of  cloth,  and 
looking- glaffes,  with  ail  which  they 
feemed  well  pleafed,  and  allowed 
me  to  take  from  them  their  lances, 
&c,  and  give  them  to  my  fervant, 
whom  I  called  to  take  them. 
Finding  them  to  behave  civilly,  I 
made  figns  that  I  wanted  to  go  to 
their  houfes  and  eat  with  them  ; 
they  immediately  fent  people  who 
brought  me  cocoa-nuts,,  but  did 
not  feem  to  approve  of  my  going  to 
their  houfes  :  however,  I  deter¬ 
mined  to  venture  thither,  and  fee¬ 
ing  a  path  leading  towards  them 
I  went  forward  attended  by  about 
twenty  of  them,  who,  as  foon  as 
we  had  got  behind  fome  trees, 
which  prevented  my  people  feeing 
us,  began  to  lay  violent  hands  on 
my  cloaths,  and  endeavour  to  pull 
them  off ;  but  having  a  fmali 
hanger,  I  drew  it,  and,  making  a 
ftroke  at  the  moll  officious  of  them, 

retreated 


NATURAL 

retreated  a?  fall:  as  poffible  to  the 
beach.  Soon  after  we  heard  the 
found  of  a  conch-fhell ;  upon  which 
all  the  people  retired,  with  all 
p;  ffible  expedition,  to  a  party  of 
about  two  hundred,  who  were  af- 
fembled  at  about  a  nv.le  diftance. 
It  was  now  near  fun-fet,  and  we 
were  near  a  mile  from  our  boat; 
and,  as  I  was  apprehenfive  we 
m  ght  be  way-laid  in  our  return  if 
we  ftaid  longer,  I  ordered  my  peo¬ 
ple  to  return  with  all  poffible  fpeed  ; 
but  firft  went  to  the  houfes  the  na¬ 
tives  had  abandoned,  and  found 
them  ftripped  of  every  thing  ;  fo 
that  I  fuppofe  this  party  had  been 
employed  in  removing  their  wives, 
children,  &c.  into  the  woods.  I 
intended  to  have  attempted  another 
day  to  have  penetrated  into  the 
country,  and  had  prepared  my  peo¬ 
ple  for  it  ;  but  the  inconfiderate 
refentment  of  an  officer,  who  was 
fent  with  me,  rendered  my  fcheme 
abortive.  He  had  been  in  the  boat 
to  fome  of  the  natives  who  had 
waded  out  on  a  reef  of  rocks  and 
called  to  us;  they  had  brought 
fome  cocoa  nuts,  for  which  he  gave 
them  pieces  of  cloth  :  one  of  them 
feeing  his  hanger  laying  befide  him 
in  the  boat,  fnatched  it  and  ran 
away  ;  upon  which  he  fired  upon 
them  and  purfued  them  to  fome 
of  their  houfes,  which,  finding 
empty,  he  burnt.  This  fet  the 
whole  country  in  alarm  ;  conch- 
fhells  were  founded  all  over  the 
bay,  and  in  the  morning  we  faw 
great  multitudes  of  people  affem- 
bled  in  different  places,  making 
ufe  of  threatening  geftures;  fo  that 
finding  it  would  be  unfafe  to  ven¬ 
ture  among  them  again,  as,  for 
want  of  underftanding  their  lan» 
guage,  we  could  not  come  to  any 
explanation  with  them,  I  ordered 


HISTORY.  87 

the  anchor  to  be  weighed,  and  fail¬ 
ed  out  of  the  bav,  bringing  away 
two  of  the  natives  with  me. 

In  our  return  home  my  defire  of 
feeing  fome  yet  unexplored  parts  of 
the  ifiand  of  Sumatra,  occafioned 
me  to  order  the  veffel  to  put  me  on 
fhore  at  a  place  called  Flat  Point, 
on  the  fouthern  extremity  of  the 
ifiand,  from  whence  I  walked  to 
Fort  Malbro’.  In  this  journey  I 
underwent  great  hardfhips,  being 
fometimes  obliged  to  walk  on  the 
Tandy  beach,  expofed  to  the  fun, 
from  fix  in  the  morning  till  fix  at 
night,  without  any  refrefhment  ; 
fometimes  precipices  to  afc'end  or 
defcend,  fo  fteep  that  we  could 
only  draw  ourfelves  up,  or  let  our 
felves  down,  by  a  rattan  ;  at  other 
times  rapid  rivers  to  crofs,  and 
then  to  walk  the  remaining  part  of 
the  day  in  wet  cloaths.  The  con- 
fequence  of  thefe  hardfhips  has 
been  a  violent  fever  ;  but,  much 
as  I  then  regretted  having  quitted 
the  (hip,  I  had,  when  I  came  to 
Fort  Malbro’,  more  reafon  to  re¬ 
joice  ;  for  I  then  found,  that  the 
veffel,  in  her  voyage  home,  was 
loft,  and  every  foul  on  board  pe¬ 
ri  fhed.  This  has,  however,  been 
a  fevere  ftroke  upon  me;  for  as  I 
was  obliged  to  leave  all  my  bag¬ 
gage  on  board,  it  being  impracti¬ 
cable  to  carry  it  over  land,  I  loft 
all  my  cloaths,  books,  fpecimens, 
manufcripts,  notes,  arms,  &c.  from 
Enganho  ;  in  fhort,  almoft  every 
thing  which  I  had  either  brought 
with  me,  or  collected  during  my 
refidence  in  this  ifiand. 

I  forgot  to  mention,  that  when 
I  was  at  Tappanooly  I  faw  what  I 
find  in  Purchas’s  Pilgrim  called 
the  wonderful  plant  cf  Sombrero  :  his 
account,  however,  is  fomewhat  ex¬ 
aggerated,  when  he  fays  it  bears 
G  4  leaves 


88  ANNUAL  RE 

leaves  and  grows  to  be  a  great 
tree.  The  name  by  which  it  is 
known  to  the  Malays  is  Lalan-tout , 
that  is,  fea»grad.  It  is  found  in 
Tandy  bays,  in  (hallow  water,  where 
it  appears  like  a  (lender  (trait  (tick, 
but,  when  you  attempt  to  touch 
it,  immediately  withdraws  itfelf  into 
the  hand.  I  could  never  obferve 
any  tentacula  :  a  broken  piece  near 
a  foot  long,  which  after  many 
unfuccefsful  attempts,  I  drew  out, 
was  perfedly  (trait  and  uniform, 
and  refembled  a  worm  drawn  over 
a  knitting-needle  ;  when  dry  it  is 
a  coral. 

The  fea  cocoa-nut,  which  has 
long  been  erroneoufly  confidered  as 
a  marine  production,  and  been  fo 
extremely  fcarce  and  valuable,  is 
now  difcovered  to  be  the  fruit  of 
a  palm  with  flabelliform  leaves, 
which  grow  abundantly  on  the 
fmall  i (lands  to  the  eadward  of 
Madegafcar,  called  in  our  Charts, 
Mahi ,  &c.  and  by  the  French,  Les 
JJles  des  Sechelles.  To  thefe  ((lands, 
the  French  have  fent  a  large  colony 
and  planted  them  with  cloves  and 
nutmeg  trees,  as  they  have  like- 
wife  the  idands  of  Bourbon  and 
Mauritius. 


nenv  Cafe  in  Squintings  by  Dr. 

Darwin.  From  the  fame . 

Litchfield,  March  io,  1 777- 
H  E  following  cafe  in  fquint- 
ing,  as  a  fimiiar  one  has  not 
been  recorded  or  explained  by 
others,  may  perhaps  merit  your 
attention  from  its  novelty. 

About  fix  years  ago  I  was  de- 
fired  to  fee  a  child  of  the  reverend 
Dr.  Sandford,  in  Shropfhire,  to 
determine  if  any  method  could  be 
devifed  to  cure  him  of  fquinting. 


3ISTRR,  1778. 

The  child  was  then  about  five  years 
old,  and  exceedingly  tradable  and 
fenfible,  which  enabled  me  to  make 
the  following  obfervations  upon 
him  with  great  accuracy  and  fre¬ 
quent  repetition. 

1.  He  viewed  every  objed  which 
was  prefnted  to  him  with  but  one 
eye  at  a  time. 

2.  If  the  objed  was  prefented  on 
his  right-fide,  he  viewed  it  with 
his  left  eye ;  and  if  it  was  pre- 
ented  on  his  left-fide,  he  viewed  it 
with  his  right  eye. 

3.  He  turned  the  pupil  of  that 
eye,  which  was  on  the  fame  fide 
with  the  objed,  in  fuch  a  diredion 
that  the  image  of  the  objed  might 
fall  on  that  part  of  the  bottom  of 
the  eye  where  the  optic  nerve  en¬ 
ters  it. 

4.  When  an  objed  was  held  di- 
redly  before  him,  he  turned  his 
head  a  little  to  one  fide,  and  oh- 
ferved  it  with  but  one  eye,  <viz. 
with  that  mod:  diilant  from  the  ob¬ 
jed,  turning  away  the  other  in  the 
manner  above  defcribed  ;  and  when 
he  became  tired  with  obferving  it 
with  that  eye,  he  turned  his  head 
the  contrary  way,  and  obferved  it 
with  the  other  eye  alone,  with 
equal  facility ;  but  never  turned 
the  axes  of  both  eyes  on  it  at  the 
fame  time. 

5.  He  faw  letters,  which  were 
written  on  bits  of  paper,  fo  as  to 
name  them  with  equal  eafe,  and  at 
equal  didances,  with  one  ,eye  as 
with  the  other. 

6.  There  was  no  perceptible  dif¬ 
ference  in  the  diameters  of  the 
irifes,  nor  in  the  contradibility  of 
them,  after  having  covered  his 
eyes  from  the  light,  Thefe  ob¬ 
fervations  were  carefully  made  by 
writing  fingle  letters  on  (hreds  of 
paper,  and  laying  wagers  with  the 

child 


NATURAL 

child  that  he  could  not  read  them 
when  they  were  prefen  ted  at  certain 
diilances  and  directions. 

From  thefe  circum  fiances  it  ap¬ 
peared,  that  there  was  no  defeCt 
in  either  eye,  which  is  the  com¬ 
mon  caufe  of  fquinting,  fo  well 
obferved  by  M.  Buffon  and  Dr. 
Reid  ;  and  hence,  that  the  aifeafe 
was  fimply  a  depraved  habit  of 
moving  his  eyes,  and  might  pro¬ 
bably  be  occalioned  by  the  form  of 
a  cap  or  head-drefs,  which  might 
have  been  too  prominent  on  the 
iides  of  his  face,  like  bluffs  ufed 
on  coach  horfes  ;  and  might  thence, 
in  early  infancy,  have  made  it 
more  convenient  for  the  child  to 
view  objeCts  placed  obliquely  with 
the  oppofite  eye,  till  by  habit  the 
mufculi  adduSicres  were  become 
Wronger,  and  more  ready  for  motion 
than  their  antagonifts, 

A  paper  gn<  mon  was  made,  and 
fixed  to  a  cap  ;  and  when  this  ar¬ 
tificial  nofe  was  placed  over  his 
real  nofe,  fo  as  to  project  an  inch 
between  his  eyes,  the  child,  rather 
than  turn  his  head  fo  far  to  look  at 
oblique  objeCts,  immediately  be¬ 
gan  to  view  them  with  that  eye 
which  was  next  to  them.  But  the 
death  of  Dr.  Sandford,  which 
happened  foon  after,  occafioned  the 
removal  of  his  family  ;  and  the 
grief  and  cares  of  Mrs.  Sandford 
prevented  this,  and  the  other  me¬ 
thods  pr^pofed,  from  being  put  in 
execution. 

About  a  month  ago  T  had  again 
an  oppoitunity  of  feeing  mailer 
D.  Sandford,  and  obferved  all 
the  circumilances  of  his,  mode  of 
vifion  to  be  exa&ly  as  they  were  fix 
years  before,  except  that  they 
feemed  eftablifhed  by  longer  ha¬ 
bit  ;  fo  that  [  could  not  by  any 
means  induce  him  to  bend  the 


HISTORY.  89 

axes  of  both  his  eyes  on  the  fame 
object,  not  even  for  a  moment. 

A  gnomon  of  thin  brafs  was 
made  to  Hand  over  his  nofe,  with 
a  half  circle  of  the  fame  metal  to 
go  round  his  temples  ;  thefe  were 
covered  with  black  fiJk,  and  by 
means  of  a  buckle  behind  his  head, 
and  a  crofs  piece  over  the  crown  of 
his  head,  this  gnomon  was  ma¬ 
naged  fo  as  to  be  worn  without 
any  inconvenience,  and  projected 
before  his  nofe  about  two  inches 
and  an  half.  '  Ey  the  ufe  of  this 
gnomon  he  foon  found  it  lets  in¬ 
convenient  to  view  all  oblique  ob¬ 
jects  v/ith  the  eye  next  to  them, 
inltead  of  the  eye  oppofite  to 
them. 

After  this  habit  was  weakened 
by  a  week’s  ufe  of  the  gnomon, 
two  bits  of  wood,  about  the  iize  of  a 
goofe-quill,  were  blackened  all  but 
a  quarter  of  an  inch  at  cneir  fum- 
mits  ;  thefe  were  frequently  pre¬ 
fen  ted  for  him  to  look  at,  one 
being  held  on  one  fide  the  extre¬ 
mity  of  his  black  gnomon,  and  the 
other  on  the  other  fide  of  it.  As 
he  viewed  thefe  they  were  gra¬ 
dually  brought  forwards  beyond 
the  gnomon,  and  then  one  was 
concealed  behind  the  other  :  by 
thefe  means,  in  another  week,  he 
could  bend  both  his  eyes  on  the 
fame  objeCt  xor  half  a  minute  to¬ 
gether. 

By  the  praClice  of  this  exercife 
before  a  glafs,  almofi  every  hour 
in  the  day,  he  became  in  another 
week  able  to  read  for  a  min-Hg 
together  with  his  eyes  b  .th  direct¬ 
ed  on  the  fame  objeCts  ;  and  f 
have  no  doubt,  if  he  has  patie  ce 
enough  to  perfevere  in  the:e  efforts, 
but  he  will  in  the  coune  of  'home 
months  overcome  this  unfightly 
habit. 

I  fliall 


3 


9o  ANNUAL  RE 

I  final]  conclude  the  account  of 
this  cafe  by  adding,  that  all  the 
other  fquinting  people  I  have  had 
©ccafion  to  attend  to,  have  had 
one  eye  much  lefs  perfedl  than  the 
other,  according  to  the  obferva- 
tions  of  M.  Buffon  and  Dr. 
Keid  Thefe  patients,  where  the 
d ifea fed  eye  is  not  too  bad,  are 
certainly  curable  by  covering  the 
beft  eye  many  hours  in  a  day  ;  a s9 
by  a  more  frequent  ufe  of  the  weak 
eye,  it  not  only  acquires  a  habit 
of  turning  to  the  objedls  which  the 
patient  wi files  to  fee,  but  gains  at 
the.  fame  time  a  more  difiindl  vi- 
lion  ;  and  the  better  eye  at  the  fame 
time  feems  to  lofe  fornewhat  in 
both  thefe  refpedts,  which  alfo  fa¬ 
cilitates  the  cure. 

This  evinces  the  abfurdityof  the 
pradlice  of  prohibiting  thofe  who 
have  weak  eyes  from  uling  them  ; 
lince  the  eye,  as  weli  as  every  other 
part  of  the  body,  acquires  ftrength 
from  that  decree  of  exercife  which 

O 

is  not  accompanied  with  pain  or 
fatigue:  and  I  am  induced  to  be¬ 
lieve,  that  the  mod  general  caufe 
of  fquinting  in  children  originates 
from  the  cuftom  of  covering  the 
weak  eye.  which  has  been  difeafed 
by  any  accidental  caufe,  before 
the  habit  of  obferving  objects 
with  both  eyes  was  perfe&ly  efta- 
blifhed. 

The  facility  with  which  mafier 
Sandford  received  the  images  of 
oblique  objefts  on  the  infenfible 
part  of  the  retina  of  one  eye,  whilft 
he  viewed  them  with  the  other,  in¬ 
duced  me  toobferve  the  fize  of  this 
infenfible  fpot,  and  to  endeavour  to 
ascertain  the  caufe  of  it. 

There  was  formerly  a  difpute 
among  philofophers,  whether  the 
choroid  coat  of  the  eye  or  the  re¬ 
tina  was  the  immediate  organ  of 


GISTER,  1778. 

vifion,  which  has  lately  been  re¬ 
vived  in  fome  meafure  in  Dr. 
Priestley’s  valuable  Hiftory  of 
Light  and  Colours ;  and  it  was  then 
thought  by  one  party  in  this  dif¬ 
pute,  that  the  defeat  of  the  choroid 
coat,  where  the  optic  nerve  enters 
the  eye,  was  the  caufe  of  this  want 
of  vifion  in  that  part. 

But  the  following  obfervation 
fhews  beyond  a  doubt  the  fallacy 
of  this  fuppofition  :  the  diameter 
of  the  optic  nerve,  at  its  entrance 
into  the  eye,  is  about  one-fixth  of 
an  inch,  and  the  perforation  of 
the  choroid  coat,  through  which  it 
paffes,  mu  ft  of  neceffity  be  of  the 
fame  diameter  :  now  the  dark  fpot, 
which  is  feen  in  objects  oppofed  to 
the  center  of  the  optic  nerve,  if  it 
was  occasioned  by  the  deficiency  of 
the  choroid  coat,  fhould,  at  nine 
inches  diftance  from  the  eye,  be 
fifty-four  times  the  diameter  of  this 
aperture,  or  nine  inches  in  diame¬ 
ter  ;  whereas  I  find,  by  experi¬ 
ment,  that  a  paper  of  one  inch  in 
diameter  could  not  be  totally  con¬ 
cealed  at.  nine  inches  diftance  from 
my  eye  ;  and  M.  Le  Cat  by  ac¬ 
curate  obfervations  found,  that  the 
infenfible  part  of  his  eye  was  but 
between  the  thirtieth  and  fortieth 
part  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  This 
experiment  is  fo  eafily  made,  that 
it  can  be  attended  with  no  fallacy  ; 
and  at  the  fame  time  that  it  fhews 
that  the  infenfible  fpot,  where  the 
optic  nerve  enters  the  eye,  is  not 
owing  to  the  deficiency  of  the  cho¬ 
roid  coat,  intirely  fubverts  the 
opinion  of  the  choroid  coat  being 
the  organ  of  vifion ;  for  vifion 
exifts  where  tfie  choroid  coat  is 
not. 

Nor  is  the  infenfibility  of  the 
center  of  the  optic  nerve  owing  to 
the  ingrefs  of  the  arteries  along 

with 


NATURAL 

with  it  into  the  eye  :  for  a  large 
branch  of  this  artery  runs  along 
the  bottom  of  the  eye,  where  vi- 
fion  is  moft  diftindl,  and  becaufe 
all  this  artery  is  covered  with  the 
expanfe  of  the  retina  on  the  exter¬ 
nal  fide  of  it.  Mr.  Savage  made 
an  experiment  for  another  purpofe, 
which  however  (hews,  that  the  op¬ 
tic  artery,  where  it  is  branched 
under  or  through  the  retina,  does 
not  much  difturb  the  power  of  vi- 
fion.  It  is  this  :  if  you  look  on  a 
white  wall  on  a  luminous  day, 
with  the  fun  fhining  on  the  wall 
only  by  its  refledled  light,  you  will 
difeern  the  parts  of  the  wall  be¬ 
come  darker  and  lighter  at  every 
pulfation  of  the  optic  artery.  This 
darker  and  lighter  appearance  is 
like  net-work,  and  not  uniform 
like  the  wall  itfelf ;  but  the  whole, 
though  rather  darker  .while  the 
diaftole  of  the  artery  compref- 
fes  the  retina,  is  yet  diftindtly  vi¬ 
able. 

The  following  circumftance 
feems  to  give  rife  to  the  infen  Abi¬ 
lity  of  the  central  part  of  the  optic 
nerve  at  its  ingrefs  into  the  eye, 
which  1  have  obferved  in  feveral 
calves’  eyes.  The  point  of  a  pair 
of  feiffars  was  introduced  behind 
the  ciliary  circle,  and  the  whole 
of  the  cornea,  aqueous  humour, 
iris,  and  cryflalline,  being  remov¬ 
ed,  the  retina  was  beautifully  feen 
through  the  vitreous  humour  fome- 
what  magnified,  On  expofing  this 
to  the  fun-lhine,  and  infpedting  it 
with  nicety,  a  white  filament, 
about  the  tenth  of  an  inch  in 
length,  arifing  from  the  center  of 
the  optic  nerve,  was  feen  amend¬ 
ing  ftraight  upwards  into  the  vi¬ 
treous  humour,  like  a  thin  white 
worm.  The  ufe  of  this  may  be  to 
fupply  the  vitreous  humour  or  cry- 


HISTORY.  9i 

ftalline  wiih  nourifhment,  whether 
it  be  a  nerve  or  an  empty  blood- 
vefiel  ;  but  this  is  certain,  that  its 
riling  fo  high  above  the  furface  of 
the  retina  mult  render  it  incapa¬ 
ble  of  vifion  :  whence  there  is  juft 
reafon  to  conclude,  that  this  con¬ 
formation  mult  be  the  true  caufe 
of  the  infenfibility  of  this  part  of 
the  eye. 

I  do  not  affirm,  that  the  human 
eye,  either  during  infancy  or  in 
our  riper  years,  is  fimilar  in  con¬ 
formation  to  that  of  a  calf,  nor 
have  we  fufficient  opportunities  to 
obferve  them  ;  but  I  fufpedt  this 
veffel  may,  after  the  growth  of  the 
animal,  be  totally  obliterated ; 
and  that,  in  forne  few  inftances, 
the  optic  nerve  may  even  in  this 
part  become  fenfible  to  light.  One 
inflance  I  am  certain  I  have  feen, 
as  it  was  in  a  man  capable  of  the 
moft  patient  and  accurate  obferva- 
tion,  who  on  numberlefs  repeated 
trials,  at  different  times,  in  my 
prefence,  could  never  lofe  fight  of 
the  fmalleft  object  with  either  of 
his  eyes. 

Supplement  to  the  Cafe  in  Squinting . 

I  T  fince  occurred  to  me,  that 
the  unufual  mode  of  fquinting  de- 
feribed  in  the  above  paper  mult 
have  arifen  from  fome  original  dif¬ 
ference  in  the  fen  Ability  of  fome 
parts  of  the  eye,  which  might  have 
rendered  it  more  eafy  for  mafter 
Sandford,  when  a  child,  to  ob¬ 
ferve  obje&s  with  one  eye  only,  ancj 
that  with  the  eye  moft  diftant  from 
objedts  prefented  obliquely  to  him. 

Two  circular  papers,  each  of 
four  inches  diameter,  were  ftuck 
againft  the  wall,  their  centers  be¬ 
ing  exadlly  at  eight  inches  diftance 
from  each  oth£r,  On  clofing  one 

eye, 

> 


92 '  ANNUAL  RE 

eye,  and  viewing  the  central  fpot 
of  one  of  thefe  papers  with  the  eye 
fartheft  from  it,  and  then  retreat- 
ing  twenty-fix  inches  from  it,  the 
other  paper  became  invifible.  This 
experiment  was  made  on  five  peo¬ 
ple  of  various  ages,  from  ten  years 
old  to  forty  ;  and  the  paper  difap- 
peasred,  to  them  all  at  about  this 
diftancsj  or  an  inch  or  two  more  or 
lefs  :  but  to  mailer  Sandford  the 
paper  difappeared  at  about  thirteen 
inches  difiance  from  the  wall. 
Thefe  papers  were  afterwards  re¬ 
moved  to  twelve  inches,  and  then 
to  four  inches  interval  between 
them  ;  and  by  the  nicefh  obferva- 
tions  on  repeated  trials  l  found, 
that  the  paper  equally  with  one 
eye  as  with  the  other,  uniformly 
difappeared  to  him  at  about  half 
the  diftance  it  did  to  five  others. 

Another  curious  circumflance  is, 
that  as  large  a  paper  difappeared 
to  him  at  half  the  diltance  as  it 
did  toothers  at  the  whole  diilance; 
and  hence  the  infenfible  part  of 
the  center  of  the  optic  nerve  in  his 
eyes  is,  as  near  as  can  be  eftimat- 
ed,  four  times  the  area  of  the  in¬ 
fenfible  part  of  the  eyes  of  other 
people,  at  the  fame  time  that  the 
angle  made  between  the  ingrefs 
of  the  optic  nerve  and  the  bottom 
of  the  eye  is  twice  as  great  as  in 
others. 

It  is  eafy  to  conceive  that^  in 
early  infancy,  when  any  ohjedl 
which  the  child  wifhed  to  infpedt 
was  prefented  obliquely  to  him, 
that  on  this  firfl  indiliindt  view  of 
it,  before  either  eye  could  be  turn¬ 
ed  towards  it,  it  would  appear 
much  more  brilliant  and  diftindl  to 
the  contrary  eye,  than  to  that 
neareft  the  objedl,  as  fo  great  a 
part  of  it  would  now  fall  on  the 
large  infenfible  part  of  that  eye. 


GISTER,  1778. 

This  mull  naturally  Induce  him  to 
view  it  with  the  oppofite  eye,  to 
which  it  already  appeared  more 
brilliant  and  diliindl :  and  this  to 
him  would  be  fo  much  eafier  to 
accornplifh,  as  the  infenfible  part 
of  the  neglected  eye  was  great 
enough  to  receive  as  large  a  part 
of  an  objedt  as  is  ufuaiiy  viewed  at 
once  with  accuracy,  and  hence 
would  not  confufe  the  vifion  of 
the  other. 

I  mull  beg  leave  to  add,  that  by 
wearing  the  artificial  nofe  he  has 
greatly  corredled  the  habit  of  view¬ 
ing  objedts  with  the  eye  furthefl: 
from  them ;  and  has  more  and 
more  acquired  the  voluntary  power 
of  directing  both  his  eyes  to  the 
fame  objedt,  particularly  if  the  ob- 
jedt  be  not  more  than  four  or  five 
feet  from  him  ;  and  will,  I  be¬ 
lieve,  by  refolute  perfeverance,  in- 
tirely  corredl  this  unfightly  -de¬ 
formity.  Nothing  but  the  curiofi- 
ty  and  novelty  of  the  fubjedi  can 
excufe  the  length  of  this  paper. 


A  Cure  of  a  Mufcular  Cent  raft  ion 
by  Electricity.  From  the  fame. 

MR.  Partington,  in  a  let¬ 
ter  addrelfed  to  Mr.  Henly, 
F.  R.  S.  gives  the  following  ac¬ 
count  of  the  condition  in  which 
he  found  his  patient,  Mifs  Ling- 
field,  when  he  firft  waited  on 
her.  Her  head  was  drawn  down  over 
her  right  Ihoulder,  the  back  part 
of  it  was  twilled  fo  far  round,  that 
her  face  turned  obliquely  towards 
the  oppofite  fide,  by  which  de¬ 
formity  Hie  was  difabled  from  fee¬ 
ing  her  feet, ,  or  the  Heps  as  Ihe 
came  down  Hairs.  The  fterno-ma- 
foideus  mufcle  was  in  a  Hate  of 
contradlion  and  rigidity.  She  had 

no 


NATURAL 

flo  material  pain  on  this  fide  of  her 
neck  ;  but,  owing  to  the  extreme 
tenfion  of  the  teguments  of  the  left 
fide,  fiie  had  a  pain  continually, 
and  often  it  was  very  violent,  par¬ 
ticularly  in  fudden  changes  of  the 
weather.  Her  pulfe  was  weak, 
quick,  and  irregular.  She  was 
lubjeCt  to  a  great  irritability,  had 
frequently  a  little  fever,  which 
came  on  of  an  evening,  and  left 
her  before  morning;  her  fpirits 
were  generally  exceedingly  oppref- 
fed,  and  at  times  fhe  was  flightly 
paralytic. 

She  dated  the  origin  of  her  dif- 
order  at  fomethincr  more  than  two 

O 

years  from  that  period.  She  was 
fuddenly  feized,  going  out  of  a 
warm  room  into  the  cold  air,  with 
a  pain  upon  the  back  of  her  head, 
which  admitted  of  fmall  abatement 
for  fome  months,  contracting  gra¬ 
dually  the  mufcles  to  the  melan¬ 
choly  deformity  we  then  beheld  ; 
and  notwithffanding  every  prudent 
means  had  been  ufed  to  fubdue  it, 
and  file  ffriCtly  adhered  to  every 
article  prefcribed  to  her  by  the  fa¬ 
culty,  file  was  feniible  of  little  va¬ 
riation  fince,  and  that  rather  on  the 
unfavourable  fide. 

I  urged  her  to  make  a  trial  of 
Electricity.  She  was  willing  while 
flie  was  in  London  to  try  the  expe¬ 
riment;  and,  though  the  weather 
was  remarkably  tempefiuous,  fhe 
came  to  me  the  firft  tolerable  day, 
and  was  electrified  the  firft  time 
February  18,  1777* 

I  fat  her  in  an  infulatcd  chair, 
and,  connecting  it  by  a  chain  to 
the  prime  conductor  of  a  large 
eleCtrical  machine,  I  drew  firong 
fparks  from  the  parts  affeCted  for 
about  four  minutes,  which  brought 
on  a  very  profufe  perfpiration  (a 
circumftance  fine  had  been  unac- 


II  ISTORY.  93 

cuflomed  to)  which  feemed  to  re¬ 
lax  the  maftcidcus  mufcle  to  a  con- 
fiderable  degree  ;  but,  as  the 
fparks  gave  her  a  good  deal  of 
pain,  ]  defified  from  drawing 
them,  and  only  fubjeCted  her  a 
few  minutes  longer  to  the  admif- 
fion  of  the  fluid,  which  pafled  off 
without  interruption  from  the  pores 
of  her  fkin  and  adjacent  parts. 
The  next  time  fhe  came  to  me  was 
the  2«pth  of  the  fame  month  :  as 
file  had  been  in  the  afternoon  of 
the  firff  day’s  experiment  a  good 
deal  difordered,  I  changed  the 
mode  of  conducting,  and  fat  her 
in  a  common  dining-chair,  while 
I  dropped,  for  five  minutes,  by 
the  means  of  a  large  difeharging 
rod  with  a  glafs  handle,  very 
firong  fparks  upon  the  maftoideus 
mufcle,  from  its  double  origin  at 
the  fternum  and  clavicula  to  its  in- 
fertion  at  the  back  of  the  head. 
She  bore  this  better  than  before, 
and  the  fame  good  efFeCl  followed 
in  a  greater  degree,  and  without 
any  of  the  fubfequent  inconve¬ 
niences,  I  faw  her  the  third  time 
on  the  27th  :  fhe  allured  me  fhe 
had  efcaped  her  feverifh  fymptoms 
on  an  evening,  and  that  her  fpirits 
were  raifed  by  the  profpeCl  of  get- 
ting  well ;  that,  fince  the  laft  time 
I  eleClrilied  her,  fhe  had  more  free¬ 
dom  in  the  motion  of  her  head 
than  fhe  had  ever  experienced  fince 
the  firft  attack  of  her  diforder.  I 
perfifled  in  electrifying  her  after 
the  fame  manner,  March  3d,  3th, 
6th,  7th,  and  9th  ;  from  each  time 
fhe  gained  fome  advantage,  and 
her  feverifh  tendency  and  nervous 
irritability  went  off  entirely. 

The  weather  now  fetting  in  very 
unfavourable,  and  fearful  of  lofing 
the  advantages  we  had  happily 
reaped  from  our  early  efforts,  I 

requefied 


94  ANNUAL  RE 

requeued  the  favour  of  you,  as  her 
next-door  neighbour,  to  eledlrify 
her  every  evening  while  Hie  was  in 
town,  and  fhe  might,  if  any  al¬ 
teration  took  place,  fee  me  occa- 
iionally.  Fortunately  for  her,  you 
accepted  the  propofal,  and  to  your 
judgment  and  caution  in  the  con- 
,  du£t  of  it  for  the  next  fortnight 
(three  evenings  only  excepted)  you 
brought  about  the  happy  event ; 
and  have  received  her  tetUmony  of 
gratitude  for  relieving  her  from  a 
condition  under  which  life  could 
not  be  delirable,  to  a  comfortable 
affociation  with  her  family  and 
friends, 

I  am,  &c. 

THE  method  I  purfued  was» 
to  place  the  lady  upon  a  ftool  with 
glafs  legs,  and  to  draw  firong 
iparks,  for  at  lead;  ten  minutes, 
from  the  mufcles  on  both  fides  of 
her  neck.  Eelides  this,  1  gene¬ 
rally  gave  her  two  (hocks  from  a 
bottle  containing  i£  fquare  inches 
of  coated  furface  fully  charged, 
through  her  neck  and  one  of  her 
Srms,  eroding  the  neck  in  different 
directions.  This  treatment  fhe 
fubmitted  to  with  a  proper  refolu- 
tion  ;  and  it  gave  me  fincere  plea- 
lure  to  find  it  attended  with  the 
deiired  fuccefs. 

W.  Henly. 


Qbfer-vations  on  the  Climate  of  Ruf- 
iia,  in  a  Letter  from  J.  G.  Ki 
D.  D.  to  the  Rijhop  of  Durham. 

My  Lord, 

TAKE  the  liberty  to  fend 
your  Lordfhip  a  few  remarks  I 
made  during  my  refidence  in  Ruf- 
fia,  on  the  cold  in  that  country  ; 


G  ISTER,  1778. 

particularly,  with  refpedl  to  the 
means  by  which  the  inhabitants  of 
thofe  northern  climates  are  ena¬ 
bled  not  only  to  protect  themfelves 
from  fufFering  by  its  inclemency  5 
but  to  turn  it  to  their  advantage, 
and  even  to  enjoy  amufements  pe¬ 
culiar  to  it.  Which  will  juftify  the 
obfervation  of  our  excellent  philo- 
fophical  poet,  who  fays, 

£<  What  happier  natures  fhrink  at  with 

affright, 

£<  The  hard  inhabitant  contends  is  right.’* 

Essay  on  Man, 

If  I  could  have  cummunicated 
any  experiments  which  might  have 
helped  to  difeover  the  natural  caufe 
o f freezing)  and  have  ferved  either 
to  confirm  fame  of  the  feveral  theo¬ 
ries  already  given  of  this  phaeno- 
menon,  or  to  eftabiifh  a  new  one; 
I  fhould  have  thought  my  remarks 
more  worthy  your  Lordfhip’s  at¬ 
tention,  and  have  long  lince  put 
the  loofe  notes,  which  have  lain 
by  me,  on  this  fubjeCt,  into  fome 
form.  But  though  I  made  many 
experiments  in  freezing  feveral  fub- 
llances,  I  cannot  pretend  to  have 
found  any  thing  new  cr  lingular  to 
remark  as  to  the  nature  of  conge¬ 
lation.  Yet  ftill,  I  hope  it  may 
afford  your  Lordfhip  fome  amufe- 
ment  to  obferve  the  fagacity  and 
addrefs,  which  the  human  mind 
exerts,  in  the  application  of  the 
proper  means  of  feif  prefervation  : 
and  the  confideration  of  the  won¬ 
derful  provifion  which  the  wifdom 
and  goodnefs  of  divine  providence 
has  fuited  to  the  peculiar  wants  of 
his  creatures,  1  am  fure,  your  Lord- 
Ihip  will  always  look  upon  as  the 
mod  interelting  part  of  natural 
hiftory . 

It  is  neceffary  for  me  to  premife, 
that  in  the  courfe  of  thefe  obferva- 

tions 


NATURAL 

tions  I  may  be  obliged  to  repeat 
federal  things  which  have  been 
faid  before  ;  but,  I  flatter  mylelf, 
I  may  be  able  to  let  fome  of  them 
in  a  new  light,  and  to  add  others 
which  have  been  overlooked  or 
omitted. 

I  mull  firft  obferve  to  your  Lord- 
fhip,  that  the  cold  in  St.  Peterf- 
bourg,  by  Farenneit’s  fcale,  is, 
during  the  months  of  December, 
January,  and  February,  ufualiy 
from  8  to  I  5  or  20  degrees  below 
o  ;  that  is,  from  40  to  52  degrees 
below  freezing  point :  though  com¬ 
monly,  in  the  courle  of  the  winter, 
it  is  for  a  week  or  ten  days  fome 
degrees  lower. 

It  is  almoft  difficult  for  an  inha¬ 
bitant  of  our  temperate  climate  to 
have  any  idea  of  a  cold  fo  great  ; 
it  may,  perhaps,  help  to  give  fome 
notion  of  it,  to  tell  vou  that  when 
a  perlon  walks  out  in  that  fevere 
weather,  the  cold  makes  the  eyes 
water,  and  that  water  freezing 
hangs  in  little  icicles  on  the  eye- 
lathes.  As  the  common  peafants 
ufuaily  wear  their  beards,  you  may 
fee  them  hanging  at  the  chin  like 
a  foiid  lump  of  ice.  Yet,  by  the 
way,  the  advantage  of  the  beard, 
even  in  that  flate,  to  protedl  the 
glands  of  the  throat,  is  worth  ob¬ 
servation  :  and  the  foldiers,  who 
do  not  wear  their  beards,  are 
obliged  to  tie  a  handkerchief  under 
the  chin  to  fupply  their  place. 
From  this  account,  it  may  eafily 
be  imagined,  that  the  parts  of  the 
face,  which  are  expofed,  are  very 
liable  to  be  frozen  ;  and  it  may 
feem  ftrange,  what  is  a  certain 
fadt,  and  has  been  often  obferved, 
that  the  party  himfelf  does  not 
know  when  the  freezing  begins; 
but  is  commonly  told  of  it  firft  by 
fomebody  who  meets  him,  and 


HISTORY.  ,95 

calls  out  to  him  to  rub  his  face 
with  (now,  the  ufual  way  to  thaw 
it.  It  is  alfo  remarkable  chat  the 
part,  which  has  once  been  frozen, 
is  ever  after  moil  liable  to  be  frozen 
again. 

In  fome  very  fevere  winters,  I 
have  feen  fparrows,  though  a  hardy- 
bird,  quite  numbed  by  the  intenfe 
cold,  and  unable  to  fly.  And  I 
have  heard  that  the  drivers,  who 
fit  on  their  loaded  carriages,  have 
lometimes  been  found  frozen  to 
death  in  that  pofture.  The  feafons 
however  are  feldom  fo  fevere,  and 
that  feventy  laifs  but  a  few  davs  ; 
thougn  it  is  not  unfrequmt,  in  the 
courie  of  a  winter,  that  fome  poor 
wretches,  getting  drunk  with  fpi- 
rituous  liquors,  fall  down  by  the 
road-flae,  and  perifh  by  the  cold 
before  any  one  finds  them.  I  dare 
fay,  your  Lordfliip  begins  to  fhiver 
at  this  relation  ;  but  I  will  foon 
carry  you  into  one  of  the  houfes  of 
the  country,  where  I  will  promife 
you,  you  will  find  it  fufficiently 
warm  :  yet  I  will  firft  beg  leave  to 
mention  a  few  experiments  with  re¬ 
gard  to  freezing  fubflances,  fome 
of  which  I  made  mylelf,  and 
others  I  have  had  well  authenti¬ 
cated. 

When  the  thermometer  has  flood 
at  25  degrees  below  o,  boiling  wa¬ 
ter  thrown  up  into  the  air  by  an 
engine,  fo  as  to  fpread,  falls  down 
perfedlly  dry,  formed  into  ice.  I 
have  made  an  experiment  nearly 
like  this,  by  throwing  the  water 
out  of  a  window  two  pair  of  flairs 
high.  A  pint  bottle  of  common 
water,  I  have  found  frozen  into  a 
foiid  piece  of  ice  in  an  hour  and 
a  quarter.  During  the  operation, 
I  have  obferved  the  fpicula  flying 
towards  the  exterior  part  of  the 
water,  full  an  inch,  or  an  inch 

and 


/ 


96  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


and  half  long,  where  they  form 
the  cryftallization  ;  the  great  length 
of  thefe  fpicula  is  remarkable,  and 
feems  to  be  caufed  by  the  intenfe- 
nefs  of  the  cold.  A  bottle  of  ftrong 
ale  has  been  frozen  in  an  hour  and 
half ;  but  in  this  fubftance  there  is 
always  about  a  tea-cup  fall  in  the 
middle  unfrozen,  which  is  as  Itrong 
and  inflammable  as  brandy  or  fpi- 
rits  of  wine.  I  never  faw  good 
brandy,  or  rum  freeze  to  folid  ice, 
though  I  have  feen  ice  very  thin  in 
both,  when,  put  in  a  fmall  flat  phial : 
the  phials,  I  made  ufeoffor  the  ex¬ 
periment,  were  the  common  bot¬ 
tles  in  which  there  had  been  la¬ 
vender  water. 

It  may  not  be  foreign  to  thefe 
inftances  to  mention  an  experiment 
made  by  Prince  OrlofF,  mailer  of 
the  Ordnance  to  her  imperial  Ma» 
jefty,  which  I  had  from  him, 
though  I  was  not  a  witnefs  of  it 
myfelf.  He  filled  a  borab-fheJ! 
with  water,  and  then  hopped  up 
the  hole  very  clofely  with  a  plug ; 
and,  as  foon  as  the  congelation  be- 
gan,  the  contents  of  the  (hell 
fwelling  iffued  out  by  the  fide  of 
the  plug,,  like  a  fmall  jet  £  eau%  or 
fountain.  He  then  made  a  fcrew 
to  fallen  up  the  hole  of  the  bom’b- 
Ihell,  after  it  was  filed  with  wa¬ 
ter  ;  and  in  twenty  minutes  the 
froft  burft  the  fhell  with  feme  de¬ 
gree  of  violence,  fo  that  fome  of 
the  pieces  flew  to  the  di fiance  of 
four  or  five  yards. 

Severe,  however,  as  the  cold  in 
this  climate  is,  it  is  feldom  any 
body  fuffers  from  it,  fo  eafy  are 
the  means  and  fo  plentiful  are  the 
provifions  to  guard  againft  it ;  be- 
fides,  the  inconveniences  of  the  ex¬ 
cels  of  cold  are  much  Iefs  than 
thofe  of  the  oppofite  extreme,  in 
countries  fubjedt  to  an  excefs  of 


heat.  Indeed,  juft  in  St.  Peter £* 
bourg,  the  poor  fometimes  fuffer  ; 
as  in  all  capitals  the  hardships  of 
the  poor  are  greateft  ;  but,  for 
others,  they  are  fo  well  prote&ed, 
both  without  doors  and-  within, 
that  you  feldom  hear  them  com¬ 
plain  of  cold.  I*t  is  well  known 
that  in  Ruffia  the  method  of  warm¬ 
ing  the  houfes  is  by  an  oven  con- 
ftru&ed  with  feveral  flues,  and  that 
the  country  abounds  with  wood, 
which  is  the  common  fuel;  how¬ 
ever,  thefe  evens  'con fume  a  much 
fmalier  quantity  of  wood  than 
could  be  imagined,  and  yet  they 
ferve  at  the  fame  time  for  the  or¬ 
dinary  people  to  prepare  their  food 
by.-  They  put  a  very  moderate 
faggot  into  them,  and  fuffer  it  to 
burn  only  till  the  thickeft  black 
fmoak  is  evaporated ;  they  then 
fhut  down  the  chimney  to  retain, 
all  the  reft  of  the  heat  in  the  cham¬ 
ber,  which  keeps  its  heat  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  is  commonly  fo 
warm  that  they  fit  with  very  little 
covering,  efpecially  children,  who 
are  ufually  in  their  fhirts. 

The  windows  in  thefe  huts  are 
very  fmall,  as  it  is  obvious  that 
part  mult  be  liable  to  be  coldeft  ; 
in  the  houfes  of  perfons  of  condi¬ 
tion  the  windows  are  caulked  up 
againft  winter,  and  commonly 
have  double  glafs  frames.  In  ihort, 
they  can  regulate  the  warmth  in 
their  apartments  by  a  thermome¬ 
ter  with  great,  exadlnefs,  opening 
or  {hutting  the  flues  to  increafe  or 
diminifh  the  heat.  In  the  fevered: 
weather  a  Ruffian  would  think  it 
ftrange  to  fit  in  a  room  where  the 
cold  condenfed  his  breath  fuffi- 
ciently  to  render  it  vifible,  as  it 
commonly  does  in  England  in 
frofty  weather ;  and  furely  it  is 
agreeable  to  have  the  warmth  equal 


NATURAL 

in  every  part  of  the  room.  It 
might  perhaps  be  thought  that  the 
air,  in  apartments  To  clofe,  rnuft 
needs  be  very  unfit  for  refipiration  ; 
but  the  fa<51  is  full  againft  the  con- 
je&ure ;  for  Peterlbourg  is  rec¬ 
koned  as  wholefome  a  place  as  any 
city  in  Europe  ;  probably,  the  na¬ 
tural  elafticity  of  the  air  is  fo 
great,  in  all  thofe  high  latitudes, 
that  it  is  not  ealily  deftroyed. 

Thus  the  inhabitants  fufFer  no 
hardfhips  from  the  cold  within 
doors  ;  I  will  venture  to  alfert  not 
fo  much  as  the  inhabitants  of  Eng¬ 
land,  where  the  duration  of  fevere 
cold  is  fo  Ihort,  that  it  is  hardly  an 
object  of  attention  to  guard  againft 
it,  either  in  their  dwellings  or  their 
apparel.  Whereas  the  Ruffians, 
when  they  go  out,  are  cloathed  fo 
warmly  they  bid  defiance  to  froft 
and  fnow ;  and  it  is  obfervable, 
that  the  wind  is  never  violent  in  the 
winter,  and  in  genera!  there  is  very 
little  wind  :  but  when  it  does  hap¬ 
pen  to  blow  the  cold  is  exceeding* 
ly  piercing.  The  animals  natu¬ 
rally  require  warm  cloathing  in 
thefe  fevere  climates,  man  is  there¬ 
fore  enabled  readily  to  fupply  him- 
felf  with  covering  from  them  :  the 
wolf  and  the  bear  lend  him  their 
fur,  as  well  as  feveral  other  crea¬ 
tures  ;  the  fox,  the  fquirrel,  and 
the  ermine:  but  none  contribute  fo 
much  to  fupply  this  want  as  the 
hare  and  the  (heep.  With  regard 
to  the  hare  one  muft  not  omit  to 
remark,  that  the  better  to  conceal 
fo  timorous  and  weak  an  animal 
from  its  enemies.  Providence  has 
wifely  ordered  that  in  countries 
like  thefe,  which  are  covered  with 
fnow,  the  fur  of  this  creature 
changes  in  the  winter  to  white  ;  it 
being  in  fummer  brown,  the  na¬ 
tural  colour  of  the  ground  :  and  its 
Vol.  XXI. 


HISTORY.  97 

fur  is  much  longer,  and  confe- 
quently  warmer  than  in  more 
fouthern  latitudes.  The  poorer 
women  commonly  line  their  cloaks 
with  hare-lkin  ;  and  the  men  for 
the  molt  part  have  a  drefs  made  of 
Iheep’s  ikin  with  the  wool  turned 
inwards.  On  their  heads  they  wear 
a  warm  fur  cap,  and  they  are  very 
careful  to  cover  their  legs  and  feet 
not  only  with  warm  ftockings,  but 
with  boots  lined  with  fur,  or  a 
quantity  of  flannel  which  they 
wrap  feveral  times  round  them* 
Yet,  in  the  fevereft  cold,  you  will 
fee  them  go  with  their  neck  and 
breaft  quite  open  and  expofed* 
This  feems  a  kind  of  natural  in- 
ftintt,  the  parts  neareft  the  heart, 
where  the  blood  receives  its  firft 
impulfe,  being  perhaps  lefs  liable 
to  be  injured  by  cold  than  the  ex¬ 
tremities  of  the  body.  Or  does 
fuch  pra&ice  depend  intirely  upon 
cuiiom  ?  For  we  fee  in  our  own 
country  that  cuftom  will  do  a  great 
deal ;  at  the  fame  time  that  the 
men  with  us  guard  their  breaft  with, 
the  warmeft  part.of  their  drefs,  the 
moft  delicate  lady  expofes  her  bo- 
fom  quite  uncovered;  as  well  as 
her  whole  perfon  in  a  garment  fo 
thin,  that  few  men  would  think 
fufticiently  warm  even  in  the  mild- 
eft  weather. 

It  muft  be  confeffied,  the  winters 
feem  very  long  and  tedious  in  thefe 
northern  climates,  the  whole  fur- 
face  of  the  ground  being  co\rered 
with  fnow  for  fix  months  or  up¬ 
wards  ;  and  the  eye  is,  at  leaft  my 
eye  was,  tired  with  the  unvaried 
feene,  where  Nature  herfelf  feems 
dead  for  half  the  year .  However, 
ufe  makes  even  this  much  more 
tolerable  to  the  natives,  as  well  as 
their  happy  ignorance  of  better 
climes  :  and  it  is  certain  they  en- 

H  joy 

*• 


98  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  x 778; 


joy  many  advantages,  which  are 
peculiar  to  the  nature  of  their 
fituation. 

The  firft  advantage  [  (hall  men¬ 
tion  is  the  facility  of  tranfport,  and 
in  confequence  expedition  in  tra- 
veiling-.  Their  carriages  for  the 
winter  feafon,  it  is  well  known,  are 
fledges,  made  with  a  frame  at  the 
bottom  fhod  with  iron  like  fkates. 
The  friflion  and  refinance  are  fo 
fmall  on  the  ice  and  hard  frozen 
fnow,  that  when  one  pulls  one  of 
thefe  machines,  with*  a  confider- 
able  load  on  it,  on  level  ground, 
we  feem  furprized  to  find  we  can 
move  it,  with  almok  as  much  eafe 
as  we  move  a  boat  in  kill  water. 
The  confequence  of  this  is  a  ready 
and  cheap  communication  from 
one  place  to  another;  for  a  fingle 
liorfe  will  draw  a  great  load  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  his  itrength  ;  and  in 
parts  diftant  from  the  capital,  they 
do  not  keep  any  road  with  the 
fledges,  but  make  their  way  indif¬ 
ferently  over  rivers  and  bogs,  and 
fometimes  I  am  told  they  travel  by 
a  eompafs.  Tt  may  not  perhaps  be 
unworthy  obfervation  to  remark 
that  the  roads  over  the  rivers  near 
Peterfbourg  are  fet  out  by  large 
boughs  of  fir  trees  planted  on  each 
fide,  forming  an  avenue  ;  for  the 
tracks  of  the  carriages  are  very 
flight,  and  thefe  foon  covered  by 
drifted  fnow  or  a  frefh  fall.  Near 
.the  capital,  where  the  traffick  is 
naturally  the  greatek,  the  roads  are 
kept  in  repair  in  winter  with  the 
fame  attention  as  in  fummer ; 
when  a  thaw  happens  to  injure 
them  they  are  mended  with  freih 
ice  laid  in  the  holes  and  covered 
with  fnow,  and  water  thrown  upon 
it  to  freeze  again.  Such  precau¬ 
tions  are  necefiary,  as  thefe  roads 
ferv.e  half  the  year  i  if  the  ice  on 


the  river  be  cracked,  by  a  fwell  lit 
the  water,  a  bridge  of  planks  is 
laid  over  it.  It  may  be  added  that 
the  llrong  northern  light  and  the 
refledlion  of  the  fnow,  generally 
afford  a  light  fufficient  to  travel 
by,  when  there  is  no  moon* 

It  is  obvious  to  imagine  that 
with  fuch  means  wealth  and  luxury 
would  find  out  very  commodious 
methods  of  travelling.  The  late 
Emprefs  Elizabeth  had  a  fledge, 
which  I  have  feen,  made  with  two 
complete  little  rooms  in  it,  in  one 
of  which  was  a  bed.  I  can  believe 
the  motion  in  fuch  a  vehicle  not  to 
be  greater  than  in  a  fhip,  when 
the  fea  is  tolerably  fmooth.  The 
common  travelling  equipage,  for 
perfons  of  condition,  is  made  large 
enough  to  lie  at  length  in,  and 
when  the  bed  or  mattrafs  is  rolled 
up,  it  makes  a  feat  to  fit  upon.  I 
need  not  take  notice  of  the  great 
expedition  with  which  people  tra¬ 
vel,  as  it  is  fo  notorious  ;  I  mean 
with  horfes,  for  I  am  unacquainted 
with  thole  parts  where  rein-deer 
are  ufed.  The  accommodations 
on  the  road  are,  indeed,  very 
poor;  but  travellers  want  them 
but  little,  as  they  ufually  take 
their  provifions  with  them,  and 
travel  by  night  as  well  as  by  day. 

Another  advantage  peculiar  to 
the  northern  climates,  is  the  pre® 
ferving  provifions  by  the  froik, 
Froft  may  certainly  be  looked  upon 
as  the  bell  pickle  while  it  ierves  ; 
that  is,  it  alters  the  quality  and 
tafte  of  whatever  is  preferved  by  it 
lefs  than  any  other.  It  is  evident, 
the  three  common  prefervers,  fu- 
gar,  vinegar,  and  fait,  impart  their 
refpe&ive  takes  fo  ftrongly,  that 
very  few  things  fo  preferved  retain 
the  leak  of  their  natural  flavour. 
Whereas  frofi  feems  only  to  fix  the 
12  part* 


NATURAL  HISTORY. 


parts  and  juices,  and  by  that  means 
to  prevent  fermentation.  I  fh all 
mention  a  fact,  in  proof  of  this, 
which  I  had  from  my  late  worthy 
friend  Mr  Swallowe,  his  Majefiy’s 
Conful  General  in  Ruffia.  He 
allured  me  that  having,  one  winter, 
occafion  to  go  from  Peterlbourg  to 
Mofcow,  where  eels  are  a  great 
rarity,  he  ordered  fome  to  be 
taken  before  he  fat  out  on  his  jour¬ 
ney  to  carry  as  a  prefent ;  as  foon 
as  they  were  taken  out  of  the  wa¬ 
ter,  they  were,  thrown  upon  the 
ground  to  be  frozen,  they  appeared 
quite  dead  and  almolt  a  piece  of 
ice  ;  they  were  then  packed  up  in 
the  ufual  manner  with  fnovv  ;  and 
when  he  arrived  at  Mofcow,  which 
Was  in  four  days,;  the  eels  being 
thrown  into  cold  water,  and  fo 
thawed  before  they  were  drefled, 
difcovered  evident  marks  of  lire  in 
them,  and  foon  perfectly  recovered. 
The  inference  1  would  draw  from 
this  faCt  is,  that  freezing  does  not 
dilacerate  the  parts.  Veal  frozen 
at  Archangel  and  brought  to  Pe- 
terfourg  is  efieemed  the  finefi  they 
have  ;  nor  can  it  be  diftinguifhed 
at  the  table  from  what  is  frefii 
killed,  being  equally  juicy. 

The  markets  in  the  capital  are 
by  this  means  fupplied  in  winter 
with  all  manner  of  provifions,  at  a 
cheaper  rate  than  would  othervvife 
be  poffible  :  and  it  is  not  one  of 
the  leafi  curious  things  to  fee  the 
valt  Racks  of  whole  hogs,  Iheep, 
fiih,  and  other  animals,  piled  up 
in  the  markets  for  fale.  Good 
houfewives,  as  foon  as  the  frofl  fets 
in  for  the  winter,  about  the  end 
of  October,  kill  their  poultry,  and 
keep  them  in  tubs  packed  up  with 
a  layer  of  fnow  between  them,  as 
one  would  put  fait  to  pickle  pork 
or  beef,  and  then  take  them  out 


99 

for  ufe  as  occafion  requires ;  by* 
this  means  they  fave  the  nourifii- 
ment  of  the  animal  feveral  months. 

I  hinted  that  the  method  of 
thawing  any  thing  muR  be  by  im« 
merging  it  in  cold  water  :  that 
operation  effected  by  heat  feems  to 
occafion  a  violent  fermentation* 
and  almoft  a  fudden  putrefaction  : 
but  when  produced  by  cold  water, 
the  ice  feems  to  be  attracted  out  of 
the  body,  and  forms  a  tranfparent 
inerufiation  round  it.  This  I  have 
conilantly  feen  round  grapes,  when 
thawed,  which  looked  as  if  fet  in 
glafs.  Nay,  I  have  thawed  a  bot¬ 
tle  of  water,  when  frozen  to  a  folid 
piece  of  ice,  by  this  means  without 
breaking  the  bottle,  and  the  ice  has 
formed  an  inerufiation  round  it* 
in  the  manner  I  deferibe.  The 
fame  thing  may  be  obferved  if  a 
cabbage  which  is  thoroughly  frozen 
be  thawed  by  cold  water  ;  it  is  as 
frefh  as  if  jufi  gathered  out  of  the 
garden  ;  but  if  it  be  thawed  by  fire 
or  hot  water,  it  becomes  fo  rancid 
and  firong  it  cannot  be  eaten, 

Thefe,  my  Lord,  are  folid  ad¬ 
vantages  derived  from  the  nature 
of  the  coldefi  climates.  It  might 
appear  trifling  after  them  to  men¬ 
tion  others  of  a  lefs  ferious  kind, 
and  yet  fome  of  their  amufements 
are  alfo  peculiar  to  the  climate. 
One  of  the  chief  is  that  of  riding 
in  a  light  open  fledge  for  pleafure* 
which  is  very  common,  becaufe 
vary  agreeable  when  the  weather  is 
n  >t  too  fevefe.  Skating  may  be 
mentioned  as  another  ;  but  the 
weather  is  often  coo  fevere  for  that, 
and  therefore  it  is  by  no  means  fo 
general  in  Ruffia  as  in  milder  cli¬ 
mates,  fuch  2s  Holland,  Germany, 
&c.  But  of  all  the  winter  divert 
lions  of  the  Ruffians,  the  molt  fa¬ 
vourite,  and  which  is  peculiar  to 

II  *  them. 


them,  feems  to  be  that  of  Aiding 
down  a  hill.  They  make  a  track 
on  the  fide  of  a  keep  hill,  mending 
any  little  inequalities  with  fnow  or 
ice,  then  at  the  verge  of  the  hill, 
fitting  on  a  little  feat  not  bigger 
thari,  and  much  refembling,  a 
butcher’s  tray,  they  defcend  with 
aPfonifhing  velocity.  The  fenfa- 
tion  is  indeed  very  odd,  but  to  my- 
felf,  for  I  have  often  had  the  cu¬ 
rio  fity  to  try  it,  I  cannot  fay  it 
was  agreeable ;  the  motion  is  fo 
rapid  it  takes  away  one’s  breath  ; 
nor  can  I  give  an  idea  of  it,  except 
defiring  you  to  fancy  you  were  to 
fall  from  the  top  of  a  houfe  without 
hurting  yourfelf,  in  which  you 
would  probably  have  forne  mix¬ 
ture  of  fear  and  furprize.  The 
Ruffians  are  fo  fond  of  this  diver* 
fion,  that  at  Peterfhourg,  having 
no  hills,  they  raife  artificial  mounts 
on  the  ice  on  the  river  Neva,  for  the 
purpofe  of  Hiding  down  them,  par¬ 
ticularly  on  holidays  and  fetlival 
feafons,  when  all  the  people,  young 
and  old,  rich  and  poor,  partake  of 
the  fport ;  paying  a  trifie  to  the 
perfons  who  conftru&ed  the  mount, 
each  time  they  defcend. 

I  call  this  peculiar  to  Ruffia  as  a 
diverfion:  for  though  it  is  praftifed 
at  the  place  known  by  the  name  of 
the  Ramajfe ,  the  defcent  of  Mount 
Cenis  to  Lanebourg,  which  at  (ome 
feafons  of  the  year  is  in  a  Hate  that 
admits  of  travellers  Aiding  down  it 
in  the  fame  method,  as  is  defcribed 
in  moft  books  that  treat  of  the 
Alps,  yet  this  may  be  confidered 
rather  as  necellity  or  convenience 
than  merely  am  life  men  t. 

The  late  Emprefs  Elizabeth  was 
fo  fond  of  this  diverfion,  that,  at 
her  palace  of  ZARSKO  ZELLO, 
fhe  had  artificial  mounts,  of  a  very 
Angular  cqaftru&ibn,  made  for  this 


efe  have  been  called, 
by  fome  Englifiimen  who  have  vi- 
A  ted  that  country.  The  Flying 
Mountains ,  and  I  do  not  know  a 
phrafe  .which  approaches  nearer  to 
the  Ruffian  name.  You  will  ob- 
ferve  that  there  are  five  mounts  of 
unequal^  heights  :  the  firft  and 
higheft  is  full  thirty  feet  perpendi¬ 
cular  altitude;  the  momentum  with 
which  they  defcend  this  carries 
tnem  over  the  fecond,  which  is 
about  five  or  fix  feet  lower,  juft 
fufficient  to  allow  for  the  friflion 
and  refi fiance  ;  and  fo  on  to  the 
laft,  from  which  they  are  conveyed 
by  a  gentle  defcent,  with  nearly 
the  fame  velocity,  over  a  piece  of 
water  into  a  little  ifiand.  Thefe 
Aides,  which  are  about  a  furlong 
and  half  in  length,  are  made  of 
wood,  that  they  may  be  ufed  in 
fummer  as  well  as  in  winter.  The 
procefs  is,  two  or  four  perfons  fit 
in  a  little  carriage,  and  one  Hands 
behind,  for  the  more  there  are  in 
it  the  greater  the  fwiftnefs  with 
which  it  goes  ;  it  runs  on  caftors, 
and  in  grooves  to  keep  it  in  its 
right  diredlion,  and  it  defeends 
with  a  wonderful  rapidity.  Under 
the  hill,  is  a  machine  worked  by 
horfes  for  drawing  the  carriages 
back  again,  with  the  company  in 
them.  Such  a  work  as  this  would 
have  been  enormous  in  molt  coun* 
tries  for  the  labour  and  expence  it 
cofi,  as  well  as  the  vafi  quantity  of 
wood  ufed  in  it.  At  the  fame 
place,  there  is  another  artificial 
mount  which  goes  in  a  Ipiral  line, 
and  in  my  opinion,  for  I  have  tried 
it  alfo,  is  very  difagreeable  ;  as  it 
feems  always  leaning  on  one  fide, 
and  the  perfon  feels  in  danger  of 
falling  out  of  his  feat. 

In  winter  no  work  can  be  done 
in  agriculture,  as  may  eafily  be 

imagined. 


ioo  ANNUAL 


RE  G'IST 


1772, 


IOI 


NATURAL 

imagined,  the  ground  being  fatt¬ 
ened  by  the  froft  as  well  as  covered 
by  fnow.  The  ceconomical  bufi- 
nefs,  therefore,  which  conftitutes 
the  employment  of  the  common 
people  in  this  feafon,  is,  befides 
the  threfhing  the  corn,  manufac¬ 
turing  their  cloaths,  for  the  pea- 
fants  in  the  villages  make  their  own 
wearing-apparel  of  every  fort,  fel¬ 
ling  timber  for  building  or  other 
purpofes,  and  cutting  wood  for 
iiremg. 

They  are  able  alfo  to  go  out  a  hunt¬ 
ing,  and  as  the  country  abounds 
with  game,  it  furnifhes  a  large  part 
of  their  provifions,  during  the  fea- 
fons  when  they  are  permitted  to 
eat  it ;  for  the  fafts  of  the  Greek 
church  taken  together  interdict  ani¬ 
mal  food  full  half  the  year.  The 
method  the  common  people  ufe  in 
hunting  is  with  fnow  (hoes,  which 
are  nothing  more  than  a  piece  of 
wood  half  an  inch  thick,  five  or  fix 
feet  long,  and  about  four  inches 
broad,  turned  up  at  the  end,  which 
they  fatten  at  the  bottom  of  their 
feet,  and  by  means  of  them  they 
run  or  rather  fkate  over  the  fnow, 
with  a  pole  in  their  hands,  fatter 
than  the  hare  or  any  game  they 
purfue,  which  are  apt  to  fink  in. 

They  enjoy  alfo  the  profitable 
diverfion  of  filhing,  notwithftand 
ing  the  waters  being  covered  with 
ice;  and  one  manner  of  it,  with  a 
drag-net,  is  very  particular,  though 
I  doubt  if  I  fli all  be  able  to  defcribe 
it  fo  as  to  give  your  Lordlhip  an 
idea  of  it.  There  is  a  hole  about 
four  feet  by  two  cut  in  the  ice,  to 
let  down  a  common  drag-net  ;  op- 
pofite  to  this,  at  the  dittance  they 
mean  to  pull  up  the  net,  is  another 
hole,  about  four  feet  fquare  :  they 
then  cut  a  number  of  fmail  round 
holes  at  about  four  yards  dittance 


HISTORY. 

from  each  in  a  circular  form,  from 
the  hole,  where  the  net  is  let 
down,  to  that  where  it  is  taken  up. 
At  the  ends  of  the  two  firings,  that 
is  the  upper  and  lov/er  firings  which 
drag  the  net,  long  poles  are  tied  : 
thefe  poles  will  reach  from  one 
round  hole  to  another,  where  they 
are  directed  and  pufhed  under  the 
ice,  as  they  fwim  at  the  top  of  the 
water,  till  they  corne  to  the  biggeft 
fquare  hole,  at  which  they  draw 
them  out,  and  by  this  means  the 
net  inclofing  the  fifh  it  has  fur- 
rounded  ;  for  the  upper  part  of 
the  net  is  floated  at  the  top  of  the 
water  under  the  ice,  and  the  lower 
part  of  it  funk  by  leads,  in  the 
fame  manner  as  when  the  river  is 
open  :  the  ingenuity  of  the  opera¬ 
tion  confifts  in  the  contrivance  of 
dragging  under  the  ice. 

Thefe,  my  Lord,  are  fome  of 
the  peculiarities  of  the  northern  cli¬ 
mates  in  winter;  they  have  their 
inconveniencies,  but  they  have 
their  advantages  too.  In  fummer 
they  differ  much  lefs  from  fouthern 
climates.  To  balance  the  lono- 

c* 

abfence  of  the  fun  in  the  former 
feafon,  they  enjoy  a  larger  fhare  of 
his  influence  in  the  latter;  which 
caules  vegetation  to  be  exceedingly 
quick  ;  othervvife  the  ffiortnef3  of 
the  feafon  would  not  fuffice  for  the 
neceffary  bufinefs  of  fowing  the 
land,  for  the  growth  of  the  corn, 
and  for  gathering  it  in. 

Some  perfons  reckon  the  light 
nights  in  fummer  an  agreeable  cir¬ 
cuit!  fiance,  and  thefe  are  very  re¬ 
markable  even  in  the  latitude  of 
St.  Peter fb ourg,  which  is  61  de¬ 
grees  :  this  ariies  not  only  from  the 
fun’s  being  fo  ffiort  a  time  under 
the  horizon,  but  from  the  lirong 
reflection  of  the  atmofphere,  which 
caufes  fo  gieat  a  brighmefs  one 
H  3  may 


loz  ANNUAL  RE 

pay  fee  to  read  and  write  at  mid- 
night,  unlefs  it  be  cloudy,  for  full 
f;wo  months. 

J  have  now  finifhed  this  account, 
which  has  nothing  of  fancy  in  it  to 
pnliven  it  t  it  contains  merely  mat¬ 
ters  of  fa£l,  which  could  not  efcape 
my  oofervation  during  a  refidence 
of  eleven  years  in  that  country, 
indeed,  Ruffia  is  a  country  fo  riling 
and  flouriihing  under  the  aufpices 
of  the  fovereign  who  now  reigns 
there,  and  encourages,  in  the  moil 
difh'figuiihed  manner,  every  endea¬ 
vour  to  improve  and  exalt  it,  by 
patronizing  all  liberal  arts  and 
fciences,  that, it  muil  attract  the 
attention  and  admiration  of  man¬ 
kind  in  many  moft  important  points 
of  view.  Yet  ftill  I  flatter  myfelf 
this  fhort  relation  of  the  peculiar 
Qualities  of  its  climate  may  afford 
fome  reftedlions  not  unworthy  a 
philofophical  mind  t  I  therefore 
prefuine  to  prefen t  it  to  your  Lord- 
ilup,  and  ihall  efleem  xnyfelf  very 
happy  if  it  affords  you  any  enter¬ 
tainment.  I  have  the  honour  to 
be,  with  the  greateft  yefpedl. 

My  Lord, 

Your  Lordfhip’s  moft  obliged* 
moft  faithful,  and  moft 
obedient  humble  fervant, 

Blackheath,  John  Glen  King. 
Jan.  22,  1778. 


Of  F offil  Bones.  From  Abbe  For¬ 
th5.;  Travels  into  Dalmatia. 

I?  O  S  SIL  bones,  which  are  fo 
'  frequently  found  in  Dalmatia, 
and  were  the  principal  objed  of 
pur  voyage,  were  ftrft  taken  notice 
of,  as  far  as  I  know,  by  the  cele¬ 
brated  Vi  tali  an  0  Donati ,  of  Padua, 
5n  his  Saggio  fopra  ia  Scoria  Na¬ 
turals  del  Adriatico.  He  had  ob- 


GISTER,  177S. 

ferved  them  in  feveral  places  e>?| 
that  coaft,  where  the  den  re  of  ac¬ 
quiring  new  informations  and 
knowledge  carried  him  feveral 
times  ;  but  the  want  pf  means, 
which  proved  a  conftant  obftacle  in 
other  enterprifes,  fuitable  to  his 
great  learning  and  declared  genius, 
kept  him  behind  in  the  examina¬ 
tion  of  this  particular  likewife.  It 
had  been  rumoured,  that  the  quan¬ 
tity  of  thofe  bones  was  fo  iramenfe, 
that  the  whole  ifland  of  Ojero  was 
altogether  compofed  of  them. 
This  report  naturally  made  a  great 
im  predion  on  the  minds  of  the  cu¬ 
rious  ;  and  befides,  it  was  known 
for  certain,  that  quantities  were 
found,  not  only  on  the  coafts  of 
1ft ri a ,  towards  the  bftuarnaro,  and 
in  many'  parts  of  Dalmatia,  but 
aifo  on  feveral  iflands  without  the 
Adriatick  ;  all  \vhich  ferved  more 
and  more  to  embarrafs  the  moft 
fenfible  heads,  and  to  produce 
much  nonfenfe  from  thofe  who 
know  little,  and  think  they  know 
a  great  deal.  We  went  with  an 
intention  to  fee  with  our  own  eyes 
thele  wonders  in  the  iftand  of  Cherfp 
and  O/ero ,  where  we  had  been  told 
there  was  no  difference  between 
boufes,  mountains,  and  burying 
places,  but  in  hardnefs  and  in 
years. 

We  did  not  find,  as  we  had  been 
given  to  hope,  any  ftrata  of  bones 
fo  extenftve,  as  could  afford  ground 
to  imagine  that  the  organization 
of  the  whole  iftand  was  compofed 
of  them ;  yet  neverthelefs  the  quan¬ 
tity  which  we  met  with,  is  fuffici- 
ent  to  raife  wonder  and  ferious  re¬ 
flection.  The  frequent  heaps  that 
are  feen,  the  famenefs  of  the  fub- 
ftance,  the  variety  of  the  pofitions, 
and  the  identical  materials  of  the 
congeries,  might  give  room  to  con- 

je&ure* 


NATURAL 

je&ure,  at  firft  fight,  that  one  im- 
menfe  ftratum  had  been  compofed 
in  remote  ages  ;  but  who  can  pre¬ 
tend  to  imagine  how  remote? 
There  are  various  fpecies  of  ter- 
reftrial  animals,  fometimes  com¬ 
minuted  and  confufed,  and  fome¬ 
times  perfedlly  well  difpofed  and 
diftinguilhable,  The  places  moil 
known,  where  they  are  found,  are 
along  the  coal!,  in  the  vertical  and 
horizontal  chafms,  or  in  the  divi- 
fions  of  the  marble  ilrata  which 
form  the  bafe,  and  the  hills  of  the 
iflands.  The  fiftiermen  and  fea» 
men,  who,  in  fmall  barks,  ufually 
keep  near  the  fhore,  cin  point  out 
many  of  thofe  fpots ;  and  the  /hep- 
herds  are  acquainted  with  thofe 
within  land,  and  in  the  caverns. 
Chance  might  difcover  new  col¬ 
lections  to  obfervers,  as  it  did  to 
us,  if  the  lovers  of  natural  wonders 
came  more  frequently  on  that 
coaft. 

Every  heap  of  bones,  whether  in 
the  vertical  or  horizontal  clefts,  is, 
as  it  were,  wrapt  up  all  round  in  a 
kind  of  fparry  ftala&itick  fheil, 
three  or  four  inches  thick,  which 
incrufts  the  tides  of  the  Allure,  and 
follows  all  the  finuofities  exactly. 
Where  the  congeries  of  bones  is 
horizontal,  it  is  always  accompa¬ 
nied  by  the  fparry  cruft,  and  not 
only  is  divided  by  it  from  the  lower 
flratum,  but  evidently  fhews  to 
have  been  alfo  coated  above  by  the 
fame  cruft  of  reddifh  diaphonous 
fpar;  which  proves  to  everyone, 
who  is  a  little  acquainted  with  the 
interior  p^rts  of  the  earth,  the  ex- 
iftence  of  one,  or  more  ftrata  of 
calcareous  ftone  formed  on  thofe 
heaps  of  bones,  but  now  deftroyed 
by  time.  Were  we  not  to  fuppofe 
this,  we  could  not  underftand  how 


HISTORY.  ioj 

fuch  a  remarkable  fparry  cryftaili- 
zation  came  to  be  formed. 

The  fubftance  of  the  bones  is 
ordinarily  calcined  ;  fometimes  it 
is  found  penetrated  by  pyritical 
fluors,  which  are  commonly  called 
denditri.  The  fiftular  bones,  as 
thofe  of  the  arms  and  legs,  are 
lined  within  with  a  cruft  of  ge:n- 
meous  fpar,  lucid,  and  exceeding¬ 
ly  pure,  like  a  cryftallization  made 
by  a  (difficult  filtration  through  a 
very  compact  body.  The  acetabuli , 
and  ribs,  and  generally  all  the 
fpungy  bones,  preferve  exactly  the 
whitenefs  of  calcination  in  the 
fmalleft  comina ,  or  partitions  of  their 
cavities.  When  not  very  fmall, 
they  are  full  of  an  ochreous  ftoney 
matter  of  a  reddifh  colour ;  and 
when  very  fmall,  they  are  entirely 
coated  with  a  ftalaClitic  fhining 
reddifh  cruft.  Of  the  horny  parts 
of  animals,  no  veftige  is  found. 
The  teeth  preferve  the  natural 
brightnefs  of  their  enamel,  and  are 
often  found  placed  in  their  native 
jaws  and  holes.  They  are  fre¬ 
quently,  however,  found  feparate, 
and  leave  no  doubt  about  the  fpe¬ 
cies  of  animals  to  which  they  be¬ 
longed.  Excepting  the  teeth  and 
jaws,  we  could  not  find  any  other 
part  of  the  cranium  well  preferved 
and  that  was  not  equivocal. 

Having  examined  feveral  months 
before  I  went  to  the  ifland  of  Cberfo 
and  O/ero  with  my  learned  friend 
Mr.  Symonds,  and  profeftor  Ci- 
rilli,  a  piece  of  a  congeries  of  Illy— 
ric  bones,  we  found  a  human  jaw, 
a  vertebra,  and  a  tibia,  alfo  hu¬ 
man,  fomewhat  larger  than  ufual 
in  our  age  ;  fome  fheeps  bones  and 
teeth  of  oxen  and  horfes.  The  ce¬ 
lebrated  anatomift,  DoCtor  Leap- 
Caldaniy  who  does  fo  much  honour 
H  4  to 


i 


io4  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


to  the  univerfity  of  Padua,  ascer¬ 
tained  them.  The  noble  Signor 
J,  Morojini ,  a  great  lover  and  cul¬ 
tivator  of  botany,  and  a  diligent 
colleftor  of  marine  curiofities  and 
foffils,  has  many  pieces  of  thefe 
cfieolithi ,  and  particularly  Several 
brought  from  the  i (lands  dlpfyrtes , 
cf  one  of  which  I  thought  proper  to 
bave  the  figure  engraved.  In  one 
cf  them  there  is  a  jaw  divided  in 
two  by  a  broke  given  to  its  ma- 
trice,  fo  that  the  half  of  one,  and 
half  of  the  other  fide  appears. 

Together  with  thefe  bones,  are 
united  by  the  fame  cement,  many 
pieces  of  various  iize,  and  a  great 
number  of  Splinters  of  white  mar- 
ble,  angular,  fharp,  and  of  con¬ 
sequence  never  rounded  by  the  wa¬ 
ters.  It  happens  alfo  Sometimes, 
that,  in  a  great  heap  of  Such  pieces 
and  Splinters  of  marble,  none  at 
all,  or  a  very  few  pieces  of  bones 
are  found.  The  cement  that  joins 
them  together,  is  however  con- 
Hantly  reddlfh,  and  of  anochrotar- 
tarous  nature.  When  expofed  to 
the  air,  it  becomes  more  firm,  and 
aimed  doubly  harder  than  it  was 
before  detached  from  its  native  po¬ 
rtion.  No  veflige  or  fragment  of 
marine  bodies  can  be  discovered, 
either  by  the  naked  eye,  or  by  the 
help  of  glades,  mixed  with  the 
bones  though  the  Arata  on  which 
they  lie,  and  thofe  above  them,  are 
full. 

I  know  very  well,  that  in  many 
other  parts  of  Europe,  foffil  bones 
of  wild  beads,  and  perhaps  of  men, 
are  found.  The  celebrated  Gefner, 
in  his  treatile  on  the  origin  of  pe* 
trifa&ions.  Speaks  of  an  anthropo- 
lite,  which,  however,  is  not  very 
ancient;  in  the  Philosophical  Tranf- 
adlions,  mention  is  made  of  a  hu¬ 
man  ikeleton  found  at  Derby  ;  Hop. 

10 


pelius  relates  at  large  the  difeovery 
of  another  human  fkeleton  made  at 
Aix  in  Provence;  both  Scheuchzer 
and  Ktrcher,  Speak  of  foffii  bones 
of  the  fame  Species  with  ours :  but 
the  greateft  part  of  thofe  pretended 
carcafTes  and  bones  may  be  fubjedl 
to  doubts.  If  even  ail  the  foffil 
bones  mentioned  by  various  au¬ 
thors  were  really  human,  our  13- 
lyric  bones  would  not  be  lefs  wor¬ 
thy  of  particular  coniideration,  as 
they  far  exceed  all  hitherto  know  n 
by  the  naturahils  in  preservation, 
frequency  and  quality.  [n  oar 
journey  over  the  ifland  ot  Cherfo 
and  Ofero,  which  was  rather  Some¬ 
what  hafty,  we  could,  in  Several 
places,  caufe  them  to  be  dug  up 
under  our  own  eye.  There  are  two 
different  heaps  on  the  ifolated  and 
defert  rock  of  Gutim ,  though  we 
were  told  only  of  one  of  them  op 
the  fpot,  and  did  not  find  the 
other;  a  mile  from  Gutim ,  at  a 
place  called  Platt ,  on  the  ifland  of 
Cherfo,  other  heaps  are  Seen.  We 
found  them,  as  I  obferved  already, 
in  the  caverns  of  Gbermojkall,  and 
at  P orto-Cicale,  in  the  poll  of  VaU 
lijhall ,  and  at  Balvanida ,  on  the 
other  fide  of  the  ftrait,  not  far  from 
Lujfin  picciolo .  From  thence  paf- 
ling  over  to  the  Small  ifland  called 
Card  dole  picciola ,  and  Stracane,  in 
the  language  of  the  country,  we 
discovered  two  large  heaps  ;  af* 
terwards,  we  went  over  to  the 
Small  ifland  of  San/ego,  about  eight 
miles  diflant  from  Lujfin  picciolo , 
and  were  fhewn,  at  a  diftance,  the 
place  where  they  lay,  at  the  foot 
of  a  hill  of  Sand,  of  which  the 
ifland  is  compofed,  and  of  which  I 
fhall  Speak  more  at  large.  Though 
the  foil  of  that  ifland  is  very  far 
from  being  ochreous  or  irony,  yet 
there  alfo,  the  bones  are  wrapt  in 

their 


NATURAL 

their  ufual  martial  lapideous  earth, 
and  accompanied  with  Aones  and 
fplinters  of  marble.  The  fame 
charaders  accompany  the  Illy  rick, 
bones  over  all  the  iflands,  and 
along  the  coafis  of  Dalmatia,  where 
the  mariners  ufed  to  fee  them  fre¬ 
quently,  and  where  they  were  ob-- 
ferved  by  the  above-mentioned  Vi* 
taliano  Donati ,  in  the  feverai  voy¬ 
ages  he  made  from  1743  till  1748. 
Mr.  Martin  Thomas  B  run  nich, 
profeffor  in  the  university  of  Co¬ 
penhagen,  in  his  travels  through 
Dalmatia,  found  feme  of  thofe 
bones  in  the  1/cle  Coronate ,  and  was 
convinced  they  were  human.  They 
fay  ti;ere  is  alfo  a  great  deal  of 
them  along  the  torre?/t  Cicola3  be¬ 
tween  Sibenico  and  Knin  ;  near 
Zaro,  and  at  Rogofniza ,  in  the 
bank  called  Rajip ,  and  in  IJloia 
grojfa.  Nor  is  there  any  confuler- 
able  difference  between  thofe  found 
in  Dalmatia  and  at  Corfu  in  the 
Ionia  fea,  where  there  are  great 
quantities,  at  a  place  called  Fufta- 
pidami .  Only  at  Cerigo ,  where 
many  are  dug  up,  the  appearance 
is  fomewhat  altered,  the  colour  be¬ 
ing  lefs  dark,  the  ftone  in  which 
they  are  inclofcd  harder,  and  the 
bones  themfelves  more  crufhed.  A 
French  traveller,  whofe  name  I  do 
not  at  prefent  recoiled,  writes,  that 
many  foffil  human  bones  are  alfo 
found  in  the  ifland  of  Cyprus,  and 
I  think  he  mentions  particularly  a 
whole  fkeleton. 

This  extraordinary  abundance  of 
bones,  their  conftant  confinement 
in  a  lapideous  ochreo  -  flaladitic 
earth,  the  pofition  of  the  various 
heaps  obferved  by  us,  and  the  fame 
correfpondency  which  we  difeo- 
vered  in  the  caverns  of  Ghermojhall , 
befides  giving  ground  to  fufped 
that  £  fir  a  turn  had  been  formed  in 


H  ISTORY.  105 

remote  ages,  might  alfo  raife  not  a 
very  unreafonable  conje&ure,  that 
this  flratum,  alternately  compofed 
of  marble  fplinters  and  bones,  ex¬ 
tended  from  the  northern  fhore  of 
the  ^uarnaro,  to  the  iflands  of  the 
JEgean  fea,  and  probably  ftill  far¬ 
ther.  This  conje&ure,  though,  to 
fome,  it  may  appear  too  bold, 
will,  I  apprehend,  not  be  thought 
fo  by  thofe  who  are  ufed  to  obferve 
the  courfes  of  ftrata  generally  tra- 
verflng  vafl  tra&s  of  country,  and 
correfponding  together  from  one  to 
the  other  fhore  of  the  fea.  The 
coafts  of  France  have  that  kind  of 
correfpondency  with  thofe  of  Eng¬ 
land,  which  lie  oppofite  to  them  ; 
and  from  one  fide  to  the  other  of 
the  Apennines,  the  flrata  of  calca¬ 
reous  done  of  marine  original,  are 
feen  to  run  around  the  large  hol¬ 
lows,  excavated  by  the  impetuous 
torrents  for  many  miles.  The  not 
finding  an  uninterrupted  continual 
tion  of  the  heaps  of  lllyric  bones, 
does  not  afford  a  fufEcient  ground 
to  deny  the  exiftence  of  jo  wonder¬ 
ful  a  ftratum.  A  thoufand  exam¬ 
ples  of  large  infulated  rnaffee,  com¬ 
monly  found  diiperfed  among  the 
mountains,  of  a  very  different  fub- 
flance  from  thofe  that  furround 
them,  difeover,  and  prove  at  the 
fame  time,  the  exiftence  of  ancient 
flrata  deflroyed  by  the  waters,  and 
time  ;  nor  do  they  leave  the  lead 
room  to  doubt  of  this  truth.  Be¬ 
fides,  thofe  who  might  think  fuch 
an  argument  againft  this  conje&ure 
concluflve,  ought  to  confider,  that 
thefe  congeries  are  found  not  only 
of  bones,  as  has  been  taken  notice 
of  above,  but  fometimes  of  marble, 
fplinters  alone,  in  fome  places, 
difpofed  horizontally,  and  in  others 
infinuated  into  the  cleft  or  chafms, 
precifeJy  in  the  fame  manner  as  the 

bones* 


10  6  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177? 


bones.  One  would  not  eafily  be 
induced  to  believe ,  that  thefe 
bones,  fplinters,  and  Hones  have 
been  fo  carefully  buried  by  the 
bands  of  men  ;  and  that  fuch  nu¬ 
merous  heaps  can  be  the  refult  of 
burials.  The  not  hnding  whole 
fkeletons  but  rather  every  thing 
confufed,  broken,  and  mixed  with 
reliques  of  various  animals,  feems 
to  deflroy  entirely  all  probability 
of  fuch  a  fuppofition.  And  if  even 
we  were  to  imagine  that  all  thofe 
bones  had  been  interred  on  pur¬ 
pose  in  fuch  numerous  burying 
places  ;  how  many  ages  would 
bave  been  requifite,  to  render  them 
fo  very  frequent,  and  how  many 
more  to  raife  from  their  level  the 
bills  and  eminences,  under  the 
bafes,  or  in  the  hearts  of  which 
the  bones  lie  in  heaps  ?  And  in 
what  age  can  we  imagine  that  thofe 
countries  were  inhabited  by  a  na¬ 
tion,' that  pre-exifted  the  formation 
of  the  marine  hills,  and  iflands, 
which  in  our  days  are  feen  in  the 
Adriatick  ? 

f  am  far  from  venturing  to  give 
my  opinion  about  the  origin  of  fo 
ft  range  a  phenomenon  ;  and  Ihould 
indeed  be  quite  at  a  lofs  how  to 
give  it,  as  every  conjecture,  that 
I  can  think  of,  is  expofed  to  un- 
anfwerable  objections.  If  I  could, 
like  feme  who  have  treated  fimiiar 
fubjeCts,  attribute  all  the  organif- 
ed  foflils  to  a  lu/us  nature,  by  fol¬ 
low,  ing  the  famed  footfteps  of  the 
venerable  ignorance  of  the  fchools, 
I  might  difpatch  the  explication  of 


this  or  any  other  phenomenon,  in 
a  few  words,  only  by  faying  they 
were  eifeCts  of  the  flood,  volcanos, 
or  earthquakes.  Notwithfianding 
the  good  philofophy,  and  phyfical 
obfervations  of  this  age,  there  are 
ftili  fome,  who,  in  treating  of  a 
point  of  natural  hiftory,  either 
give  too  much  fcope  to  a  warm, 
or  prejudiced  imagination,  or  fol¬ 
low  implicitly  the  date  and  unphi- 
lofophical  dodtrines  of  the  thir¬ 
teenth  century  ;  but  I  am  net  wil¬ 
ling  to  put  myfelf  among  their 
number,  in  order  to  fhorten  dif- 
cuffions.  I  know  well,  that,  by 
hafiiiy  forming,  or  adopting  fy- 
llems,  phiiofophers  often  wrong 
their  own  genius,  as  well  as  the 
truth,  and  on  the  other  hand,  am 
convinced,  that  the  author  of  na¬ 
ture  is  not  capricious  in  his  works, 
and  that  the  (bund  phiiofophers  of 
our  times  laugh  at  plaftick  powers, 
and  archetypal  ideas,  or  fuch  like 
fcholaftick  barbarifms. 

I  think,  that,  jn  treating  of  ex¬ 
traordinary  phenomena,  hard  to  be 
explained,  and  liable  to  difficulties 
on  all  fides,  the  beft  method  that 
can  be  taken  by  any  perfon  who  is 
the  firft  to  write  purpofeiy  con¬ 
cerning  them,  is  to  relate  fimplv, 
and  to  deferibe,  with  the  molt 
fcrupulous  and  exaCf  precifion, 
every  thing  he  has  feen  or  obferv- 
ed  on  the  fubjeCt,  Every  body  is 
at  liberty,  afterwards,  to  explain, 
them  his  own  way,  either  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  fyftems  of  others,  or  by 
fome  new  hypothecs  formed  on 


*  After  we  were  returned  from  the  ifland  of  Cherfo  and  Ofero,  our  kind  hods 
acquainted  us,  that,  after  our  departure,  a  whole  human  carcafe  had  been  dif- 
covered  in  a  rock,  and  invited  us  to  repafs  the  gulf,  to  overfee  the  cutting  of 
It  out.  Circumflanees  did  not  permit  us  to  attend  to  this  invitation  ;  and  who 
knows  bow  fo  rare  and  valuable  a  monument  of  the  antiquity  of  our  fpecies 
jsay  have  been  treated  by  thole  people, 

purpofe* 


NATURAL  HISTORY.  107 


purpofe.  For  my  part,  I  am  per. 
fedtly  convinced,  that  I  have  not 
the  neceffary  data  for  a  fatisfadlory 
explanation,  and  therefore  will  not 
hazard  a  conjedlure  concerning  the 
ancient  origin  of  the  Illyric  foflil 
bones  ;  bat  at  the  lame  time  am 
very  ready  to  attend  to  any  perfon 
who  will  undertake  to  folve  my 
doubts.  Thefe  foftil  bones  are, 
in  my  opinion,  one  of  the  moft  im¬ 
portant  objects  about  which  the 
learned  curiofity  of  the  naturaliils 
can  be  employed  ;  and  it  were  to 
be  wilhed,  that  fome  of  them,  led 
by  genius,  would  give  us  an  ac¬ 
count  how  far  precifely  thofe  ftrata 
reach  over  all  Dalmatia,  and  the 
iflands  of  the  Levant. 


Of  the  Nature  of  Marble ,  and  Petri - 
fad  ions.  From  the  fame. 

THE  foffil  bones,  enclofea  in 
the  lapideous  earth  before 
defcribed,  are  not  the  only  litholo¬ 
gical  curiofity  of  the  ifland  of 
Cherfo  and  OJ'ero ,  and  thofe  adja¬ 
cent  to  it,  The  nature  of  the  mar¬ 
ble,  of  which  they  are  almoft 
wholly  compofed  from  the  top  to 
the  bottom,  merits  particular  at¬ 
tention.  They  are  differently  or- 
ganifed,  and  the  component  parts 
of  the  various  ftrata  are  alfo  com¬ 
bined  with  fome  diverfity  ;  and 
fometimes  a  Final  1  diffimilitude  may 
be  obferved  between  the  parts  of 
the  fame  ftratum,  at  any  confi- 
derable  diftance  the  one  from  the 
other  :  but  as  their  diredfion  is  al¬ 
ways  conftant,  fo  are  the  principal 
elements  conftantly  the  fame  in 
each  ftratum,  notwithftanding  the 
various  diftances  of  its  parts.  The 
itone  which  occupies  the  higheft 
parts  of  the  iftand,  as  well  near 


the  lake  of  Jefero ,  as  about  LuJJh% 
picciolo%  is  analogous  to  the  com¬ 
mon  marble  of  Ifria ,  only  it  con- 
tains  a  greater  quantity  of  marine 
bodies  of  the  moft  diftinguifhable 
fpecies,  and  which  uiually  are  bet¬ 
ter  preferved  than  the  others,  I 
mean  phacites  and  elicit es  of  every 
variety  and  fize.  The  quantity 
of  thefe  bodies  femipetrifted,  or 
changed  into  ftaladlites,  but  not 
become  of  equal  hardnefs  with  the 
matrice  in  which  they  are  contain¬ 
ed,  renders  that  marble  lefs  ftrong 
and  lefs  apt  to  re fi ft  the  adtion  of 
the  air,  and  corrofion,  than  the 
Iftrian.  The  ancient  fea  bottom, 
hardened  by  time,  and  the  opera¬ 
tive  faculty  of  the  waters  uniting 
the  particles  moft  apt  to  concrete 
in  cryftals,  has  been  abundantly 
peopled  with  large  and  fmall  num» 
mali,  and  fragments  of  them,  many 
ages  before  it  was  expofed  to  the 
open  air,  Thefe  adventitious  bo¬ 
dies,  of  which  the  fpecies  isjuftly 
fuppofed  to  be  loft,  were  pro¬ 
bably  not  fo  eafily  compreffible  as 
other  fofter  and  unconnected  parts 
of  the  mud;  hence  it  would  fol¬ 
low,  that,  preferving  fome  degree 
of  their  difpofnion  towards  calci¬ 
nation,  they  were  fhut  up  in  the 
petrifaction  of  large  ftrata.  When¬ 
ever  it  happens  that  they  are  ex¬ 
pofed  to  the  violent  adtion  of  any 
exterior  force,  they  loon  begin  to 
be  difcompofed,  in  fuch  a  man¬ 
ner,  that  the  fuperficies  of  a  piece 
of  this  ftone,  which  is  almoft  half 
compofed  of  them,  (hews  mani- 
feftly  its  difpofition  to  be  difunited, 
reduced  into  powder,  and  con- 
fumed  by  time.  Notwithftanding, 
however,  this  fmaller  degree  of 
hardnefs  which  the  nummali  have, 
when  inclofed  in  the  ftrata  that 
compofe  the  tops  of  the  mountains 

of 


ioS  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


of  the  ifland,  they  ufe,  when  en¬ 
tire,  to  refill  time  and  eorrofion 
better  than  the  reft  of  the  ftone, 
in  confequence  of  their  ftrufture, 
which,  between  the  lamina ,  left 
room  for  a  fparry  cryftallization. 
Hence  the  nummali  and  frumentarie 
of  Cberjb  remain  confiderably  pro¬ 
minent,  and  lefs  worn  than  the 
Hone  in  which  they  lie,  though 
they  are  evidently  not  fo  hard ; 
which  is  a  proof  that  the  greater 
or  leffer  folidity  and  apparent  com- 
paftnefs  of  a  body,  is  not  a  fure 
rule  of  proportion  to  determine  the 
durability,  which  rather  depends 
on  the  fecret  nature  and  difpofition 
of  the  particles  whereof  it  is  com- 
pofed,  and  the  fpecies  of  force 
aftuating  towards  its  deflruftion. 
And  though  the  caufe  does  notap- 
pear  outwardly,  the  fame  thing  is 
frequently  feen  in  various  kinds  of 
foffil  matter,  and  the  extraneous 
body,  though  fpecifically  lefs  com- 
padl,  refills  longer  than  the  marble, 
or  fchifl us  in  which  it  is  contained. 
The  An  all  differences  of  the  com¬ 
bination  of  the  elements,  which 
concurred  to  form  any  portion  of  a 
ftratum,  and  the  very  minute  va¬ 
rieties  of  fituation,  ar,  earth,  wa¬ 
fer,  and  effluvia  not  reducible  to 
calculation,  are  altogether,  or  ta¬ 
ken  feparately,  the  caufes  of  the 
moft  remarkable  differences  be¬ 
tween  Hones,  which,  however,  have 
all  the  fame  bafis.  Mineral  fub- 
ilances  when  diffolved  tnme  the 

O 

earth,  of  wfiich  the  hardeft  marble 
is  formed,  of  various  colours,  in 
proportion  to  their  quality  and 
quantity;  and  it  happens  notun- 
frequently,  that  marble  ftrata,  al¬ 
ready  hardened,  through  the  in¬ 
tervention  of  water  or  fire,  imbibe, 
or  open  their  pores  to  let  in  a  co¬ 


louring  matter,  or  mineral  efflu* 
njium,  which  changes  their  fecon- 
dary  qualities  almoft  radically. 
Hence,  taking  the  whole  litholo¬ 
gical  kingdom  together,  it  may 
freely  be  afferted,  that  the  waters 
charged  with  heterogeneous  parti¬ 
cles,  and  the  fubterranean  va¬ 
pours,  have  almoft  as  confiderable 
a  part  in  the  alterations  of  the 
combination  of  Hones,  as  the  vul¬ 
canic  fires,  which  melt,  reduce  to 
afhes,  and  mix  with  an  infinite 
variety,  the  fubftances  varioufly 
combined,  on  which  they  aft  with 
different  degrees  of  force.  The 
nummali  fhut  up  in  the  real  marble, 
and  the  calcareous  ftone  of  Ofero 
and  Gherfo  are  of  the  flatted  kind, 
and  of  various  fizes.  Many  of 
them  have  above  three  inches  in 
diameter,  and  two  or  three  lines 
of  thicknefs,  and  are  horizontally 
placed ;  fonie  others,  of  a  fize  not 
much  different,  are  in  a  vertical 
politico  ;  and  others  are  alfo  found 
in  a  pofture  fomewhat  inclined. 
From  the  bignefs  of  above  three 
inches  diameter,  they  diminifh  by 
degrees  to  the  {mailed  frumentaria 
or  phacites  ;  and  to  fee  this,  the 
obferver  has  no  need  to  multiply  his 
examinations  of  different  pieces  of 
ftone,  as  very  often  all  the  varieties 
are  contained  in  one  piece  alone. 

The  other  fort  of  marble  which 
is  feen  naked  on  the  fhores,  and 
conftitutes  the  bafe  of  all  thofe 
iflands,  having  conftantly  above  it 
another  ftratum  of  about  three  feet 
deep,  of  precisely  the  fame  fub- 
ftance,  is  well  worthy  of  attentive 
and  diligent  obfervation.  Both 
thefe  llrata  are  of  a  dirty  whitifli 
colour,  fpotted  and  befpangled 
with  very  white  cryftallizations, 
which  fometimes  are  lodged  be¬ 
tween 


NATURAL 

tween  the  fiftures  of  the  earth  pe¬ 
trified  by  them,  running  through 
the  fiftures  in  very  minute  dirama- 
tions  ;  fometimes  they  have  occu¬ 
pied  the  place  of  marine  bodies 
calcined,  and  perhaps  in  part  de- 
ftroyed  before  the  induration  of 
their  actual  matrice.  Among  thefe, 
fome  turbinati  are  diftinguiftied, 
which  appear  to  be  of  the  hardeft 
fpar,  and  a  great  number  of  whit- 
2 fh  fiftular  bodies  of  the  fame  fub- 
ftance,  which,  at  firll  fight,  might 
be  taken,  and  which  I  adually 
miftook  for  bones.  The  firatum 
waffled  by  the  fea  on  the  coails  of 
Ijlria  and  Liburnia ,  is  compofed 
of  the  above-mentioned  materials, 
and  it  is  evident  enough,  that  the 
bafe  of  the  ifiand  of  Cber/o  and 
Oferoy  and  of  the  ancient  ifiands, 
is  only  a  continuation  of  the  fame, 
and  formed  at  the  fame  time  by  a 
very  ancient  fea,  and  in  lefs  re¬ 
mote  ages,  though  always  very  far 
from  ours,  interrupted  by  a  new 
fea  ;  and  certainly  the  Adriatick  of 
our  days,  ought  to  be  called  a  new 
fea,  very  different  from  the  an¬ 
cient  ocean,  which  formed  the 
whole  of  that  trad  of  country, 
which  the  Adriatick,  and  the  ri¬ 
vers,  by  little  and  little,  go  on 
corroding,  if  the  fpoils  of  animals, 
ffill  preferved  in  the  bowels  of 
thofe  vaff  petrified  ftrata,  are  of 
totally  different  fpecies  from  thofe 
that  now  inhabit  our  Teas.  I  know 
not  what  the  bifhop  Broualliusy  pro- 
fefior  Bring,  and  the  other  antago- 
niffs  to  the  diminution  of  the  wa¬ 
ters,  and  their  change  of  feats, 
could  anfwer  to  thefe  manifest 
faffs.  They  were  certainly  in  the 
wrong  to  call  in  religion  to  the  af- 
fiftance  of  their  favourite  hypo- 
tbefis,  endeavouring  to  oppofe  and 
overthrow  the  obfervations  of  the 


HISTORY.  109 

moft  learned  naturaliffs,  by  arbi¬ 
trary  interpretations  of  facred  texts. 
Religion  never  is  a  gainer  on  fuch 
occalions  ;  witnefs  the  abjuration 
of  Galileo ,  which  does  fo  much 
difhonour  to  Italy. 

The  marine  air,  and  perhaps  the 
fea  water,  which  has  always  fome- 
thing  of  acid  in  it,  make  a  very 
curious  operation  on  the  fuperficies 
of  the  fpecies  of  marble  expofed  to 
their  adivity,  It  would  have  been 
thought  extravagant  enough  if  any 
body  had  pretended  to  defire,  or 
hope,  that  the  moft  diligent  ftone- 
cutter  in  the  world,  by  means  of  a 
chifiel,  or  the  moft  profound  che- 
mift,  by  means  of  fome  men- 
ftruum,  ihould  (hew  us  the  courfe, 
and  diramaticns  of  the  veffels  in 
ftones  ;  many  lithoiogifts  by  pro- 
feilion  would  never  even  have  fiif- 
peded  their  exiftence.  I  had 
however  the  pleafure  of  feeing  this 
executed  in  the  moft  mafterly  man¬ 
ner  along  the  ftiores  of  thofe  ifiands, 
and  fometimes  on  the  lower  parts 
of  the  hills.  The  points  of  the  fe- 
cond  ftratum,  that  are  not  fullied 
and  disfigured  by  the  fait  waters, 
coriacious  or  ftony  lichens,  mufcus , 
balaniy  or  labours  of  marine  in- 
feds,  but  corroded  only  by  the 
air,  and  the  afperfion  of  the  waves, 
fhew  the  internal  texture  of  the 
marble,  and  the  moft  intricate  paf- 
fages  of  the  fmalleft  canals,  in 
which  the  fparry  fubftance  is  depo- 
fited  and  cry ftallized,  opening  the 
way  between  the  divifions,  and  be¬ 
tween  the  fmalleft  lumps  of  the 
particles  of  clay  not  fufficiently 
hardened,  which  it  proceeded  to 
petrify,  when  affifted  by  the  waters 
that  ferved  as  its  vehicle.  The 
adion  of  the  moift  and  fait  air, 
and  the  drizzling  of  the  fea  water, 
concurring  in  the  decompofition  of 

thofe 


r  id 


ANNUAL  REGISTER*  1778 


thofe  marble  ftrata,  ordinarily  finds 
the  pure  calcareous  cryftaliized  fub- 
ftance  lefs  eafily  diffolvabie,  be- 
caufe  its  parts  not  being  amal¬ 
gamated  with  the  day,  are  more 
in  a  condition  to  refill:,  as  being 
more  continued,  compact,  and  ad¬ 
herent;  and  hence,  corroding  all 
round  it,  leaves  prominent  every 
one  of  the  fmall  canals  above  men¬ 
tioned,  together  with  all  their  ca¬ 
pillary  ramifications.  Though  this 
exadt  anatomical  fyftem  cannot  be 
obferved  in  every  fpecies  of  mar¬ 
ble,  and  perhaps  in  fome  kinds  the 
obfervations  may  feem  at  firft  fight 
directly  oppofite,  yet  I  think  we 
may  reafonably  conclude,  from  the 
refultofthe  combinations  concur¬ 
ring  in  the  formation,  and  difiblu- 
tion  of  the  marble  of  Gherfo ,  that 
all,  or  the  greateft  part  of  the 
Horses,  which  owe  their  origin  to 
the  water,  were  rendered  folid, 
and  continued  by  the  fame  opera¬ 
tion  of  nature  ;  from  whence  per¬ 
haps,  arifes  a  new  chain  of  cohe¬ 
rence  and  analogy  between  the 
mineral  kingdom  and  the  other 
two.  The  examination  of  a  va¬ 
riety  of  agates  and  jafpers  contain¬ 
ing  curious  fpots,  fhades,  and  her- 
borizations,  if  made  under  the 
eye  of  a  fkilful  lithologift,  might 
contribute  much  to  confirm  the 
fimiiarky  and  connection  jail  men¬ 
tioned. 


Of  the  Forjnaticn  and  DiJJblution  of 
Hills .  From  the  fame «, 

THE  attentive  consideration 
of  the  internal  ftrufture  of 
the  ifland  has  confirmed  me  kill 
more  in  the  opinion  which  I  had 
before,  through  the  frequent  ufe 
of  ©bferving  the  mountains  and 


hills  of  the  continent,  concerning* 
the  falient  and  re-entrant  angles 
of  Bourguet,  A  celebrated  na- 
turalilb  has  brought  them  in  vogue 
on  the  faith  of  their  author;  and 
many  more  of  leffer  fame  adopted 
them  as  a  demonftrated  truth.  I 
however  conftantly  believe,  and 
dare  aftert,  that  this  fyftem  of  fa¬ 
lient  and  re-entrant  angles  cannot 
be  adopted  univerfally  to  the  moun¬ 
tains,  and  much  lefs  to  the  fea- 
fhore.  It  is  very  true,  that  the 
correspondence  of  the  angles  is 
feen  very  well  exprefled  in  the 
fides  of  fome  vallies  ;  but  there 
are  few  vallies  among  the  moun¬ 
tains  that  do  not  owe  their  exca« 
vation  to  the  waters  of  rivers,  or 
torrents,  the  conftant  nature  of 
which  is  to  form  an  angle,  or  a 
falient  curvature  oppofite  to  every 
new  corrofion.  But  where  the  wa¬ 
ters  have  not  been  able  to  work  in 
their  ufual  way,  and  where  the 
vallies  were  formed  by  little  hills, 
or  vulcanic  hills  produced  in  va¬ 
rious  times,  and  with  little  order* 
there  no  mark  of  the  pretended 
univerfal  correfpondence  is  feen. 
To  fet  Hill  "  in  a  clearer  light  the 
error  of  this  hypothefis  given  out 
as  a  conftant  obfervauon,  it  is 
proper  to  repeat,  that  the  horizon¬ 
tal,  or  inclined  ftrata,  which  are 
the  moft  common,  and  neareft  to 
their  ancient  natural  ftate,  corre- 
fpond  together  from  one  chain  of 
hills  to  another  ;  though  they  may 
be  divided  by  very  broad  vallies, 
which  manifeftly  demonftrate  an 
ancient  continuity,  as  well  as  the 
diffolution  of  the  large  portion  of 
mountain  that  exifted  before  thofp 
great  hollows. 

And  hence  it  may  eafily  be  per¬ 
ceived,  how  little  probability  there 
is,  that  the  hills*  in  their  firft 

foundation. 


Ill 


natural 

foundation,  have  been  formed  by 
the  great  Architect  at  correipond- 
ing  angles,  leaving,  as  it  were, 
the  dentelii  of  the  itrata  fufpended 
round  the  vallies;  for  according  to 
all  appearance  it  may  be  reason¬ 
ably  concluded,  after  the  melt  di¬ 
ligent  obfervations,  that  no  vef- 
tige,  or  clear  proof  remains,  in 
our  days,  of  primitive  hills,  or 
that  may  with  propriety  be  called 
fo:  Thofe  which  we  know,  are 
manifeftly  produced,  either  by  vol¬ 
canos,  which  have  burnt  in  almoft 
every  region  of  our  globe  ;  or  by 
the  fe a,  which  in  pall  ages  covered 
it  altogether,  or  alternatively  ;  or 
by  the  fea  and  volcanos  at  the 
fame  time  *.  And  it  appears  not 
improbable,  that  the  moll  ancient 
protuberances  of  our  globe  were 
much  more  vail  and  regular,  though 
quite  different  'from  the  itrudlure 
of  thofe  we  now  fee. 

Concerning  the  other  ideas  of 
Bourguet,  who  after  having  eda- 
blifhed  obfervations  by  no  means 
exadl,  imagined  by  way  of  corol¬ 
laries  the  pall  flate  of  the  earth, 
and  found  the  precife  time  of  the 
deluge,  (as  if  there  had  been  but 
one)  and  then  pretended  to  forefee 
the  fubfequent  alterations  and  trans¬ 
formations  that  are  to  happen  in 
it,  I  think  it  needlefs  to  take  any 
further  notice.  Syftems  and  theo¬ 
ries  refemble  hitherto,  and  are  like 
to  refemble  in  time  coming,  (till 
a  fufiicieut  number  of  good  ob- 


HISTORY. 

fervations  are  made)  unripe  fruit, 
which  fpoils  in  a  fhort  time.  That 
of  Bourguet  feems  to  have  found 
more  partifans  than  it  deierved, 
and  feveral  of  them  have  gained 
themfelves  no  honour  by  adopting 
it.  It  was  fufheient,  indeed,  to 
day  in  their  chambers,  and  to  theo* 
rife  at  their  eafe  on  good  geogra¬ 
phical  maps,  concerning  the  truth 
of  the  propofition  that  the  fides  of 
the  large  vallies ,  as  vcell  as'  thofe  of 
the  Jhores  of  the  fea>  correfpond  vsitb 
one  another  ;  and  I  who  have  taken 
the  trouble  to  examine  many  of 
them,  am  perfuaded,  that  neither 
the  fdes  of  the  fea  floor es,  nqr  thofe  of 
the  large  vallies ,  conflantly  correfpond 
voith  one  another . 

The  drata  of  the  iflands  of  Cherfo 
and  Oflro  are  very  regularly  form¬ 
ed.  They  pafs  from  one  hill  to 
another  with  a  kind  of  undulation, 
which  probably  has  been,  nay 
doubtlefs  has  been,  the  work  of  a 
vaft  ocean.  The  idand  is  too  old, 
and  has  undergone  too  great  a 
number  cf  changes,  as  well  as  ths 
red:  of  the  globe,  for  us  to  form 
any  certain  judgment  concerning 
its  fuperficies.  It  is  certain,  how¬ 
ever,  that  no  vedige  now  remains 
of  the  ancient  superficies,  as  even, 
the  order  of  the  organization  is  al¬ 
tered  in  the  inland  parts,  as  well 
as  on  the  fea  coall.  The  rain  wa¬ 
ters,  the  fubterraneous  cavities, 
the  abforptions,  and  fometimes 
more  fubitaneous  agents,  have 


*  In  the  celebrated  mountain  of  Bolea,  fituated  in  the  Veronefe  territory,  the 
co-exifience  of  the  fea  and  of  ancient  volcanos  is  manifeftly  teen.  In  our  times, 
that  is  in  the  beginning  of  this  centuiy,  the  idand  or  rock  of  Santerini  was  raifed 
out  of  the  bottom  of  the  fea  by  a  volcano.  In  the  valley  of  Rotzca,  between  Vi¬ 
cenza  and  Verona,  the  Tides  of  the  hill  fhew  the  ftrata  alternately  formed  of  the 
fpoils  of  the  fea,  and  of  vulcanic  eiudlations;  and  the  petrified  fhells,  that  are 
found  here,  are  often  tinged  with  black  and  drenched  in  bitumen,  and  the  largeft 
ejlracilesl ie  involved  in  the  lava  and  are  full  of  it. 

mad* 


i 


ii2  ANNUAL  RE 

made  great  ruins.  The  waves 
wafh  away  and  deftroy  iome  of 
the  littoral  hills ;  and  hence  the 
obfervation  of  the  ftrata  that  re» 
main  expofed  to  the  eye  on  the 
exterior  part  of  the  iiland,  are 
enough  to  erabarrafs  any  hafty  fa¬ 
bricator  of  fyftems.  Some  of  them 
are  inclined  towards  the  fea,  and, 
from  root  to  root  of  the  hills,  de- 
fcribe  arches  bending  outwards : 
but  this  diredion  is  not  conftant. 
Here  and  there,  contiguous  to 
the  arches  bending  outwards,  other 
arches  are  feen,  which  bend,  in  a 
contrary  fenfe,  inwards,  manifeft- 
ly  oppofing  themfelves  to  the  waves 
with  a  kind  of  pride.  The  ex¬ 
planation  of  this  fad  is,  how¬ 
ever,  not  difficult,  though  it  might 
feem  contradictory.  The  littoral 
hills  in  thofe  parts,  particularly 
thofe  of  Ofero ,  are  formed  of  marble 
ftrata,  the  one  difpofed  above  the 
other  in  fuch  a  manner,  as  refem- 
bles,  in  large,  the  ftrudure  of  the 
Bezoar  ftone,  but  they  are  not  fo 
difpofed  in  the  right  line,  that  the 
fea  waters  can  do  equal  damage  to 
each  in  difconspoling  the  roots, 
and  confequently  in  deftroying  the 
iides  and  tops.  Hence  the  ftrata 
of  thofe  hills  that  were  more  ex¬ 
pofed  to  the  force  of  the  waves, 
mu  ft  have  been  more  eaftly,  and 
in  a  fhorter  fpace  of  time,  corrod¬ 
ed,  difconneded,  and  overturned 
beyond  their  common  centre,  which 
is  the  perpendicular  let  fall  from 
the  top  of  the  hill  where  the  incli¬ 
nation  towards  the  fea  ends,  and 
the  declivity  towards  the  internal 
part  of  the  ifland  begins.  In  the 
courfe  of  apes,  thefe  hills,  the 
roots  and  interior  parts  whereof 
were  inclined  towards  the  deftroy- 
ing  fea,  are  reduced  to  lefs  than 
the  half,  and  therefore  now  appear 


GISTER,  i77g. 

outwardly  inclined  towards  the 
land.  And  thofe  hills  that  in  our 
days  are  thus  half  worn  away, 
will,  in  the  courfe  of  years,  be 
quite  deftroyed  *  their  roots  will 
become  quick-fands ;  and  the  fea 
continuing  its  encroachments,  and 
daily  gaining  on  the  dry  land  will 
once  more  by  degrees  fwallow  up 
that  trad  of  country,  which,  per¬ 
haps,  it  has  by  degrees  abandon¬ 
ed  and  reinundated  already,  who 
knows  how  often.  This  kind  of 
prophecy,  is  not  founded  on  ideal 
chimeras,  but  on  vifible  fads, 
which  correfpond  together,  and 
reciprocally  enforce  one  another 
from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the 
other. 


Account  of  the  Section  of  the  Sym  • 
phyfs  of  the  Pubes ,  performed  at 
Paris,  by  M*  Sigault,  Gfiober  2, 

1 777- 

I  ■  : 

SO  early  as  the  time  of  Hippo¬ 
crates  it  was  cbferved,  that  in 
pregnant  women,  the  bones  of 
the  pelvis  gradually  feparate  from 
each  other,  by  a  dilatation  of  the 
fubftance  which  conneds  them  ; 
but  though  the  juftnefs  of  this  re¬ 
mark  has  been  repeatedly  admit¬ 
ted  by  anatomical  writers,  it  has 
not  till  lately  been  rendered  fub- 
fervient  to  any  ufeful  purpofe  in 
the  pradice  of  the  obftetrical  art. 
The  perfon  entitled  to  the  honour 
of  this  invention  is  Mr.  Sigault, 
a  French  phyfician,  who,  in  1768, 
propofed  the  ledion  of  the  fym- 
phyfis  of  the  pubes  as  a  fubftitute 
lor  the  Csefarian  operation,  fo  of¬ 
ten  produdive  of  the  moft  fatal 
confequences  ;  and  the  utility  of 
this  pradice  was  exemplified  laft 
year  in  the  cafe  of  Mrs.  Souchot, 


NATURAL 

on  whom  he  made  the  experiment, 
in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Le  Roy. 
After  informing  our  readers  that 
Mrs.  Souchot  was  a  deformed  wo¬ 
man,  of  a  fmall  fiature,  with  a 
narrow  pelvis,  we  fhall  prefent 
them  with  the  account  of  the  ope¬ 
ration. 

I  obferved  that  the  child  prefent- 
ed  by  its  feet,  that  the  orifice  of  the 
uterus  was  very  much  dilated,  and 
that  the  diameter,  from  the  ante, 
rior  to  the  pofterior  part  of  the  pel¬ 
vis,  did  not  exceed  two  inches  and 
a  half.  I  told  Mr.  Sigault,  that  as 
the  diameter  of  a  child’s  head  at  its 
birth  is  ufually  at  lead:  three  inches 
and  a  quarter,  it  would  be  impoffi- 
ble  for  it  to  be  delivered  at  an  aper¬ 
ture  of  only  two  inches  and  a  half; 
that  confeauently  fhe  mult  fubmit 
to  the  Caefarian  operation,  or  that 
which  we  intended  to  fubftitute  for 
it,  to  which  1  all  fhe  confented. 

Every  thing  being  got  ready, 
we  folded  the  mattrafs  three  times, 
and  placed  her  on  it.  We  began 
by  feeling  for  the  middle  part  of 
the  cartilage  of  the  fymphyfes, 
which  we  readily  difcovered  by  the 
finger.  I  advifed  Mr.  Sigault  to 
begin  the  feClion  of  the  fuperior 
part  of  the  fymphyfes,  but  not 
above  the  pyramidal  mufcles,  and 
to  do  it  by  two  incifions.  Firft  to 
divide  the  integuments  as  far  as  the 
middle  of  the  pubes,  while  I  held 
the  lower  part;  downwards,  and 
then  to  begin  the  feClion  of  the  car¬ 
tilage.  Secondly,  to  finifh  the  in- 
cifion  of  the  integuments,  without 
any  fear  of  haemorrhage  obftruCling 
him  in  the  feClion  of  the  cartilage. 
Mr.  Sigault  had  nothing  but  a 
common  biftory  to  perform  this 
operation  with.  The  thighs  being 
opened  and  raifed,  he  performed  it 
in  the  manner  mentioned.  The 
Vol.  XXI. 


HISTORY.  113 

moment  the  reparation  was  com¬ 
pleted,  the  pubes  parted,  as  if  the 
firing  of  a  bow  had  been  divided, 
and  receded  to  each  fide  under  the 
integuments.  I  immediately  be¬ 
gan  to  extraCl  the  child  after  Mr. 
Sigault  had  broke  the  membrane, 
and  brought  the  feet  as  far  as  the  os 
externum.  I  firft  made  myfelf  fare 
of  the  extent  of  the  feparation  which, 
we  had  gained  by  the  feClion,  in 
order  to  judge  of  a  proper  method 
to  extract  the  head,  I  laid  my  four 
knuckles  in  the  fpace  procured  by 
the  fedtion,  which  meafured  two 
inches  and  a  half,  an  extent  fome- 
what  more  than  that  which  I  had 
gained  upon  the  body  of  Mrs,  Braf- 
feur,  which  gave  me  pleafure.  The 
child’s  heels  were  turned  to  the 
right  fide,  and  I  extracted  the  body 
by  gentle  efforts,  which  I  directed 
towards  the  lateral  parts  entirely, 
and  not  to  the  fpine.  I  difengaged 
the  left  arm,  and  then  the  right  ; 
the  head  being  flill  above  the  brim 
of  the  pelvis,  I  applied  my  hand  to 
the  face,  which  correfponded  with 
the  fymphyfes,  of  the  left  ilium  :  I 
opened  her  thighs  as  far  as  I  could, 
and  fixed  the  largeft  portion  of  the 
right  parietal  in  the  feparation. 
The  integuments  projected  ;  I  made 
the  left  parietal  anfwer  to  the  right 
lateral  fide  of  the  hollow  of  the 
facrum  ;  afterwards,  upon  railing 
the  body  of  the  child,  I  drew  out 
the  left  lateral  fide  of  the  head, 
while  at  the  fame  time,  with  the 
right  hand  applied  to  the  nafal 
foffa,  I  brought  the  chin  down¬ 
wards.  By  thefe  united  efforts  I 
overcame  the  greatell  refi fiance  at 
the  brim  of  the  pelvis.  When  it 
had  now  gained  the  hollow  of  the 
facrum,  I  brought  the  occiput  be¬ 
tween  the  feparation,  and  difen¬ 
gaged  the  chin  at  the  inferior  part 
I  of 


ha.  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


of  the  os  externum,  by  railing  the 
child’s  body  ;  the  reft  of  the  body 
followed  prefently,  2nd  the  patient 
was  delivered*  to  her  great  joy,  oi 
a  living  fbn.  The  thighs  being 
lowered,  the  reparation  appeared 
not  to  exceed  eight  lines.  1  imme¬ 
diately  extracted  the  placenta,  be- 
caufe  the  uterus  began  to  contract 
itfelf  exceedingly. 

During  this  operation,  which 
was  neither  very  painful  nor  tedi¬ 
ous,  the  wornan  loft  very  little 
blood,  and  the  hufband  being  called 
in,  could  fcarce  give  credit  to  fo 
fortunate  and  fpeedy  a  delivery. 
We  applied  fome  lint  to  the  wound, 
arid  removed  the  patient  on  the 
mattraft,  in  order  to  make  her 
bed.  Upon  the  leaft  opening  of 
her  thighs  fhe  felt  very  acute  pains 
in  the  left  pofterior  lide  of  the  loins 
and  pelvis.  We  applied  a  napkin, 
by  way  of  bandage,  to  keep  the 
pelvis  in  a  juft  poll  don,  to  which 
we  faftened  two  ribbands  behind, 
one  on  the  right,  the  other  on  the 
left,  and  brought  them  under  the 
thighs,  in  order  to  tie  them  before. 
When  put  to  bed,  we  found  her 
puife  was  not  affeded,  and  enrap¬ 
tured  at  becoming  a  mother,  fhe 
xequefted  us  to  give  her  the  child, 
in  order  to  fuckie  it. 

Mrs.  Brafie.ur,  whofe  name  is 
mentioned  in  this  narrative,  was  a 
perfon  on  whofe  body  Mr.  Le  Roy 
made  trial  of  the  operation,  im¬ 
mediately  after  Ihe  had  expired  from 
the  injurious  treatment  of  a  woman 
who  attempted  to  deliver  her. 

Mr.  Le  Roy  informs  us,  that  he 
has  performed  the  fedion  of  the 
pubes  upon  dead  fubjeds,  both 
male  and  female,  in  the  former 
he  obferved  a  feparation  of  between 
two  and  three  lines  fpace,  and  in 


the  latter  from  three  to  four;  but 
in  thofe  who  died  in  child-bed  he 
conftantly  gained  from  fix  to  nine 
lines. 

Both  Mr.  Sigault  and  Mr.  Le 
Roy  have  received  diftinguifhed 
honours  from  the  faculty  of  phyfic 
at  Paris,  for  the  zeal  with  which 
they  have  profecuted  this  extraor¬ 
dinary  improvement  in  midwifery  ; 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  many 
lives  may  henceforth  be  preferved, 
by  the  performance  of  this  ope  ra¬ 
ti  ft. 


Of  the  Paklara  or  Remora  of  the 
Ancients .  From  U  Auo'e  Forti&V 
Travels, 

I  Will  finilh  this  letter  by  relat¬ 
ing  a  fad,  to  which  you  may 
give  that  degree  of  faith  which  you 
think  it  merits.  You  have  often 
read,  in  ancient  naturaliils,  of 
wonderful  things  done  by  the  Re- 

o  r  » 

mora ,  or  Echeneis ,  and  not  without 
fome  furprife  will  have  learnt 
Pliny’s  ftory,  who,  after  having 
told  us,  on  the  faith  of  another, 
how  Anthony  was  retarded  on  his 
voyage  by  means  of  this  filh,  afferts 
poll ti vely,  that  a  ihip  with  Cali¬ 
gula  on  board  and  four  hundred 
rowers,  was  adually  ftopt  by  one 
of  thofe  liihes,  while  the  reft  of  the 
fleet  went  on  at  a  great  rate.  When 
I  read  this,  I  contented  myfelf  to 
fhrug  up  my  fhoulders,  without 
perplexing  my  brain  to  find  out  by 
what  natural  principle,  or  matter 
of  fad,  fuch  an  opinion  could  be¬ 
come  fo  generally  received,  that  a 
man  of  fenfe,  as  Pliny  certainly 
was,  fhould  affirm  it  in  pofitive 

terms. 


NATURAL  HISTORY. 


terms  *.  But  chapce  led  me  to  the 
difcovery.  We  were  failing  in  a 
fmall  bark  between  Vrullia  and  Al- 
milfa  with  a  frefh  equal  gale,  in 
the  afternoon.  The  mariners  were 
all  at  reft,  and  the  fteerfman  alone 
was  awake,  and  attended  in  ftlence 
to  the  direction  of  the  bark;  when, 
on  a  fudden,  we  heard  him  call 
aloud  to  one  of  his  companions, 
ordering  him  to  come  and  kill  the 
Pakldra.  Our  learned  friend  Sig¬ 
nor  Guilio  Bajamonti  was  with  me, 
and  underftanding  what  the  man 
meant,  deftred  him  to  (hew  him 
the  fiih  that  he  wanted  to  be  killed, 
but  the  fifh  was  gone.  Having  in¬ 
terrogated  the  fteerfman,  who  did 
not  svant  fenfe,  and  was  a  fifherman 
hy  profeffion,  why  he  had  ordered 
the  Paklara  to  be  killed,  and  what 
harm  it  had  done  ;  he  anfwered, 
without  hefitation,  that  the  Paklara 
ufed  to  take  hold  of  the  rudder  with 
his  teeth,  and  retarded  the  courfe 
of  the  bark  fo  fenfibly,  that  not 
only  he,  but  every  man  who  fat  at 
the  helm  felt  it  there  without  feeing 
it.  He  added,  that  many  a  time 
he  himfelf  had  catched  the  Packlara 
in  the  fa£t,  and  had  frequently  kil¬ 
led  and  eat  it.  That  it  was  often 
met  with  in  the  waters  of  Lijfa, 
That  in  fhape  it  refembled  a  con¬ 
ger  eel,  and  its  length  did  not 
ufually  exceed  a  foot  and  a  half. 


II5 

That  if  I  had  a  mind  to  fee,  and 
catch  one  of  them,  I  needed  only 
to  0  0  in  a  ft  filing  boat,  in  the  warm 
feafon,  between  the  Hlands  of  Le¬ 
ft  n  a  and  Lift'd,  where  he  had  never 
failed  to  meet  with  them  every 
year.  I  will  not  defire  you  to  be¬ 
lieve  every  thing  my  pilot  laid  ; 
but  confefs  that  I  ihould  be  very 
glad  to  fee  the  Paklara  when  it  had 
taken  hold  of  the  rudder  of  a  bark 
under  fail.  The  wonderful  ftrength. 
of  the  mufcles  of  fome  little  marine 
animals,  fuch  as  the  Lepades ,  that 
fo  obftinately  refill  any  attempt  to 
difengage  them  from  their  rocks ; 
the  ilroke  proceeding  with  fuch  ra¬ 
pidity  from  the  Torpedo,  knowa 
at  Venice  by  the  name  of  pefce  Tre¬ 
molo  >  and  in  the  fea  of  Dalmatia 
by  that  ofTruak  ;  the  vigour  (hewn 
by  the  Dentici  in  their  convuiftve 
motions  even  when  out  of  their  own 
element ;  not  to  mention  the  larger 
fifh,  fuch  as.  Tunny,  Dolphins, 
&c.  give  me  ground  to  fufpedl, 
that,  if  all  that  the  ancients  wrote 
concerning  the  Remora  be  not  juft 
literally  true,  it  is  not  altogether 
falfe.  It  is  certainly  a  thing  wor¬ 
thy  of  fome  reflection,  that  Pliny 
fpeaks  fo  diffafeiy  concerning  this 
phenomenon,  as  of  a  known  fa  Cl 
that  could  not  be  called  in  quef- 
tion.  The  Greeks  alfo  adopted 
the  notion  of  this  extravagant  fa- 


*  Ruant  vend  licet,  &  faeviant  procellae  (echeneis)  imperat  furori,  virefque 
tantas  compefcit,  &  cogit  flare  navigia — -Fei  tur  a&iaco  marte  tenuifFe  praetonam 
navim  Antonii  properantis  citcumire,  &  exhortari  fuos,  donee  tranfirit  in  aiiam. 

,  Ideoque  &  Caefariana  claffts  impetu  majore  protinus  venit.  Tenuit  Sc  noftra 
memoria  Caii  principis  ab  Aftuia  Antium  remigantis.  Nec  longa  fuit  illius 
morse  admiratio,  ftatim  caula  intellect  a  quu  11  e  tota  clafle  quinquaremis  iola 
non  proficeret.  Exilientibus  protinus  qui  id  qusrerent  circa  navi  in  invenerunt 
adhseremem  guberr.aculo,  oftenderuntque  Caio  indignanti  hoc  fuifte  quod  fe 
revocaret  quadringentorumque  remigum  obfequio  contra  fe  intercederet.  Qui 
tunc,  pofteaque  videre  eum  limaci  magnse  ftmilem  efTe  dicunt.  E  noftris  quidam 
Latinis  Remoram  apnellavere  eum.  C.  Plin.  fee.  Nat.  Hift.  1.  xxxii.  c.  1. 

I  2  culty. 


ii  6  ANNUAL  REGISTER 


culty,  by  fuperftitioufly  hanging  the 
Remora  about  women  with  child  to 
prevent  abortion. 

The  Remora  of  the  ancients  and 
the  Paklara  of  our  days  have  this 
remarkable  difference,  that  the  firll 
is  almoft  always  defcribed  as  of  the 
teftaceous  kind,  and  the  fecond  is 
of  the  genus  of  the  Mur  rents* 


Account  of  a  Wild  Man  feen  in  the 
Pyrenees. 

THE  following  relation,  con¬ 
cerning  a  wild  man,  though 
but  little  known,  is  well  authenti¬ 
cated.  The  account  is  rranflated 
from  a  work  publifhed  lal!  year  at 
Paris,  intitled,  Memoir  fur  les 
Travaux,  &c.  dans  les  Pyrenees, 
&c.  by  the  Kingys  engineer  M.  Le 
Roy,  who  has  defcribed  the  ma¬ 
chines  by  which  the  mails  are  drawn 
out  of  the  forefts  of  the  Pyrenean 
mountains,  for  the  ufe  of  the 
French  navy,  in  a  very  fcientific 
manner. 

In  the  courfe  of  this  work,  M.  Le 
Roy  fays,— *  In  the  year  1774,  a 
favage,  or  wild  man,  was  difco- 
vered  by  the  Ihepherds,  who  fed 
their  flocks  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  ford!  of  Yuary.  This  man, 
who  inhabited  the  rocks  that  lay 
near  the  forefl^  was  very  tall,  co- 


1778. 

vered  with  hair,  like  a  bear,  nim¬ 
ble  as  the  Hifars,  of  a  gay  humour, 
and,  in  all  appearance,  of  a  mild 
character,  as  he  neither  did,  nor 
leemed  to  intend,  harm  to  any 
body.  He  often  viflted  the  cot¬ 
tages,  without  ever  attempting  to 
carry  off  any  thing.  He  had  no 
knowledge  of  bread,  milk,  or 
cheefe.  Plis  greateft  amufement 
was  to  fee  the  fheep  running,  and 
to  fcatter  them,  and  he  tellified  his 
pleafure  at  this  fight  by  loud  fits  of 
laughter,  but  never  attempted  to 
hurt  thofe  innocent  animals.  When 
the  fhepherds  (as  was  frequently 
the  cafe)  let  loofe  their  dogs  after 
him,  he  fled  with  the  fwiftnefs  of 
an  arrow  thot  from  a  bow,  and  ne¬ 
ver  allowed  the  dogs  to  come  too 
near  him.  One  morning  he  came 
to  the  cottage  of  fome  workmen, 
and  one  of  them  endeavouring  to 
get  near  him,  and  catch  him  by 
the  leg,  he  laughed  heartily,  and 
then  made  his  efcape.  He  feemed 
to  be  about  thirty  years  of  age.  As 
the  forefl  in  queftion  is  very  exten- 
five,  and  has  a  communication  with 
vaft  woods  that  belong  to  the  Spa- 
nilh  territory,  it  is  natural  to  fup- 
pofe  that  this  folitary,  but  chear- 
ful  creature,  had  been  loll  in  his 
infancy,  and  had  fubfilled  on 
herbs,5 


1 


I 


USEFUL 


[  lI7  J 


( 


USEFUL  P 


jin  improved  "Method  of  Tanning 
Leather .  By  David  Macbride, 
M.  D.  From  the  Fhilojophical 
Tranfadiions . 

Dublin, 

SIR,  May3iji777* 

OU  may  pleafe  to  remember 
that  I  informed  you,  fome 
years  ago,  of  my  Raving  found  out 
a  way  of  tanning  leather  in  lefs 
time,  and  at  a  fmaller  expeace  of 
materials,  than  can  be  done  by 
any  of  the  ways  hitherto  known  or 
praftifed  ;  and  promifed,  that,  as 
foon  as  I  fhould  find  my felf  at  li¬ 
berty  to  difclofe  it,  I  would  com¬ 
municate  my  method  to  the  Royal 
Society, 

Accordingly  I  take  the  liberty  of 
inclofing  a  fet  of  inftru&ions,  which 
I  drew  up  for  the  perfon  who  con¬ 
duced  the  bufinefs  of  a  large  tan- 
yard  belonging  to  a  company  with 
which  I  have  had  an  engagement  for 
thefe  laft  four  years;  which  I  appre¬ 
hend  will  be  found  fufficiently  clear 
for  enabling  any  intelligent  tanner 
toavail  himfelf  ofmy  improvements. 

I  beg  you  will  prefent  this  paper 
to  the  fociety  ;  but,  as  it  cannot  be 
underftood  by  gentlemen  who  are 
not  already,  in  fome  degree,  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  ordinary  procefs 
of  tanning,  I  mull  requeft  their  in¬ 
dulgence,  while  I  mention  the  prin¬ 


R  O  J  E  C  T  S. 


cipal  operations  in  this  branch  of 
manufacture. 

The  ufe  of  tanning  is  two-fold  ; 
firft  to  preferve  the  leather  from 
rotting;  and,  fecondly,  to  render 
it  impervious  to  water. 

An  infufion  of  any  flrongly- 
aftringent  vegetable  will  ferve  to 
tan  leather  fo  far  as  to  prevent  its 
rotting  ;  but  if  this  vegetable  does 
not  contain  a  good  deal  of  gum- 
refin,  it  will  not  anfwer  for  en¬ 
abling  it  to  keep  out  water:  and 
hence  it  is  that  oak-bark,  which  is 
more  abundant  in  the  gummy-refi- 
nous  part  than  any  of  our  common 
indigenous  aftringents,  is  preferred 
to  all  other  fubilances  for  the  pur. 
pofe  of  tanning. 

The  tanners  prepare  their  bark 
by  gently  drying  it  on  a  kiln,  and 
grinding  it  into  a  very  coarfe  pow¬ 
der.  They  then  either  ufe  it  in 
the  way  of  infufion,  which  is  called 
ooze;  or  they  ftrew  the  dry  powder 
between  the  layers  of  hides  and 
fkins,  when  thefe  arc  laid  away  in 
the  r.an-pits. 

The  ooze  is  made  by  macerating 
the  bark  in  common  water,  in  a 
particular  fet  of  holes  or  pits, 
which,  to  difKnguifh  them  from  the 
other  holes  in  the  tan-yard,  are 
termed  letches. 

The  firft  operation  of  the  tanner 
is  to  cieaufe  his  hides  from  all  ex- 
I  3  traneous 


1 1 8  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1773. 


traneoos  filth,  and  remove  any  re¬ 
mains  of  fieffi  or  fat'  uhich  may 
have  been  left  behind  by  the  but¬ 
cher. 

The  hair  is  next  to  be  cut  off, 
and  this  is  accompliffied  either  by 
fteeping  the  hides  for  a  fhort  time 
in  a  mixture  of  lime  and  water, 
which  is  termed  liming  ;  or  by 
rolling  them  up  clofe,  and  piling 
them  in  heaps,  where  they  quickly 
begin  to  heat  and  petrify.  The 
hair  being  loofened  is  fcraped  off, 
and  the  tanner  proceeds  to  the  ope¬ 
ration  called  flefhing,  which  con- 
fifts  in  a  further  fcraping,  with  a 
particular  kind  of  knife  contrived 
for  the  purpofe,  and  cutting  away 
the  jagged  extremities  and  offal 
parts,  fuch  as  the  ears  and  noflrils. 

The  raw  leather  is  then  put  into 
an  alcaline  ley,  in  order  to  dis¬ 
charge  the  oil,  and  render  its  pores 
more  capable  of  imbibing  the  ooze. 
The  tanners  of  this  country  gene¬ 
rally  make  their  ley  of  pigeon’s 
dung  ;  but  a  more  a&ive  one  may 
be  prepared  from  kelp  or  pot-affi, 
taking  care,  however,  not  to  make 
it  too  firong  of  the  allies,  nor  to  al¬ 
low  the  leather  to  remain  too  long 
in  the  ley. 

The  od  being  fufficiently  dif- 
charged,  the  leather  is  ready  for 
the  ooze,  and  at  firffc  is  thrown  into 
fmaller  holes,  which  are  termed 
handlers  ;  becaufe  the  hides  or 
fldns,  during  this  part  of  the  pro- 
cefs  are  taken  up,  from  time  to 
time,  and  allowed  to  drain  ;  they 
continue  to  work  the  leather  in 
theie  handlers,  every  now  and  then 
ilirring  it  up  with  the  utenfii  called 
a  plunger,  w'hich  is  nothing  more 
than  a  pole  with  a  knob  at  the  end 
of  it,  until  they  think  proper  to 
lay  it  away  in  the  vatts.  In  thefe 
holes2  which  are  the  largeil  in  the 


tan-yard,  the  leather  is  fpread  out 
fmooth,  whereas  they  tofs  it  into 
the  handlers  at  random  ;  and  be¬ 
tween  each  layer  of  leather  they 
fprinkle  on  lorne  powdered  bark, 
until  the  pit  is  filled  by  the  leather 
and  bark  thus  laid  in  jiratiim  fuper 
firaium :  ooze  is  then  poured  on, 
to  fill  up  interfhees  ;  and  the  whole 
crowned  with  a  fprinkling  of  bark, 
which  the  tanners  call  a  heading. 

In  this  manner  the  leather  is  al¬ 
lowed  to  macerate,  until  the  tan¬ 
ner  lees  that  it  is  completely  pene¬ 
trated  by  the  ooze  :  when  this  is 
accompliffied  (which  he  knows  by 
cutting  out  a  bit  of  the  thickeft 
part  of  the  hide)  the  manufacture 
is  finiffied,  fo  far  as  relates  to  tan¬ 
ning,  fince  nothing  now  remains 
but  to  dry  the  goods  thoroughly, 
by  hanging  them  up  in  airy  lofts 
built  for  the  purpofe.  Such  in  ge¬ 
neral  is  the-  procefs  for  tanning 
calf.fkins,  and  thofe  lighter  forts 
of  hides  which  are  called  butts ; 
but  the  large,  thick,  heavy  hides, 
of  which  the  flrongefl  and  molt  du¬ 
rable  kind  of  foal-leather  is  made, 
require  to  have  their  pores  more 
thoroughly  opened  before  the  ooze 
can  fufficiently  penetrate  them. 
For  this  purpofe,  while  the  hides 
are  in  the  putrefeent  ftate,  from 
being  allowed  to  heat  in  the  man¬ 
ner  already  mentioned,  and  well 
loaked  in  an  alcaline  ley,  they  are 
thrown  into  a  four  liquor,  gene¬ 
rally  brewed  from  rye,  in  order 
that  the  effierveiTence  which  necef- 
fanly  enfues  may  open  the  pores. 

The  tanners  term  this  operation 
railing,  as  the  leather  is  confider- 
ably  Iwelled*  in  confequence  of  the 
con  Hid  between  the  acid  and  al- 
cali.  This  is  an  Engiiffi  inven¬ 
tion  ;  for  it  appears  from  M.  de  la 
Lande,  who  was  employed  by  the 


P  R  O  J 

Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  to  write 
on  the  art  of  tanning,  that  the  fo¬ 
reign  tanners  know  nothing  of  this 
branch  of  the  bufinefs  :  indeed, 
their  whole  proc.efs,  according  to 
his  account,  is  llovenly,  and  even 
more  tedious  than  our  common  me¬ 
thod,  and  mull  make  but  very  in¬ 
different  leather. 

When  the  raifing  is  accomplifh- 
ed,  the  leather  is  put  into  the 
handlers,  and  worked  in  them  for 
the  requifite  time  ;  then  laid  away 
in  the  vatts,  and  there  left  to  ma¬ 
cerate  until  the  tanning  is  found  to 
be  completely  fnifhed,  which,  for 
the  heavieft  kind  of  leather,  fuch 
as  this  of  which  I  am  now  fpeak- 
ing,  requires  from  fir  ft  to  laft  full 
two  years.  At  leaft,  the  tanners  of 
this  country  cannot  make  foal-lea¬ 
ther  in  lefs  time  ;  what  they  are  able 
to  perform  in  England,  f  am  not  fo 
thoroughly  acquainted  with. 

Jt  is  this  teaioufnefs  of  the  pro- 
cefs  which  enhances  the  value  of 
leather  ;  and  the  returns  being  fo 
flow,  the  trade  of  tanning  never 
can  be  carried  on  to  advantage, 
but  by  perfons  poffeffed  of  a  large 
capital  ;  therefore,  one  fure  way  of 
increafing  the  number  of  tanners, 
and  of  courfe  of  bringing  down  the 
price  of  their  manufacture,  is  to 
fhorren  the  procefs  ;  and  if  at  the 
fame  time  we  can  improve  the  qua¬ 
lity  of  the  leather,  arid  fave  fome- 
what  in  the  cxpence  of  tanning 
materials,  the  public  will  be  effen- 
tially  benefited  in  refpeft  to  one  of 
the  neceffary  articles  of  life. 

AH  this  I  will  venture  to  fay, 
can  be  done  by  purfuing  the  method 
which  is  laid  down  in  the  inciofed 
paper,  .and  which  may  be  intro-' 
duced  into  any  common  tan-yard. 


e  c  T  s.  1 19 

With  refpeft  to  time,  it  is  pofti- 
ble,  in  the  way  that  I  have  found 
out,,  to  finifh  leather  in  a  fourth 
part  of  what  is  required  in  the  or¬ 
dinary  procefs  ;  for  I  have  repeat¬ 
edly  had  calf-fkins  tanned  in  a 
fortnight  or  four  weeks,  which  in 
the  common  way  could  not  be  done 
in  lefs  than  a  fortnight  to  four 
months. 

1  (hall  not  pretend,  however,  to 
affirm,  that  the  bufinefs  can  be 
carried  on  in  the  large  way  with 
fuch  expedition  ;  becaufe  a  great 
deal  of  this  abridgement  of  time 
was  probably  .  owing  to.  frequent 
handling  and  working  of  the  lea¬ 
ther  ;  but  I  am  confident,  and 
know  it  from  four  years  experience, 
that  in  the  ordinary  courfe  of  bufi¬ 
nefs,  and  in  a  common  tan-yard, 
the  tanner  may  fave  at  leaft  four 
months  out  of  twelve,  produce  bet¬ 
ter  leather,  and  find  his  bark  go 
much  farther  than  in  the  old  way 
of  tanning. 

Having  premifed  thus  much,  I 
flatter  myfelf  that  the  paper  of  in- 
ftruftions  will  be  found  perfectly 
intelligible.  It  fnews,  that  the 
principles  on  which  my  method  is 
eftablilhed  are  derived  from  che- 
miftry,  and  therefore  it  will  not  ap¬ 
pear  ftrange  that  thefe  improve¬ 
ments  fhould  have  been  made  by  a 
perfon  of  the  medical  profeffion  ; 
indeed  they  took  their  rife  from  a 
feries  of  experiments  carried  on 
purely  for  medical  purpofes  (the 
very  fame  that  confirmed  me  in  the 
opinion  thatinfufion  of  malt  would 
cure  the  fea  feurvy)  and  any  perfon 
who  will  look  into  the  account  of 
thofe  experiments,  will  readily  un- 
derftand  the  theory  of  the  new  me¬ 
thod  of  tanning  *. 


*  See  the  Effay  on  the  diffolvent  power  of  quickfilver,  among  the  experimental 
eflays  on  medical  and  philolophical  l’ubje&s. 

I  4  It 


120 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


It  would  be  trefpaffing  on  the 
time  of  the  focietv,  to  enter  into 
any  detail  of  the  circumftances  that 
firft  induced  me  to  think  of  this 
matter,  or  to  give  a  hiftory  of  the 
progrefs  of  my  experiments,  which 
at  firft  were  made  at  home,  and 
with  little  pieces  of  raw  leather: 
it  is  fufficient  to  fay,  that  the  effi¬ 
cacy  of  this  method  has  been  fully 
proved  by  the  experience  of  near 
ten  years  (during  which  I  have 
thought  proper  to  keep  it  a  fecret) 
and  1  now  bellow  it  to  the  public. 

I  am,  &c. 

Infir  uBions  to  Tanners,  for  carrying 
cn  the  new  Method  of  Tanning,  in * 
vented  hy  Dr.  Macbride,  ^Dub¬ 
lin  ;  whereby  the  Leather  is  not 
cnly  improved  in  its  Quality,  but 
tanned  in  much  lefs  J ime,  and  with 
a  fmaller  Quantity  of  Bark ,  than 
in  any  other  Method  hitherto  known 
or  praBifed. 

A  S  the  new  method  of  tanning 
depends  on  this  principle,  “  That 
lime-water  extracts  the  virtues  of 
oak-bark  more  completely  than 
plain  water the  fiift  thing  in 
which  the  tanner  is  to  be  inftriisft- 
ed,  is  the  making  of  lime-water. 

1.  Provide  a  large  velfel,  in  the 
nature  of  a  ciftern,  whofe  depth 
fhall  be  at  leaft  twice  its  diameter, 
and  of  a  capacity  adapted  to  the 
extent  of  the  tan-yard. 

2.  This  ciftern  mull  be  fixed  in 
a  convenient  corner  of  the  yard, 
under  a  lhed,  and  fhould  Hand  fo 
as  that  the  liquor  which  is  to  be 
drawn  oft  from  it  may  run  freely 
into  the  letches. 

3.  There  mull  be  a  cock  fixed  in 
the  fide  of  the  ciftern,  about  a  foot 
from  the  bottom,  to  let  off  the  con- 

10 


tents ;  and  there  mull  be  a  hole  in 
the  bottom  of  it,  of  five  or  fix 
inches  diameter,  which  is  to  be 
flopped  with  a  plug.  Let  this 
hole  open  over  a  gutter. 

4.  The  ciftern  mull  be  covered 
with  a  flooring  of  boards,  ftrong 
enough  to  bear  a  man’s  weight  ; 
and  from  fide  to  fide  of  this  lid 
there  muft  be  an  opening  of  two  or 
three  feet  wide. 

5.  If  it  can  be  fo  contrived  that 
a  water-pipe  may  be  led  into  the 
ciftern,  it  will  fave  the  fervants  a 
good  deal  of  trouble  ;  but  if  this 
cannot  be  done,  a  pump  muft  be 
fixed  in  the  moft  convenient  way, 
for  the  purpofe  of  filling  it  from 
time  to  time. 

6.  The  ciftern  being  once  fixed 
(which  is  all  the  additional  appara¬ 
tus  that  the  new  method  of  tanning 
requires)  the  making  of  lime-water 
will  be  found  extremely  fimple  and 
eafy. 

7.  You  are  firft  to  fill  the  ciftern 
with  water,  and  then,  for  every 
hogfhead  that  it  may  contain  throw 
in  ten  or  a  dozen  pounds  weight  of 
unflaked  lime. 

8.  Mix  the  lime  thoroughly  with 
the  whole  body  of  the  water,  by 
ftirring  it  exceedingly  well  from 
the  bottom,  with  a  bucket  and 
plunger,  until  you  perceive  that  the 
lime  is  completely  diffufea,  and  the 
whole  mixture  grows  as  white  as 

O 

milk  ;  leave  it  then  to  fettle  for  a 
couple  of  days,  that  the  undiffolved 
part  of  the  lime  may  entirely  fub- 
fide,  and  the  water  become  per- 
fe£tly  limpid,  and  clear  as  rock- 
water.  Your  lime-water  will  then 
be  fit  for  immediate  ufe. 

9.  The  cock,  as  already  men¬ 
tioned,  is  to  be  fixed  at  leaft  twelve 
inches  from  the  bottom  of  the  cif¬ 
tern,  in  order  that  only  the  limpid 

part 


izt 


P  R  o  J 

part  of  the  lime-water  may  run  off ; 
and  the  ufe  of  the  hole  in  the  bot¬ 
tom,  which  is  ordered  to  be  flop¬ 
ped  with  a  plug,  is  to  let  off  the 
grofs  and  infoluble  remains  of  the 
lime,  as  often  as  it  may  be  found 
neceffary  to  clean  out  the  ciftern. 

10.  When  the  firfl  brewing  (as 
it  may  be  termed)  of  lime-water  is 
all  expended,  you  are  to  nil  up  the 
ciftern  with  water  a  fecond  time  ; 
dir  up  the  lime  from  the  bottom 
with  a  bucket  and  plunger,  fo  as 
to  mix  it  thoroughly  with  the  whole 
body  of  the  water,  as  before  di¬ 
rected,  and  then  leave  it  to  fub- 
fide  for  the  requifite  time.  Thus 
you  will  have  a  fecond  brewing  of 
lime-water  ;  and  you  may  go  on 
in  the  fame  manner  to  make  a 
third,  fourth,  fifth,  or  perhaps  a 
fixth,  or  more  brewings,  from  the 
original  quantity  of  lime  ;  pro¬ 
vided  you  fhall  find  the  lime-water 
continue  fufiiciently  ftrong. 

11.  There  are  two  ways  of 
knowing  when  lime-water  is  fufH- 
ciently  flrong.  The  one  is  by  the 
tafte,  and  this  a  little  practice  will 
teach  you  to  diftinguifh  ;  the  other 
is,  by  obferving  a  certain  folid 
fcum,  like  the  flakes  of  very  thin 
ice,  which  collects  and  forms  it- 
felf  on  the  furface  of  the  lime-wa¬ 
ter. — As  long  as  you  find  this  folid 
fcum  floating  on  the  top  of  the  wa¬ 
ter  in  the  ciftern,  fo  long  you  may 
conclude  that  there  is  no  neceftity 
for  throwing  in  frefh  lime. 

12.  But  when  the  fcum  ceafes 
to  appear,  or  you  find  from  the 
tafte  that  the  lime  water  is  not  fo 
flrong  as  it  ought  to  be,  you  muft 
then  take  out  the  plug  from  the  bot¬ 
tom  of  the  ciftern,  and  clear  it  by 
fweeping  away  the  grofs  remains 
of  lime  :  and  after  you  have  clean¬ 
ed  the  cjftern,  begin  your  brew¬ 
ings  of  lime  -  water  a-new,  and 


e  c  t  s. 

proceed  in  the  manner  already  di¬ 
rected,  as  to  flaring  up  the  lime, 
and  leaving  it  to  fettle  for  the  ne¬ 
ceffary  time,  fo  as  to  have  your 
lime-water  perfectly  limpid.  in 
this  manner  you  may  go  on  from 
year  to  year,  and  conflantly  keep 
yourfelf  in  flock  with  refpeCt  to 
lime-water. 

13.  It  is  this  lime-water  which 
is  now  to  be  ufed  in  making  your 
ooze  inftead  of  the  plain  common 
water  ;  and  this  is  all  the  difference 
between  the  old  and  the  new  me¬ 
thod  of  tanning ;  for  when  your 
ooze  is  prepared,  by  lleeping  your 
bark  in  lime-water  (in  the  letches, 
as  you  do  at  prefent,  only  running 
it  through  two  letches)  you  are  to 
make  ufe  of  it  in  the  very  fame  way 
that  you  have  hitherto  ufed  the 
common  ooze,  there  not  being  the 
lead:  variation  required  with  refpeCt 
to  any  of  the  previous  management 
before  the  fkins  or  hides  are  fitted 
for  the  ooze.  Every  thing  that  re¬ 
lates  to  cleaning,  liming,  fl  thing, 
&c.  is  to  be  conducted  precifeiy  as 
in  the  old  or  common  method  of 
tanning  ;  and  the  goods  are  to  be 
worked  in  the  handlers  for  the  re¬ 
quifite  time,  and  then  laid  away  in 
the  vatts,  with  layers  and  heating 
of  bark,  juft:  as  you  now  praCiile  ; 
and  when  you  obferve  that  the  lea¬ 
ther  is  fufficicntly  penetrated  with 
the  ooze,  that  is  to  fay,  completely 
tanned,  you  will  take  it  up,  dry 
it,  and  afterwards  drefs  it  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  different  ufes  for  which 
it  is  intended.  You  are  always 
to  obferve,  however,  that  the  ooze 
is  to  be  turned  from  one  letch  on 
another  before  it  is  ufed,  otherwife 
it  will  be  apt  to  blacken  the  lea¬ 
ther. 

14.  What  has  been  hitherto  faid 
relates  only  to  butts  and  calf-fkins  ; 
as  to  foal-leather,  which  is  pre¬ 
pared 


4 


122  ANNUAL  RE 

pared  for  the  ooze  by  keeping  it  in 
some  four  liquor,  in  order  to  open 
its  pores,  and  raife  it  (according  to 
the  tanner’s  phrafe),  the  new  me¬ 
thod  requires  a  different  practice 
from  the  old  one. 

15.  In  the  old  method,  the  tan¬ 
ners  made  ufe  of  Tourings  brewed 
generally  from  rye,  or  fome  other 
grain  ;  but  thefe  liquors  are  not 
only  tropblefome  to  brew  and  to 
ferment,  but  they  are  always  un¬ 
certain  as  to  their  degree  of  four- 
aefs  or  flrength,  which  depends 
on  the  ftate  of  the  weather,  and 
other  variable  circumftances ;  thefe 
liquors  are  moreover  exceedingly 
apt  to  rot  the  leather,  and,  with¬ 
out  great  care,  may  injure  it  very 
materially  in  its  texture, 

16.  To  obviate  thefe  inconve¬ 
niences,  you  are  to  imitate  the 
bleachers  of  linen,  who  make  ufe 
of  a  four  prepared  by  diluting  the 
iirong  fpirit  of  vitriol  (vulgarly, 
but  improperly,  termed  oil  of  vi¬ 
triol)  with  a  Sufficient  quantity  of 
plain  water. 

17.  It  was  not  without  much 
difficulty  that  the  bleachers  could 
be  prevailed  on  to  quit  their  old 
Tourings,  made  either  like  yours  of 
rye  or  barley,  or  of  four  butter¬ 
milk,  from  a  groundlefs  fear,  that 
the  vitriolic  Touring  would  corrode 
their  cloth  ;  but  the  experience  of 
many  years  has  convinced  them  of 
their  error,  and  now  no  other  Tour¬ 
ing  is  ufed.  In  like  manner  the 
tanners  at  firlb  may  fome  of  them  be 
afraid  to  ufe  the  vitriol,  but  a  little 
practice  will  fhew  how  far  fuperior 
this  louring  is  to  what  they  have 
hitherto  uied.  They  will  never 
find  it  fubject  to  any  change  in  re- 


G- IS  TER,  1778. 

fpeCl  to  flrength  from  variations  of 
weather,  or  different  degrees  of 
heat  ;  and  fo  far  from  tending  to 
rot  the  leather,  it  gives  unufuai 
firmnefs  ;  and  the  foals  which  are 
raifed  by  the  vitriolic  Touring  are 
remarkably  found,  and  always  free 
from  the  High  tell  degree  of  rot- 
tennefs.  Befides,  the  fame  four 
may  do  for  many  parcels  of  lea¬ 
ther,  by  adding  a  little  vitriol  to 
it  ;  and  it  need  only  be  thrown 
away,  when  it  becomes  too  dirty 
for  ufe,  by  the  frequent  fucceffion 
of  hides. 

18.  A  wine  pint  of  the  ffrong 
fpirit  of  vitriol,  which  will  not  coif 
more  than  nine  or  ten  pence*,  is 
fufficient  for  fifty  gallons  of  water 
to  prepare  the  Touring  at  firfl  : 
therefore  all  you  have  to  do,  in 
railing  the  Toals,  is  only  to  prepare 
them  before-hand  in  the  ufual  way  ; 
and,  when  they  are  fitted  for  the 
Touring,  mix  up  a  quantity  of  vi¬ 
triol  and  water,  according  to  the 
number  of  hides  that  you  require 
to  have  raifed.  Hill  obferving  the 
proportion  of  a  pint  to  fifty  gal¬ 
lons,  which  will  be  enough,  if  the 
vitriol  be  of  the  due  degree  of 
llrength.  The  hides  may  lie  in 
the  Touring  till  you  find  them  Ef¬ 
ficiently  raifed,  for  they  will  be  in 
no  danger  of  rotting,  as  they  would 
be  in  the  common  corn  fourings, 
which  in  time  might  turn  putrid, 
and  rot  the  leather  ;  whereas,  the 
vitriolic  fourings  keep  off  putre¬ 
faction. 

19.  When  you  find  your  hides 
Efficiently  raifed,  put  them  di¬ 
rectly  into  the  ooze,  and  go  on 
with  the  tanning  as  in  the  old  way  ; 
and  you  will  fee  that  the  lime- 


*  The  oil  of  vitriol  is  fold  by  the  druggifts  m  large  bottles,  containing  eight 
#r  ten  gallons. 


water 


P  R  O  J 

water  ooze  penetrates  raifed  lea¬ 
ther  even  falter  than  it  does  butts 
or  caif-ikins,  allowance  being  made 
for  their  different  degrees  of  thick- 
nefs. 

20.  Let  it  now  be  fuppofed 
that  you  have  your  cittern  fixed, 
your  lime  water  prepared,  and 
fome  letches  full  of  lime-water 
ooze,  which  has  been  run  through 
two  letches  in  order  that  the  lime- 
water  may  completely  fpend  its 
force  on  the  bark  ;  you  are  not  to 
throw  av/ay  what  common  ooze 
you  have  in  Itock  in  the  yard,  but 
only  as  it  fnail  fee  fpent  ;  then,  in¬ 
deed,  you  are  to  throw  it  away, 
and  fupply  its  place  with  the  lime- 
water  ooze. 

21.  In  a  very  few  days  you 
will  perceive  the  difference  between 
the  activity  of  the  two  oozes,  the 
new  and  old,  with  refpedt  to  pene¬ 
trating  the  leather ;  and  thus, 
without  any  kind  of  lofs  or  waffe, 
you  will  get  rid  of  all  your  old  li¬ 
quors,  and  come  fpeedily  into  a 
full  (lock  of  the  ooze  made  with 
lime-water  ;  and  after  you  have 
got  the  new  method  eltablifhcd, 
your  bufinefs  will  go  in  a  regular 
courfe,  and  one  parcel  of  goods 
will  fucceea  another,  as  faff  as  you 
can  manufa&ure  and  difpofe  of 
them. 

22.  Though  it  is  poffible  to 
tan  fmall  parcels  of  leather,  by 
way  of  experiment,  by  the  ufe  of 
lime-water  ooze,  in  a  fourth  part 
of  the  time  which  is  required,  if 
Cnly  common  ooze  be  made  ufe  of; 
yet  the  bufinefs  of  a  large  tan-yard 
cannot  be  carried  on  with  fo  much 
expedition  :  but  even  in  large 
Works,  and  in  the  common  courfe 
of  bufinefs,  foal  leather  can  be 
completely  tanned  and  finilhed  in, 
from  eleven  to  fifteen  months,  ac- 

if  ,  )  ,  .  ,.  .  •  • 


E  C  T  S.  i23 

cording  to  the  different  weight  and 
thicknefs  of  the  hides.  Butts  in* 
from  eight  to  twelve  months,  and 
calf  {kins  in,  from  fix  to  twelve 
weeks ;  in  general  the  tanner  may 
fave  at  leaft  a  third  of  the  time  that 
has  hitherto  been  required. 

23.  The  leather,  which  is  ma- 
nufaftured  in  the  new  way,  is  of  a 
fuperior  quality  to  that  of  the  old 
tannage,  efpecially  the  foal-lea¬ 
ther,  which  wears  remarkably  well* 
and  never  (hews  the  leaft  fign  of 
rcttennefs. 

24.  Let  it  always  be  remem¬ 
bered,  that  the  lime-water  is  never 
to  be  ufed  but  when  it  is  fufffciently 
ftrong,  and  as  clear  as  rock-water. 

23.  Whenever  you  make  frefe. 
ooze,  you  muff  always  ufe  frefti 
lime-water,  and  run  the  ooze 
through  two  letches ;  and  the  lime- 
water  ooze,  when  fpent,  from  ly¬ 
ing  on  the  leather,  is  never  to  be 
returned  back  upon  the  bark 
which  is  in  the  letches  (as  you  now- 
return  your  fpent  ooze)  but  muft 
always  be  thrown  away,  as  being 
entirely  ufelefs ;  for  which  pur^. 
pofe  you  muff  contrive  a  gutter  in 
the  tan-yard  to  carry  off  the  fpent 
ooze. 

26.  The  letches  ought  to  be 
under  cover,  left  the  rain  get  into 
them  and  weaken  the  ooze,  and  if 
the  handlers  are  Iheltered,  it  will 
be  fo  much  the  better ;  but  it  is  of 
no  importance  to  cover  the  vatts, 
provided,  when  the  leather  is  laid 
away  in  them,  they  are  kept  con- 
ftantly  full  to  the  brim. 

27.  You  muff  always  take 
care"  to  have  a  fufficient  ftock  of 
unflaked  lime  by  you  (for  if  it  be 
flaked,  it  will  not  anfwer  to  make 
lime-water)  :  therefore,  get  your 
lime  frefh,  if  poffible,  from  the 
kiln,  and  immediately  pack  it  in 


124  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


any  kind  of  o!d  dry  cafc.  Weigh 
one  of  thefe  calks,  and  it  will  ena¬ 
ble  you  to  afcertain  the  quantity  of 
lime  neceffary  to  be  thrown  into 
the  cittern  each  time  you  begin  a 
freih  brewing  of  your  lime-water, 
and  thus  fave  you  the  trouble  of 
repeated,  weighings ;  not  that  there 
need  be  much  nicety  about  the 
quantity  of  lime,  a  fcore  of  pounds 
over  or  under  making  no  fen  Able 
difference  in  the  ttrength  of  the 
lime-water. 

28.  Any  expence  you  may  be 
at  in  procuring  lime,  which  even 
In  the  largeft  tarn  yards  can  amount 
but  to  a  trifle,  will  be  amply  com- 
penfated  by  the  faving  of  bark  ; 
becaufe  that  lime-water  fo  com¬ 
pletely  exhaufts  the  bark,  and 
makes  it  go  fo  much  farther  than 
when  the  ooze  is  made  only  of 

a 

plain  water.  As  a  proof  of  this, 
you  may  make  a  pretty  flrong  ooze 
from  the  tan  or  fpent  bark,  which 
you  now  conflder  as  completely 
exhatitted,  by  infuflng  it  in  lime- 
water. 

Tanners,  as  they  become  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  new  method, 
will  find  it  perfe&ly  eafy,  and  may 
no  doubt  make  further  improve¬ 
ments  by  experience.  The  fore¬ 
going  directions  were  found  fuffi- 
ciently  full  for  enabling  a  gentle¬ 
man  at  Belfaft  to  carry  on  the 
bufinefs  in  an  extenfive  way  for 
thefe  four  years  patt ;  and  it  is 
prefumed  they  will  prove  equally 
clear  and  intelligible  to  all  other 
perfons  in  the  tanning  trade. 

Dublin,  May  the  ift,  1777. 

.  .  - -  ■■  . . — -  1  --T-T,,  -■  ■■„ 

die  count  of  the  Method  of  fatting  and 
drying  Cod  at  Newfoundland. 

H  E  cod  that  is  caught  on 
JL  the  banks  of  Newfoundland, 


is  that  which  is  known  in  Europe 
by  the  name  of  green  or  freih  cod. 
It  is  faked  on  board  the  flnp  as 
foon  as  caught,  a.*d  keeps  in  fait 
the  whole  fifhing  feafon,  and  till 
they  return  to  Europe.  The  cur¬ 
ing  and  faking  of  the  cod,  requires 
a  great  deal  of  care.  The  follow¬ 
ing  is  the  method  of  curing  and 
faking  of  the  green  cod. 

As  foon  as  the  £  (Herman  has 
caught  a  filh  with  his  line,  he 
pulls  out  its  tongue,  and  gives  the 
fifli  to  another  man,  whom  they 
call  the  heheader ,  .  This  man,  with 
a  two-edged  knife  like  a  lancet, 
flits  the  fifh  from  the  anus  to  the 
throat,  which  he  cuts  acrofs  to  the 
bones  of  the  neck  ;  he  then  lays 
down  his  knife,  and  pulls  out  the 
liver,  which  he  drops  into  a  kind 
of  tray,  through  a  little  hole  made 
on  purpofe  in  the  fcaffold  he  works 
upon ;  then  he  guts  it  and  cuts 
off  the  head.  This  done,  he  de¬ 
livers  the  fifli  to  the  next  man  who 
fiands  over  againfl  him.  This 
man,  who  is  called  the  fiicer,  takes 
hold  of  it  by  the  left  gill,  and  refts 
its  back  againfl  a  board,  a  foot  long 
and  two  inches  high  ;  he  pricks 
it  with  the  dicing  knife  on  the  left 
fide  of  the  anus,  which  makes  it 
turn  out  the  left  gill ;  then  he  cuts 
the  ribs  or  great  bones  all  along 
the  vertebra?,  about  half  way  down 
from  the  neck  to  the  anus;  he  does 
the  fame  on  the  right  fide  ;  then 
cuts  aflant  three  joints  of  the  ver¬ 
tebras  through  to  the  fpinal  mar¬ 
row  ;  lattly  he  cuts  all  along  the 
vertebrae  and  fpinal  marrow,  di¬ 
viding  them  in  two,  and  thus  ends 
his  operation. 

A  third  helper  then  takes  this 
fids,  and  with  a  kind  of  wooden 
fpatule,  he  ferapes  all  the  blood  that 
has  remained  along  the  vertebrae 
that  were  not  cut.  When  the  cod 

is 


P  R  O  J 

is  thus  thoroughly  cleanfed  (Tome- 
times  wafhed)  he  drops  it  into  the 
hold,  through  a  hole  made  for  that 
purpofe,  and  the  falter  is  there 
ready  to  receive  it. 

He  crams  as  much  fait  as  he  can 
into  the  belly  of  the  fifh,  lays  it 
down,  the  tail  end  loweft,  rubs 
the  {kin  all  over  with  fait  ;  and 
even  covers  it  with  more  fait;  then 
goes  through  the  fame  procefs  with 
the  reft  of  the  cod,  which  he  heaps 
one  upon  another  till  the  whole 
is  laid  up.  The  fifh  thus  faked 
and  piled  up  in  the  hold,  is  never 
meddled  with  any  more  till  it  is 
brought  home  and  unloaded  for 
fale. 

fhe  manner  of  preparing  and  drying 
Cod . 

THE  cod  intended  for  drying, 
is  caught  and  beheaded  in  the 
fame  manner  as  the  other,  but  it 
is  cut  up  differently.  The  fleer, 
inftead  of  cutting  the  bones  along 
the  vertebrae  only  half  way  down 
from  the  throat  to  the  anus,  lays 
open  the  fifhat  one  ftroke,  quite  to 
the  tail,  all  along  the  vertebrae, 
which  he  divides  up  to  the  throat, 
leaving  each  half  of  thefe  vertebrae 

O 

and  the  fpinal  marrow  in  the  flefh 
of  the  cod. 

When  the  fleer  has  thus  dif- 
patched  a  fifh,  he  drops  it  into  a 
fledge  that  holds  about  half  a  hun¬ 
dred  weight  ;  a  boy  then  drives 
the  fledge  to  the  place  where  the 
falter  falts  and  fpreads  the  fifh  of 
the  day. 

The  falter  lays  down  the  fifh  flat 
fvith  the  flefh  uppermoft,  and  plac¬ 
ing  feveral  of  them  fide  by  fide, 
he  forms  a  layer  of  fix,  eight, 
twelve,  or  fifteen  feet  long,  and 
three,  four,  or  five  broad  ;  then 
he  takes  a  great  wooden  ihovel. 


E  C  T  S.  i25 

about  two  feet  fquare,  and  fprin- 
kies  fait  all  over  the  layer  of  cod. 
Care  mull  be  taken  that  this  fait  be 
laid  on  very  even.  When  this  layer 
is  fufhciently  faked,  he  fpreads  ano¬ 
ther  over  it,  falts  it  in  the  fame 
manner,  and  fo  on. 

When  there  are  large,  middling, 
and  fmall  cod,  they  are  kept  apart, 
for  a  different  depth  of  fait  is  re- 
quifite  for  different  fizes.  Too 
much  fait  burns  up  the  fifh,  and 
makes  it  brittle  when  it  comes  to 
dry,  and  too  little  makes  it  greafy, 
and  difficult  to  dry. 

The  cod  is  left  in  fait  two  days 
at  leaft,  and  fometimes  above  a 
fortnight;  then  it  is  walked.  For 
this  purpofe  they  load  it  on  hand 
barrows,  and  empty  it  out  into  a 
laver  not  unlike  a  great  cage,  by 
the  fea-fide ;  wheire  they  ftir  it 
about  in  fea- water  with  paddles,  to 
cleanfe  it  from  the  fait  and  flime 
that  it  is  daubed  with  ;  and  when 
it  is  vvafbed  white,  they  put  it 
again  on  the  barrows,  and  carry  it 
upon  the  gravel  where  it  is  to  be 
fpread.  They  firfb  pile  it  up  five 
or  fix  feet  high  ;  the  top  of  the 
heap  terminates  like  a  roof,  that 
the  fifh  may  drain  and  harden. 
Two,  three,  or  four  days  after,  as 
the  weather  permits,  they  undo 
the  pile,  and  fpread  the  fifh  upon 
the  gravel  one  by  one  in  rows, 
with  the  flefh  uppermoft.  When 
it  has  lain  thus  an  the  morning 
fun,  they  turn  it  about  two  in  the 
afternoon,  the  fkiu  uppermoft,  and 
in  the  evening  if  they  find  that  the 
wind  and  fun  have  dried  them 
enough,  they  lay  five  or  fix  of 
them  one  upon  another,  and  a 
large  one  at  top,  to  fhelter  them 
from  the  rain.  The  cod  being 
thus  difpofed  in  little  heaps,  the 
fkm  upwards,  they  wait  for  the  firit 
fine  day  to  fpread  them  again  on 

the 


126  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i778. 


the  gravel,  firft  with  the  (kin  up- 
jpermoft,  and  at  noon  they  turn 
them,  and  when  they  have  been 
thus  expofed  a  fecond  time  to  the 
rays  of  the  fun,  they  are  again 
heaped  up,  fifteen  or  twenty  in  a 
heap,  and  left  till  the  next  fine 
day,  when  they  once  more  fpread 
them  upon  the  gravel.  If  after 
this  they  find  the  fife  thoroughly 
drys  they  place  the  fmall  Ones  in 
round  ffiarp  piles  like  pigeon- 
houfes,  the  middle  fixed  in  heaps 
of  a  hundred  weight,  and  the  large 
ones  in  fmaller  parcels.  The 
former,  when  they  have  undergone 
a  fourth  funning,  that  is,  when 
they  have  been  fpread  upon  the 
gravel  for  the  fourth  time,  are  laid 
up  in  round  piles ;  as  to  the  larger 
ones,  they  mull  be  fpread  in  the 
fun  five  or  fix  times  at  lead,  be¬ 
fore  one  can  venture  to  pile  them 
up  like  the  others.  When  they 
have  fiood  fo  for  three  or  four 
days,  they  fpread  them  all  at  once 
upon  the  gravel  in  the  fun,  and 
then  proceed  to  a  new  pile,  laying 
the  largeft  fifh  for  the  ground¬ 
work,  the  middle  fized  next,  and 
the  fmalleil  at  top  ;  becaufe  the 
larger  they  are,  the  greater  pref- 
fur e  they  require,  to  fqueeze  out 
and  throw  off  their  moifture.  This 
pile  is  left  handing  for  a  fortnight, 
and  then  the  cod  is  again  fpread  in 
the  fun,  after  which  the  pile  is  creat¬ 
ed  once  more,  but  reverfed,  fo  that 
what  was  at  the  botom  is  now  put 
at  the  top.  This  pile  may  be  let 
alone  for  a  month,  after  which 
time  the  fifh  is  once  more  expofed 
to  the  fun,  and  then  piled  up  for 
the  la  11  time. 

When  all  this  is  done,  they  make 
choice  of  a  fine  day  to  fpread  out 
thefe  fifties,  only  an  armful  at  a 
time,  and  lay  them  on  the  gravel: 
they  examine  them  one  by  one, 


and  lay  apart  thofe  that  Hill  retain 
Tome  moifture ;  the  dry  ones  are 
piled  up,  and  the  moil!  ones  are 
dried  again  in  the  fun,  and  then 
put  on  the  top  of  the  other  piles, 
that  they  may  be  at  hand  to  be 
looked  after,  and  dried  again  if 
they  fiiould  want  it.  To  conclude 
the  whole  procefs,  juft  before  they 
are  fhipped,  they  fpread  them  by 
arms-fuli  upon  the  gravel,  to  air 
and  dry  them  thoroughly. 

In  order  to  Ihip  this  cod,  they 
dean  out  the  hold,  and  lay  a  kind 
of  floor,  either  of  ftone  or  wood, 
on  which  they  place  the  fifh,  the 
firft  layer  with  the  fiefh  uppermoft, 
and  all  the  reft  with  the  fkin  up¬ 
permoft.  They  don’t  fill  the  hold 
from  one  end  to  the  other,  without 
interruption,  but  raife  feveral  piles, 
both  to  keep  the  good  and  bad 
apart,  and  likewife  to  diftinguifti 
the  different  fizes  of  the  fifh,  The 
large  ones  make  the  groundwork 
of  the  cargo,  the  middle  fized  come 
next,  and  the  fmall  ones  are  laid 
at  top.  They  line  the  bottom  and 
fides  of  the  hold,  with  fmall  twigs 
with  their  leaves  on,  but  dried  firft 
for  feveral  days.  The  cod  being 
thus  laid  up  in  the  hold,  they  cover 
it  with  fails,  and  never  meddle  with 
it  more  till  they  unload  it  for  fale 
in  Europe, 

For  thefe  particulars  about  the 
curing-  of  cod  in  the  Ifland  of  St. 
Pierre,  I  am  beholden  to  M.  de 
R##.  lieutenant  of  a  frigate,  who 
is  perfedlly  acquainted  with  thefe 
matters,  having  been  for  a  long 
time  employed  in  that  bufinefs  on 
the  -ifland. 

Slitting,  falting,  and  drying  the 
Cod,  are  three  diftindl  operations, 
the  laft  of  which  is  fometimes  very 
tedious  and  difficult.  The  fun  is 
feldom  feen  at  Saint  Pierre,  'and 
the  want  of  funfhine  is  the  lofs  of 

thoufands 


P  R  O  J 

thoufands  of  cod,  which  rot  in  the 
damps  and  fogs. 

On  the  right  hand  of  the  harbour 
or  road,  is  a  houfe  built  upon 
piles  in  the  fea  ;  it  is  made  of 
boards,  and  the  roof  of  long  poles 
interwoven  ;  half  this  roof  is  co¬ 
vered  with  turf  from  one  end  to 
the  other,  and  the  remaining  half 
is  left  open  :  they  call  this  houfe  a 
chafaud.  This  is  the  place  where 
they  flit  and  fait  the  cod.  The 
floor  confills  of  long  poles,  placed 
fo  as  to  let  the  inteilines  of  the  fifh 
drop  down  between  them  into  the 
fea.  Half  the  roof  is  left  open  to 
let  in  the  rain  and  frefh  air,  which 
carry  off  part  of  the  naftinefs  and 
flench  of  the  place,  that  would 
©therwife  be  intolerable,  and  the 
fi fh  is  cured  in  that  part  which  is 
thatched. 

The  fifhing  boats  that  are  com¬ 
monly  employed  in  catching  cod 
about  the  ifland,  and  bringing  it 
to  this  chafaud ,  are  fmall  craft, 
with  a  fquare  fail.  The  crew  never 
exceed  two  men,  commonly  at¬ 
tended  by  a  dog,  their  faithful  fer- 
vant  and  companion.  From  their 
boat  they  fhoot  goelands  and  other 
fea-birds,  with  which  they  make 
their  foup.  The  dog  fwims  and 
fetches  the  bird,  without  any  inter¬ 
ruption  to  his  mailer’s  fifhery. 


Mr.  Mudge’r  Cure  for  a  'tecent  Ca~ 
tarrhousfd ough. 

TH  E  catarrhous  cough,  or 
that  which  is  fubfequent  to 
the  catching  of  cold,  our  author  is 
of  opinion  proceeds  from  the  pitui¬ 
tary  membrane,  which  forms  the 
internal  furface  of  the  lungs,  being 
thickened,  and  in  fome  meafure 


e  c  t  s.  iV 

inflamed.  That  fuch  is  actually 
the  cafe,  before  the  glands  have 
been  unloaded  by  the  difcharge  of 
the  obftru&ed  mucus,  he  confiders 
as  evident  from  the  forenefs  which, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  diforder, 
the  cough  occaflons  in  the  breaft, 
but  more  particularly  at  the  lower 
part  of  the  windpipe,  about  the 
junction  of  the  clavicles.  In  con¬ 
formity  to  this  idea  of  the  diforder 
Mr.  Mudge  obferves  that  the  two 
great  indications  would  be,  to  pre¬ 
vent  as  much  as  poffible  the  irrita¬ 
tion  arifmg  from  the  convulfive 
fliocks  of  the  cough  on  the  inflamed 
parts,  and  to  remove  the  inflam¬ 
mation  itfeif  by  fuch  emollient  ap¬ 
plications,  as  can  conveniently  be 
adminiflered.  He  farther  remarks, 
that  thefe  intentions  are  thorough¬ 
ly  anfwered  by  opium,  and  by  in¬ 
haling  warm  fleams  into  the  lungs  ; 
for  adminiflering  the  latter  of  which, 
he  recommends  the  ufe  of  the  in¬ 
haler,  an  inflrument  which  is  de- 
lcribed  in  the  following  terms. 

The  body  of  the  inflrument  holds 
about  a  pint ;  and  the  handle, 
which  is  fixed  to  the  fide  of  it,  is 
hollow.  There  is  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  veflel,  where  it  is  fol- 
dered  to  the  handle^  a  hole,  by 
means  of  which,  and  three  others 
on  the  upper  part  of  the  handle, 
the  water,  when  it  is  poured  into 
the  inhaler,  will  rife  to  the  fame 
level  in  both.  To  the  middle  of 
the  cover  a  flexible  tube,  about  five 
or  fix  inches  long,  is  fixed,  with  a 
mouth -piece  of  wood  or  ivory. 
Underneath  the  cover  there  is  a 
valve  fixed,  which  opens  and  fhuts 
the  communication  between  the 
upper  and  internal  part  of  the  in¬ 
haler  and  the  external  air,  for  a 
purpofe  which  fhall  be  prefently 
explained. 


When 


123 

When  the  mouth  is  applied  to 
the  end  of  the  tube  in  the  aft  ofin- 
fpiration,  the  air  rufties  into  the 
handle,  and  up  through  the  body 
of  warm  water,  and  the  lungs  be¬ 
come,  confequently,  filled  with  hot 
vapour.  In  expiration,  the  mouth 
being  ftill  fixed  to  the  tube,  the 
breath,  together  with  the  fleam  on 
the  furface  of  the  water  in  the  in¬ 
haler,  is  forced  up  through  the  valve 
in  the  cover.  In  this  manner  there¬ 
fore  the  whole  aft  of  refpiration  is 
performed  through  the  inhaler, 
without  the  necellity,  in  the  aft  of 
expiration,  of  either  breathing 
through  the  nofe,  or  removing  the 
pipe  from  the  mouth. 

To  this  defcription  of  the  appa¬ 
ratus,  we  lhall  fobjoin,  in  the  au¬ 
thor’s  own  words,  the  method  di¬ 
rected  for  ufing  it. 

In  the  evening,  a  little  before 
bed  time,  the  patient,  if  of  adult 
age,  is  to  take  three  drachms,  or 
as  many  tea  fpoonfuls  of  elixir  pa¬ 
regoric  u m,  in  a  glafs  of  water  : 
if  the  fubjeft  is  younger,  for  in- 
flance  under  five  years  old,  one  tea 
fpoonful  ;  or  within  that  and  ten 
years,  two.  [Each  tea  fpoonful  con¬ 
tains  fomewhat  lefs  than  i  quar¬ 
ter  of  a  grain  of  opium.]  About 
three  quarrers  of  an  hour  after,  the 
patient  fhould  go  to  bed,  and  be¬ 
ing  covered  warm,  the  inhaler, 
three  parts  filled  with  water  nearly 
boiling  (which  from  the  coldnefs 
of  the  metal,  and  the  time  it  ordi¬ 
narily  takes  before  it  is  ufed  by  the 
patient,  will  be  of  a  proper  degree 
of  warmth)  and  being  wrapped  up 
in  a  napkin,  but  fo  that  the  valve 
in  the  cover  is  not  obftrufted  by  it, 
is  to  be  placed  at  the  arm-pit,  and 
the  bed-cloaths  being  drawn  up 
and  over  it  clofe  to  the  throat,  the 
tube  is  to  be  applied  to  the  mouth. 


1778. 

and  the  patient  fhould  infplre  and 
expire  through  it  about  twenty  mi¬ 
nutes  or  half  an  hour. 

It  is  very  evident,  as  the  whole 
aft  of  refpiration  is  performed 
through  the  machine,  that  in  in- 
fpiration  the  lungs  will  be  filled 
with  air  which  will  be  hot,  and 
loaded  with  vapour,  by  palling 
through  the  body  of  water  ;  and  in 
expiration,  all  that  was  contained 
in  the  lungs  will,  by  mixing  with 
the  fleam  on  the  furface  of  the 
water,  be  forced  through  the  valve 
in  the  cover,  .  and  fettle  on  the 
furface  of  the  body  under  the  bed- 
cloaths. 

The  great  ufe  of  this  particular 
conftruftion  of  the  inhaler  is  this. 
Fir  ft,  as  there  is  no  necefiity,  at 
the  end  of  every  infpiration,  to  re¬ 
move  the  tube  from  the  mouth,  in 
order  to  expire  from  the  lungs  the 
vapour  which  had  been  received 
into  them,  this  machine  may  there¬ 
fore  be  ufed  with  as  much  eafe  by 
children  as  elder  people.  And, 
fecondly,  as  a  feverifh  habit  fre¬ 
quently  accompanies  the  diforder, 
the  valve  in  that  refpeft  alfo  is  of 
the  utmoft  importance  ;  for  a  fweat, 
or  at  lead  a  free  perfpiration,  not 
only  relieves  the  patient  from  the 
refllefs  anxiety  of  a  hot,  dry,  and 
fometimes  parched  fkin,  but  is 
alfo,  of  all  others,  the  moft  eligi¬ 
ble  evacuation  for  removing  the 
fever  ;  and  it  will  be  generally 
found  that,  after  the  inhaler  fo 
conftrufted  hath  been  ufed  a  few 
minutes,  the  warm  vapour  under 
the  cloatbs  will,  by  fettling  upon 
the  trunk,  produce  a  fweat,  which 
will  gradually  extend  itfelf  to  the 
legs  and  feet. 

In  a  catarrhous  fever,  or  any 
fcverilh  habit  attending  this  cough„ 
it  would  be  proper  to  take  a 

draught,' 


ANNUAL  REGISTER, 


P  R  O  J 

draught  of  warm  thin  whey  a  few 
minutes  before  the  inhaler  is  ufed  ; 
and  after  the  procefs  is  over,  the 
fvveat  which  it  has  produced  may 
be  continued  by  occafional  fmali 
draughts  of  weak  warm  whey,  or 
barley  water.  The  fweating  is  by 
no  means  fo  neceffary  to  the  cure 
of  the  catarrhous  cough,  as  that 
the  fuccefs  of  the  inhaler  againft 
that  complaint  at  all  depends  upon 
it ;  yet  J  cannot  help  once  more 
remarking,  that  when  this  difor- 
der  happens  to  be  accompanied 
with  a  feverifh  habit,  the  advan¬ 
tages  of  this  particular  conftrudtion 
will  be  very  important. 

After  this  refpiratory  procefs  is 
over,  the  patient  ufually  paffes  the 
night  without  the  leaft  interrup¬ 
tion  from  the  cough,  and  feels  no 
farther  moleftation  from  it  than, 
as  I  obferved  before,  once  or  twice 
in  the  morning  to  throw  oft' .the 
trifling  leakage  which,  unperceiv¬ 
ed,  had  dripped  into  the  bronchia; 
and  veficles  during  the  night  ;  the 
thinner  parts  of  which  being  eva¬ 
porated,  what  remains  is  foon  got 
rid  of  with  a  very  gentle  effort. 

Mr.  Mudge  informs  us,  that  if 
the  inhaler  be  ufed  the  fame  night 
that  the  catarrhous  cough  has  made 
its  appearance,  it  will,  in  ordinary 
cafes,  be  productive  of  an  imme¬ 
diate  cure  ;  but  if  the  forenefs 
of  the  refpiratory  organs,  or  the 
violence  of  the  cough,  fhew  the 
cold  which  has  been  contracted  to 
be  very  fevere,  he  advifes  that  the 
inhaler,  without  the  opiate,  fhould 
be  repeated  for  the  fame  time  the 
next  morning  ;  as  it  alfo  ought,  if 
the  ufe  of  the  inhaler  has  been  de¬ 
layed  till  the  fecond  night.  If 
the  cough  however  has  continued 
fome  days,  it  will  be  neceffary  to 
employ  both  parts  of  the  procefs  at 
Vol.  XXI. 


E  C  T  S.  iig 

night  and  the  fucceeding  morning, 
as  the  complaint  is  then  more  con¬ 
firmed. 

After  trying  various  peCtoral  in¬ 
gredients,  Mr.  Mudge  informs  us 
that  he  found  the  vapour  of  none 
of  them  fo  inofFenfive  and  falutary 
as  that  from  warm  water  alone. 

When  the  inhaler  is  ufed  in  a 
few  hours  after  the  feizure  of  the 
cough,  we  are  told  that  the  pa¬ 
tient  is  infalliby  furprifed  with  an 
immediate  cure;  but  in  proportion 
as  the  application  of  this  remedy  is 
delayed,  the  diforder  becomes  more 
obftinate. 

If,  fays  our  author,  the  patient 
expectorates  with  eafe  and  freedom 
a  thick  and  well-digefted  inofFen¬ 
five  phlegm,  there  is  generally  but 
little  doubt  of  his  fpitting  off  the 
diforder,  with  common  care,  in  a 
few  days ;  and  till  that  is  accom- 
plilhed,  a  proper  dofe  of  elixir 
paregoricum  for  a  few  fucceffive 
rights  will  be  found  very  ufeful  in 
fupprefling  the  fatiguing  irritation 
and  ineffectual  cough,  occafioned 
by  a  matter  which,  dripping  in 
the  early  Hate  of  the  difeafe  into 
the  bronchia;  during  the  night,  is 
commonly  at  that  time  too  thin 
to  be  difeharged  by  thofe  convul- 
five  efforts. 

If,  however,  notwithftanding  a 
free  and  copious  expectoration,  the 
cough  fhould  Hill  continue,  and 
the  difeharge,  inftead  of  removing 
the  complaint,  fhould  itfelf,  by 
becoming  a  difeafe,  be  a  greater 
expence  than  the  conftirution  can 
well  fupport,  it  is  pofiible  that  a 
tender  patient  may  fpit  off  his  life 
through  a  weak,  relaxed  pair  of 
lungs,  without  the  leaft  appearance 
of  purulence,  or  any  fufpicion  of 
fuppuratjon.  In  thofe  circumllan- 
ces,  beftdes,  as  was  mentioned  be- 

K  lore. 


!3o  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


fore,  increafing  the  general  per- 
fpiration  by  the  faiutary  fri&ion  of 
a  flannel  vva  flcoat,  change  of  fixa¬ 
tion,  and  more  efpecially  long  jour- 
nies  on  horfeback,  conduded  as 
much  as  poffible  through  a  thin, 
fharp,  dry  air,  will  feldom  fail  of 
removing  the  complaint. 

But  on  the  contrary,  if  the 
cough,  ftiould,  at  the  fame  time 
that  it  is  petulant  and  fatiguing  to 
the  breaft,  continue  dry,  hufky  ,  and 
without  expedoration  ;  provided 
there  is  reafon  to  hope  that  no  tu¬ 
bercles  are  forming,  or  yet  adually 
formed,  there  is  not  perhaps  a 
more  efficacious  remedy  for  it  than 
half  a  drachm  of  gum  ammcuia- 
cum,  with  eighteen  or  twenty  drops 
of  laudanum  made  into  puls,  and 
taken  at  bed-time,  and  occafion- 
ally  repeated.  This  excellent  re¬ 
medy  Sir  John  Pringle  did  me  the 
honour  to  communicate  to  me,  and 
I  have  accordingly  found  it  in  a 
great  many  inftances,  amazingly 
foccefsful,  and  generally  very  ex- 
peditioufly  fo,  for  it  feldom  fails 
to  produce  an  expedoration,  and 
to  abate  the  diftreffing  fatigue  of 
the  cough.  In  thofe  circum  dances 
I  have  likewife  found  the  common 
remedy  of  *>fs.  or  -^ii.  of  half,  fulph, 
anifat.  taken  twice  a  day,  in  a  lit¬ 
tle  powdered  fugar,  or  any  other 
vehicle,  a  very  efficacious  one.  I 
have  alfo,  many  times,  known  a 
faiutary  revulfion  made  from  the 
lungs  by  the  fimple  application  of 
a  large  plaifter,  about  five  or  fix 
inches  diameter,  of  pix  Burgund 
between  the  Shoulders  ;  for  the  per- 
fpirable  matter,  which  is  locked 
up  under  it,  becomes  fo  fharp  and 
acrid,  that  in  a  few  days  it  feldom 
fails  to  produce  a  very  considerable 
itching,  fome  little  tendency  to 
inflammation,  and,  very  frequent¬ 


ly,  a  great  number  of  boils.  This 
application  fhould  be  continued 
(the  plaifler  being  occafionally 
changed)  for  three  weeks,  or  a 
month,  or  longer,  if  the  complaint 
is  not  fo  foon  removed. 


Antidotes  againft  the  poifonous  Ejfefts 
of  Arfenic ,  CorroJi<ve  Sublimate , 
Verdigreafe ,  and  Lead:  ciran - 
fated  from  the  French  of  P.  M. 
To  affiant  Navier,  Phyfcian  to  the 
King  of  France. 

F*OR  perfons  who  have  been 
poifoned  with  arfenic,  M  Na¬ 
vier  recommends  large  quantities 
of  milk,  as  that  liquid  diflolves  the 
arfenic  as  eafily  and  as  effectually  as 
water,  and  at  the  lame  time  foftens 
the  vifcera  that  have  been  irritat¬ 
ed  by  its  corrofive  influence.  He 
affirms  that  the  arfenic,  far  from 
curdling  the  milk,  actually  prevents 
its  coagulation  :  and  he  prohibits 
the  ufe  of  oil,  becaufe  it  is  inca¬ 
pable  of  diffiolving  the  arfenic.  A f- 
terfthe  milk,  the  patient  is  to  take 
a  drachm  of  the  liver  of  fulphur  of 
Mars,  in  a  pint  of  warm  water ; 
but,  if  this  cannot  be  readily  pro¬ 
cured,  he  may  take  a  lixivium 
gently  alkaline,  or  foap-water,  and 
thereupon  a  folution  of  iron  in 
vinegar  or  any  other  acid  ;  or  even 
a  portion  of  ink,  if  nothing  elfe  is 
at  hand.  The  cure  is  finifhed  by  the 
ufe  of  milk  and  warm  fulphureous 
waters,  which  experience  has  fhewn 
to  be  very  powerful  in  removing 
the  numbnefs,  convulfions,  and  pa¬ 
ralytic  complaints,  which  are  the 
conftant  effe&s  of  poifon. 

The  remedies  adapted  to  corro¬ 
five  fublimate  are  the  fame  with 
thofe  employed  againft  arfenic,  that 
is  to  fay,  the  different  preparations 

of 


P  R  O  J 

of  liver  of  fulphur,  which  decom¬ 
pounds  or  refolves  the  mercurial 
fait,  and  forms  by  the  addition  of 
the  alkali  to  the  acid,  a  neutral  fait 
no  wife  cauflic  :  efpecially  if  the 
remedy  be  applied  quickly.  Acids, 
even  of  the  moil  gentle  kind,  are 
fatal  in  the  prefen  t  cafe,  as  they 
evidently  increafe,  initead  of  dimi- 
nifhing,  the  poifonous  acrimony  : 
thus  even  lemonade,  and  theriaca, 
or  treacle,  are  pernicious,  and  con¬ 
tribute  to  the  painful  and  certain 
death  of  the  patient. 

What  this  learned  and  humane 
Phyfician  fays  of  the  effects  of  ver- 
digreafe  deferves  a  particular  de¬ 
gree  of  attention,  as  we  are  daily 
expofed  to  them  from  the  ufe  of 
copper  utenfils  in  cookery  :  on  this 
fubjedt  his  cautions  and  admoni¬ 
tions  might  appear  exaggerated, 
had  not  the  moft  eminent  chymifls 
and  phyficians  of  the  prefent  age 
given  us  repeated  warnings  of  the 
like  nature.  But,  where  this  poi- 
fon  is  known  to  have  been  recently 
fvvallowed,  he  prefcribes,  firft,  eme¬ 
tics,  and  afterwards  cold  water 
gently  alkalifed,  which  muft  be 
drank  plentifully. 

Though  lead  is  not  to  be  confix 
dered  as  a  corrofive  poifon,  its  per¬ 
nicious  effects  will  be  corre&ed  by 
the  remedies  already  mentioned ; 
which  will  render  thofe  violent  and 
dangerous  purgatives  ufually  admi- 
niftered  againft  lead  unneceflary  : 
but  patients  of  this  clafs  may  drink 
largely  of  acidulated  liquors  ;  the 
liver  of  fulphur  afterwards  makes 
the  principal  part  of  the  cure, 
which  will  be  compleated  by  gentle 
purges. 

The  falutary  properties  of  liver 
of  fulphur,  particularly  of  the  liver 
of  fulphur  of  Mars,  an  antidote 
againft  thefe  deftruftive  fubftances, 
is  a  moll  valuable  difcovery  j  and 


E  C  T  S.  13 1 

one  of  the  happieft  applications  of 
chemiltry  to  medical  purpofes,  that 
the  prefent  age  has  produced. 


In  our  Vlth  Vol .  page  1 2 1 ,  and 
Vllth  Vol .  page  143,  vje  have  in - 
ferted  three  Papers  on  the  Method  of 
making  Nitre :  this  has  occafion- 
ed  our  being  favoured  voith  a 
Jhort  Account  of  the  Procefs  ufed 
for  that  purpofe  at  Paris,  as  col- 
left  ed  on  the  fpot  {in  the  year 
1771)  at  the  defre  of  an  eminent 
Phyfician,  fince  dead ,  by  Dr .  Tho¬ 
mas  Houlfton,  of  Liverpool. 

A  T  Paris,  there  is  a  company 
of  perfons  employed  in  mak¬ 
ing  falt-petre,  in  number  about 
twenty.  They  were  incorporated  fo 
long  ago  as  the  reign  of  Charles 
IX.  and  have  feveral  ftatutes  for 
their  regulation.  Any  of  them 
can,  when  a  houfe  is  taken  down, 
place  a  man  in  it,  and,  during 
three  days,  he  has  a  right  to  take 
gratis,  fuch  part  of  the  old  plafter 
as  he  Ihall  chufe,  or  think  worth 
the  pains  of  lixiviating. 

The  quantity  made  annually* 
is  from  6  to  700,0001b.  They 
are  obliged  to  deliver  it  in,  rough, 
to  the  Royal  Arfenal,  where  they 
receive  for  it  7  fous  (about  3  dV) 
per.  lb.  It  is  there  purified,  un¬ 
dergoing  three  lixiviations,  and  is 
then  fold  at  10,  15,  and  18  fous 
per  lb. 

Monf.  Bouret,  from  whom  this 
information  was  received,  makes 
every  year  from  35  to  36,0001b. 
He  employs  therein  fix  men,  night 
and  day,  two  rooms,  twenty  large 
cafks,  and  three  horfes.  The  calks 
are  filled  half  with  old  plafter, 
which  is  changed  every  time  of 
pouring  on  water,  and  the  lower 
half  with  wood  afhes,  which  aie 
K.  2  changed 


i32  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


changed  hut  once  in  five  lixivia- 
tions.  The  water  poured  on, 
foaks  through  both  the  plafter 
and  afhes,  and  is  five  times  paffed 
through  freih  plafter.  It  is  then 
boiled  down  in  a  copper  pan,  fo 
fet,  that  the  flame  paffes  quite 
round  its  Tides.  The  fires  are  of 
wood,  which  is  very  dear,  and 
forms  a  confiderable  article  of  ex¬ 
pence.  The  lixivium,  when  pro¬ 
perly  evaporated,  is  fet  to  chryffal- 
'Iize,  and  the  cryftals  to  drain.  The 
Tcurn  taken  off  in  the  boiling,  is 
thrown  upon  the  piaster  colle£ied, 
which  the  longer  it  lies  in  heaps 
(wetted  from  time  to  time)  the 
lironger  it  becomes  ;  'as  alfo  the 
more  putrid  matters  are  thrown  on 
It.  The  phfier  ufed  in  the  build¬ 
ings  at  Paris,  is  made  of  that  gyp- 
feous  earth,  called  pi  a  Her  of  Paris, 


and  found  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  that  city.  No  lime  is  mixed 
with  it  in  general,  but,  where 
there  is  lisne  mixed,  it  is  remark¬ 
ed  that  the  nitre  made  from  thence 
is  not  fo  good,  nor  in  fo  great 
quantity.  They  know  when  the 
old  plafter  is  worth  being  colleft- 
ed  and  employed,  by  the  faltifh 
tafie  of  it.  The  naftinefs  of  the 
Trench  houfes,  even  in  fome  parts 
-of  the  great  ones  ;  the  durability 
of  their  buildings,  the  nature  of 
their  plafcer,  and  the  regulations 
of  their  police ,  give  that  nation  an 
advantage  over  us  in  making  ni¬ 
tre,  which  it  will  be  well  if  the 
ingenuity  and  fcience  of  thofe 
who  attempt  it  among  us,  may 
fuffice  to  counterbalance.  It  is 
made  alfo  in  other  great  towns  in 
France. 


Dfcription  cf  a  G Jeffs  Apparatus  for  making  Mineral  Water s,  &c. 


THE  following  defeription  of 
an  apparatus  for  impreg¬ 
nating  water  with  fixed  air  is  cx~ 
traded  from  an  account,  publ dri¬ 


ed  by  the  ingenious  Mr.  Magellan , 
of  his  improved  method  of  perform¬ 
ing  that  operation.  It  can  fcarce- 
]y  be  necelfary  to  inform  our  rea¬ 
ders. 


P  R  O  J 

ders,  that  the  world  is  obliged  for 
this  curious  difcovery  to  Dr.  PrieH- 
3ey,  who  firH  publifhed  his  me¬ 
thod  of  making  Pyrmont  water  in 
the  year  1772.  Since  that  time, 
the  machines  made  ufe  of  for  that 
purpofe  have  received  various  im¬ 
provements  :  that  which  vve  are 
now  going  to  defcribe,  is  invented 
for  the  purpofe  of  remedying  the 
flownefs  of  the  procefs  in  the  me¬ 
thods  before  pradtifed. 

ABC  (fig.  1,)  reprefents  one 
of  the  improved  machines  of  Mr. 
Parker,  Handing  upon  a  wooden 
difh  d  e,  in  order  to  avoid  any 
water,  if  fpilled,  from  falling  on 
the  table.  The  middle  veffel  B 
has  a  neck,  which  is  inferted  into 
the  mouth  of  the  veffel  A,  being 
nicely  ground  air-tight  to  it.  This 
lower  neck  of  the  middle  veffel  B, 
has  a  Hopple  V  of  glafs,  compof- 
ed  of  two  parts,  both  having  holes, 
fufficient  to  let  a  good  quantity 
of  air  pafs  through  them  :  between 
thefe  two  parts  is  left  a  fmall  fpace, 
containing  a  plano-convex  lens, 
which  adls  like  a  valve,  in  letting 
the  air  pafs  from  below  upwards, 
and  hindering  the  fall  of  the  water 
into  the  veffel  A. 

The  upper  veHel  C  terminates 
below  in  the  tube,  marked  2,  1, 
(fig.  1,)  which  being  crooked, 
hinders  the  immediate  paffage  of 
the  bubbles  of  fixed  air  into  the 
upper  veffe}  C,  before  they  reach 
the  furface  of  the  water  in  the 
veHel  B.  The  veffel  C  is  alfo 
ground  air-tight  to  the  upper  neck 
of  the  middle  veffel  B  ;  and  has  a 
Hopple  ou,  fitted  to  its  upper  mouth, 
which  either  is  perforated  through 


e  c  t  s. 

the  middle,  as  <zv  and  i  (fig.  1  and 
2,) ;  or  is  of  a  conical  form,  with¬ 
out  any  hole.  But  it  will  be  bet¬ 
ter  to  have  that  kind  of  Hopple, 
which  is  hereafter  defcribed,  p.  137. 
paragraph  3d.  This  upper  veffel  C 
contains  jufl  half  the  water  that 
can  be  contained  in  the  under  one 
B;  and  the  end  (1,)  of  its  crook¬ 
ed  tube  (2,  1,)  goes  no  lower  than 
the  middle  of  the  fame  veffel  B. 
Each  of  the  veffels,  A  and  B,  have 
an  opening,  m  and  n,  with  ground 
Hopples,  which  are  only  open  when, 
occafion  requires,  as  will  be  men¬ 
tioned  hereafter. 

Figure  the  2d  reprefents  the  two 
veffels  B  and  C  upon  a  wooden, 
Hand  F,  whilH  feparated  from  the 
veffel  A. 

Figure  the  4th  reprefents  a  wide 
glafs  funnel  q,  which  may  enter 
into  the  upper  mouth  of  the  vef¬ 
fel  A. 

Figure  the  5  th  reprefents  a  fmall 
phial  />,  which  ferves  to  meafure  the 
quantity  of  the  vitriolic  acid  to  be 
made  ufe  of. 

Fig.  the  6th  reprefents  a  little 
trough  of  tin  R,  to  meafure  the 
pounded  chalk  or  marble,  that  is 
to  be  employed  in  every  procefs  : 

And  fig.  the  7th  reprefents  a 
particular  kind  of  Hopple,  the 
ufe  of  which  will  be  explained 
hereafter. 

'fhe  Procefs  nvith  the  Simple  Machine . 

LET  fome  dry  chalk,  as  it 
comes  out  of  the  earth,  that  is  to 
fay,  raw,  without  being  burned 
in  the  fire  ;  or  rather  white  mar¬ 
ble,  which  is  much  better  for  the 
purpoie  *,  be  reduced  to  pow¬ 
der  ; 

or  pounded  like  coarfe  fand,  is 

action  of 
the 


*  White  marble  being  firft  granulated, 
nuch  better  for  this  purpofe,  than  the  pounded  chalk  }  becaufe  the 

2 


K. 


i34  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


der  ;  and  let  Tome  oil  of  vitriol  be 
at  hand.  The  vefiel  B,  together 
with  C,  (fig.  1.)  muft  be  taken  off 
from  A,  and  put  on  the  wooden 
ftand  F  (fig.  2.)  Let  the  vefiel  B 
be  filled  with  fpring,  or  any  other 
drinking  water,  or  even  with  dif- 
tilled  water  ;  and  let  it  be  joined 
again  with  the  upper  veiTel  C. 

Let  fome  water  be  poured  on 
the  lower  vefiel  A,  fo  as  to  cover 
the  riling  part  of  its  bottom  :  but 
if  this  appears  too  vague  a  direc¬ 
tion,  pour  in  fourteen  or  fixteen 
rneafures  of  water,  with  the  glafs  p 
(fig.  5.)  :  then  fill  the  fame  phial p 
with  oil  of  vitriol,  and  pour  it 
into  the  fame  vefiel  A,  along  with 
the  water. 

It  will  be,  however,  much  ea- 
fier  to  have  made  beforehand  the 
mixture  of  oil  of  vitriol  and  water, 
in  (he  above  proportion,  in  this 
cafe  it  will  not  be  liable  to  fuch 
bad  confequences,  as  fometimes 
happen  with  firong  oil  of  vitriol, 
which,  if  ipilt,  burns  and  destroys 
almofl  every  thing  it  meets  with. 
But  when  weakened  by  the  mix¬ 
ture  of  about  fourteen  or  fixteen 
times  as  much  water,  asits  own  bulk 
(or  twenty  times  its  bulk,  if  the 
oil  of  vitriol  is  well  concentrated) 
hardly  will  it  then  be  able  to  do 
any  mifehief,  no  more  than  the 
juice  of  lemons,  or  any  other  fuch 
acid,  as  vinegar,  Ifc.  It  is  true 
that  its  bulk  becomes  greatly  in- 
creafed  ;  but  its  carriage  will  be 


fafer,  and  its  value  very  conside¬ 
rably  cheaper  to  the  purchafer. 

After  the  acid  is  poured  into  the 
vefiel  A,  let  the  glafs  funnel  q 
(fig.  4.)  be  put  into  the  fame  vef- 
fel  ;  and  filling  the  trough  R 
(fig.  6.)  with  tne  pounded  chalk 
or  marble,  let  it  be  thrown  into 
it.  Take  off  the  funnel  y,  which 
is  vrfed  only  to  prevent  the  chalk 
from  touching  the  infide  of  the 
mouth  of  this  vefiel;  fince  other- 
wife  it  will  flick  fo  ftrongly  to  the 
neck  ri  the  veiTel  8,  as  not  to  al¬ 
low  the  taking  it  off  again  with¬ 
out  breaking.  Then  immediately 
place  the  two  vefibls  B  and  C,  as 
they  are,  over  tne  mouth  of  the 
vefiel  A;  and  ail  the  fixed  air 
which  is  difengage  from  the  chalk 
or  marble,  by  the  force  of  the  di¬ 
luted  acid,  will  pais  up,  through 
the  valve  V,  into  the  vefiel 
When  this  fixed  air  comes  to  the 
top  of  the  vefiel  B,  it  will  difiodge 
from  thence  as  much  water  as  its 
bulk;  and  this  water,  fo  diflodged, 
will  go  up,  by  the  crooked  tube 
2,  1,  into  the  vefiel  C. 

Care  mu  ft  be  taken  not  to  fhake 
the  vefiel  A,  when  the  powdered 
chalk  is  poured  in  ;  for  otherwife 
a  great  and  fudden  efiervefcence 
will  enfue,  which  will,  perhaps, 
expel  part  of  the  contents.  In 
fuch  a  cafe,  it  will  be  necefiary  to 
open  the  flopple  m,  in  order  to 
give  vent  to  the  effervescence  for  a 
moment ;  otherwife  the  vefiel  A 


the  diluted  acid  upon  the  marble,  lafts  a  very  confideiable  time  ;  and  the  fup- 
ply  of  the  fixed  air ,  which  is  dsfengaged  by  this  efiervefcence,  is  much  more 
regular  than  otherwife.  In  general  it  continues  to  furnifh  fixed  air  more  than 
twenty-four  hours.  When  no  more  air  is  produced,  if  I  decant  out  of  the 
vefiel  A,  al!  the  acid  fluid,  already  faturated,  and  wafli  off  the  thin,  white  fe- 
dirnent,  I  piay  employ  again  the  remaining  granulated  marble,  by  adding  to 
it  frefh  water,  and  a  new  quantity  of  vitriolic  acid;  which  will  then  furnifh  a 
further  fupply  of  fixed  air  :  and  this  may  be  repeated  over  again,  until  all  the 
garble  is  diffolved ;  which  will  not  be  very  foon, 

z 


may 


P  R  O  J 

may  happen  to  burff.  Perhaps  it 
will  be  neceffary  to  throw  away 
the  contents,  to  vvafh  the  veffel 
with  water  (becaufe  the  boiling 
matter  will  Hick  between  the  necks 
of  thefe  veffels,  and  will  cement 
them  together)  and  to  begin  the 
operation  afrelh.  But  if  the  pow¬ 
dered  chalk  is  thrown  in,  without 
any  confiderable  {hake  of  the  ma¬ 
chine,  there  will  be  but  a  fmall 
effervefcence  at  the  beginning. 
When  this  operates  well,  the  vef- 
fel  C  will  foon  be  filled  with  wa¬ 
ter,  and  the  veffel  B  half  filled 
with  air ;  which  when  done  will 
be  eafily  perceived,  by  the  air  go¬ 
ing  up  in  large  bubbles  by  the 
crooked  tube  1,2;  this  will  take 
place  in  about  two  or  three  mi¬ 
nutes. 

Whenever  the  effervefcence  near¬ 
ly  ceafes  in  the  veffel  A,  it  will 
be  revived  again  by  giving  it  a 
gentle  ihake,  fo  that  fome  part  of 
the  powdered  chalk  which  is  in  a 
heap  at  the  bottom  of  A,  may  be 
mixed  with  the  diluted  vitriolic 
acid,  and  difengage  more  fixed 
air.  However,  when  it  happens 
that  the  whole  is  exhauffed,  and 
no  more  air  rufhes  up  to  the  mid¬ 
dle  veffel  from  the  lower  one,  ei¬ 
ther  more  powdered  chalk  muff;  be 
put  in,  or  more  oil  of  vitriol  ;  or 
at  laft  more  water,  if  neither  of 
the  two  firft  produced  the  defired 
effeft.  Thefe  additions  may  be 
performed  by  letting  them  in,  ei¬ 
ther  through  the  opening  m ,  or 
through  the  mouth  of  the  veffel  A. 
In  this  cafe  ufe  muff:  always  be 
made  of  the  funnel  q ,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  {licking  of  the  jundtures 
above-mentioned.  If  thefe  veffels 
be  fullered  to  {land  fix  or  feven 
hours,  the  water  will  be  fufficient- 
ly  impregnated,  without  any  fur- 


E  C  T  S.  135 

ther  trouble,  provided  the  fupply 
of  fixed  air  be  copious  :  and  flill 
more  fo,  if  it  is  there  compreffed 
any  way.  It  will  be  of  fome 
advantage  to  {hake  the  whole  ap¬ 
paratus  very  gently,  once  or  twice 
in  every  hour  :  In  this  cafe  the 
water  may  be  impregnated  by  the 
fixed  air,  in  four  hours,  and  per¬ 
haps  lefs.  It  was,  however,  to 
avoid  even  this  delay,  that  I  in¬ 
vented  the  following  additional 
veffels,  by  means  of  which  the 
whole  operation  is  confiderably 
{horter. 

Defcription  of  the  New  double  Ma» 
chine, 

BESIDES  the  two  veffels  B 
and  C  (fig.  i.),  I  have  added  two 
others  perfectly  alike,  reprefented 
by  G  and  H  (fig.  2  )»  The  vef¬ 
fel  H  is  finilhed  with  a  flopple  /, 
either  of  a  conical  form,  or  equal¬ 
ly  perforated  as  the  other  w  :  this 
veffel  contains  half  as  much’  as 
the  veffel  G.  Both  thefe  veffels 
are  fet  upon  the  wooden  {land  F  ; 
and  the  lower  neck  of  the  veffel  G 
is  not  only  furnilhed  with  a  valve 
and  Hopple,  as  already  defcribed, 
when  fpeaking  of  the  veffel  B;  but 
it  is  fitted,  and  ground  air-tight,  to 
the  neck  of  the  fame  veffel  A  ;  and 
has  an  opening  /,  with  a  ground 
ftopple,  which  is  only  opened  when 
occaffon  requires,  as  will  be  men¬ 
tioned  nereafter. 

The  wooden  Hand  K  (fig.  3.) 
is  fo  contrived,  that  a  thick  piece 
of  glafs  x ,  like  a  fmall  tumbler, 
muff:  be  cemented  on  the  top, 
after  it  has  been  ground  air  tight 
to  the  under  neck  of  the  veffel  B 
and  G.  The  form  of  this  Hand  is 
eafily  conceived  by  fig.  3,  it  being 
plane  at  the  bottom,  turns  up  in 
K  4  a  kind 


1 36  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


a  kind  of  convexity  zz  towards  its 
edge,  and  has  a  round  moulding 
0  o,  which  hinders  its  tumbling, 
when  moderately  pulhed  fideways. 

Phe  Procefs  with  the  double  Glafs - 
Machine. 

THE  two  middle  vefiels  B  and 
G  (fig.  1.  and  2.),  are  to  be  filled 
with  pure  water,  and  put  on  the 
Hands  K  and  F,  with  their  upper 
ones  C  and  H,  as  in  the  figure. 
The  mixture  of  oil  of  vitriol,  wa¬ 
ter,  and  powdered  chalk,  or  ra¬ 
ther  marble,  mult  be  done  in  the 
fame  manner,  as  was  faid  in  p.  134. 
par.  2d.  and  finally  the  vefiels  B 
and  C  are  to  be  put  on  the  vefiel  A. 
as  was  faid  p.  134.  par.  4th,  and 
following.  But  as  foom  as  the  vefiel 
C  is  filled  with  water,  thrown  up  by 
the  air,  which  difiodges  it  from  the 
vefiel  B,  through  the  crooked  tube 
1,  2,  both  thefe  vefiels  B  and  C 
are  to  be  removed  together  as  they 
are,  from  the  vefiel  A,  to  the 
Hand  K  (fig.  3.),  and  the  other 
vefiels  G  H,  which  are  in  the 
Hand  F,  are  to  be  put  in  their 
Head,  upon  the  vefiel  A.  Whilft 
the  operation  is  going  on  in  thefe 
lafi,  you  mull  hold  the  vefiels  B  C, 
which  are  in  the  Hand  K,  by  the 
neck  and  Hopple  w  with  your 
right  hand,  and  the  under  neck 
V  with  your  left :  incline  them  a 
little  fideways,  and  lhake  them 
very  brifkly,  fo  that  the  water 
within  B,  be  very  much  agitated, 
prefen  ting  many  frefh  for  faces  in 
contact  with  the  fixed  air ;  the 
greateft  part  of  which  will  be  ab- 
1 or bed  into  the  water  :  as  it  will 
foon  appear,  by  the  end  of  the 
crooked  tube  being  confiderably 


under  the  furface  of  the  water  in 
the  vefiel  B. 

It  will  fuffice  to  lhake  the  water 
in  this  manner  during  two  or  three 
minutes ;  which  done,  loofen  the 
upper  vefiel  C,  fp  that  the  re¬ 
maining  water,  may  fall  into  the 
vefiel  B  ;  and  the  unabforbed  air 
may  go  out.  Then  taking  off 
thefe  vefiels  from  the  Hand  K, 
put  them,  joined  together  as  they 
are,  on  the  Hand  F.  By  this  time 
the  vefiel  G  will  be  half  filled  with 
fixed  air ;  and  the  uppep  vefiel  H 
will  be  filled  with  the  water 
thrown  up  by  it.  Take  then  thefe 
vefiels  to  the  Hand  K.  and  replace 
the  others  B  C,  on  the  mouth  of 
the  vefiel  A,  after  letting  out  the 
unmixed  air,  as  aforefaid  ;  fo  that 
thefe  vefiels  may  be  half  filled 
again  with  fixed  air,  whilfi  the 
water  in  the  vefiels  G  H  is  brifkly 
fiiaked  in  the  fame  manner,  as  the 
others  have  been. 

When  this  operation  has  been 
repeated  three,  or  at  mofi  four 
times  alternately,  with  each  fet  of 
vefiels,  throwing  out  the  remain¬ 
ing  air  which  does  not  incorporate 
with  the  water,  after  it  has  been 
brifkly  fiiaked  ;  and  adding  frefh 
quantities  of  fixed  air ,  with  which  it 
mufi  be  well  agitated  ;  in  this  cafe, 
the  water  contained  in  both  the 
vefiels  B  and  C,  will  be  fully  fa  tit¬ 
rated  in  a  few  minutes. 

Thefe  artificial  mineral  waters, 
are  much  more  pleafant  to  take, 
than  the  natural  Pyrmont  or  Selt¬ 
zer’s  waters,  which,  befides  tl\eir 
fixed .  air  (the  only  part  perhaps 
which  affords  their  renewed  vir¬ 
tues,  and  which  is  hardly  half  of 
what  this  artificial  water  may  ab~ 
forb)  contain  fome  difagreeable 
faline  take :  and  it  is  known  that 

this 


P  R  O  J 

this  alone,  does  not  contribute  at 
all  to  their  medicinal  virtues  ;  but 
on  the  contrary,  it  mud  be  hurtful 
in  fome  complicated  cafes. 

The  artificial  waters  will  re¬ 
main  as  limpid  and  as  tranfparent 
as  before,  although  there  has  been 
abforbed  above  as  much  air  as  their 
own  bulk.  The  whole  procefs  will 
hardly  take  above  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  by  this  method  ;  and  the 
quantity  will  be  double  of  that 
which  could  be  made  in  the  fimple 
glafs-machine. 

The  water  may  be  taken  out  by 
the  opening  l  or  »,  to  be  drank  im¬ 
mediately  ;  if  not,  it  will  be  bet¬ 
ter  to  let  it  remain  in  the  ma¬ 
chine,  where  it  has  no  communi¬ 
cation  with  the  external  air  ;  other- 
wife,  the  fixed  air  goes  off  by  de¬ 
grees,  and  it  becomes  vapid  and 
flat ;  as  it  happens  alfo  to  the  na¬ 
tural  acidulous  waters.  Thefe  ar¬ 
tificial  waters  may  however,  be 
kept  a  very  long  time,  in  bottles 
well  corked,  placed  with  their 
mouths  downwards. 

In  general  they  are  fo  fimilar 
to  the  natural  acidulous  waters, 
that  they  may,  be  even  made  to 
fparkle  like  Champaign  wine.  Mr. 
Warltire  has  actually  brought  thefe 
waters  to  this  (late,  by  keeping  the 
fixed  air  comprefied  upon  the  fur- 
face  of  the  water  in  the  middle 
veffel  ;  as  appears  by  his  letter 
printed  in  the  Appendix  to  your 
third  volume  of  Experiments  and 
Obfier<vaticns  on  diir ,  page  366. 
The  fame  end  will  be  obtained,  if, 
inltead  of  the  floppies  <w  and  ufe 
is  made  of  the  folid  one  reprefent- 
ed  (fig.  7.)  which  has  a  kind  of 
a  bafon  at  the  top,  in  order  to 
hold  fome  additional  weight.  This 
Hopple  mull  be  of  a  conical  figure, 
and  very  loofe ;  but  fo  well  ground 


E  C  T  S.  137 

and  fmooth  in  its  contadl,  as  to  be 
air-tight  by  its  preffure,  which 
may  be  increafed  by  fome  addi¬ 
tional  weights  in  its  bofom.  If 
the  velfels  are  flout  enough,  there 
is  no  danger  of  their  burlting  in 
the  operation. 

Thefe  waters  may  alfo  be  render¬ 
ed  ferugineous  (or  chalybeate)  very 
eafily,  by  putting,  in  the  middle 
veffel,  two  or  more  flender  phials, 
filled  with  cuttings  of  fine  iron¬ 
binding  wire;  otherwife  with  fmall 
iron  nails  ;  becaufe  the  impreg¬ 
nated  water  will  diffolve  the  iron 
fo  fall,  as  to  become  well  fattirated 
with  it  in  a  few  hours,  according 
to  the  experiment  of  Mr.  Lane. 
If  the  iron  nails,  or  the  cuttings  of 
wire,  were  not  confined  in  the 
fmall  phials,  but  let  loofe  in  the 
middle  veffel ;  their  ruft  or  fedi- 
ment  would  foon  flop  the  paffages 
of  the  fixed  air  from  the  under  vef¬ 
fel  :  in  fuch  a  cafe  the  veffel  A 
mull  burll ;  and  the  whole  machine 
be  broken  into  pieces. 

According  to  Sir  John  Pringle, 
there  may  be  added  to  each  pint 
of  thefe  waters,  from  eight  to  ten 
drops  of  tinttura  martis  cum  fipiritu 
fialis\  in  order  to  referable  more 
nearly  the  genuine  Fyrmont  wa¬ 
ter.  But  the  method  of  rendering 
chalybeate  thefe  artificial  waters, 
ufed  by  Dr.  Hulme,  is  to  add  one 
grain  of  fait  of  Heel  to  each  pint 
(16  ounces)  of  water  already  im¬ 
pregnated  with  fixed  air.  There 
is  no  doubt  but  thefe  artificial  wa¬ 
ters  may  be  advantageoufly  em¬ 
ployed  in  many  medical  purpofes  ; 
not  only  by  diffolving  in  them  the 
very  falls,  which  are  found  to  be 
contained  in  many  natural  fprings, 
renowned  for  their  different  vir¬ 
tues  ;  but  by  applying  them  fimpiy 
without  any  other  mixture.  The 

fame 


1 38  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


fame  able  phyfician,  Dr.  Hulme, 
has  lately  publifhed  an  Account 
of  different  Cafes  and  Experiments , 
by  which  it  clearly  appears,  that 
fixed  air ,  adminiitered  internally, 
has  a  powerful  aClion  for  dilfolving 
the  ftone  in  the  bladder,  and 
againft  nephritic  complaints.  Its 
efficacy  is  equally  beneficial  againft; 
the  fcurvy,  the  gout,  the  fevers, 
even  the  heCtick  ones  with  con- 
fumption,  the  dyfentery,  and  the 
worms*.  Thefe  artificial  waters 
may  be  even  applied  as  a  ve¬ 
hicle  to  many  draughts,  and  in¬ 
ternal  medicines,  which  will  be 
then  lefs  naufeous  to  the  patients, 
and  perhaps  more  agreeable  to  the 
liomach,  giving  to  it  a  tonical 
ftrength. 

The  advantages  derived  from 
fixed  air  in  ceconomical  purpofes, 
deferve  to  be  taken  notice  of  in 
this  place.  Mr.  William  Lee  and 
his  neighbours,  at  Hartwell,  did 
preferve  flefh  meat  perfe&ly  fweet 
for  ten  days,  which  was  as  long  as 


they  had  occafion  for  in  the  laft 
hot  weather  of  this  fummer  (1778), 
one  of  the  hotted  we  ever  had  in 
this  country;  and  this  was  obtain¬ 
ed  by  walking  the  meat  two  or 
three  times  a  day  with  water  im¬ 
pregnated  with  fixed  air  ;  even 
meat  that  had  begun  to  change 
was  totally  recovered  by  the  fame 
procefs,  as  the  faid  gentleman  af- 
ferted  in  a  letter  I  have  feen,  di¬ 
rected  to  a  friend  of  mine. 

I  lhall  conclude  this  fubjeCt  by 
obferving  with  you,  that  fixed  air 
may  be  given  to  wine,  beer,  cy¬ 
der,  and  to  almoft  any  liquor  what¬ 
soever.  Even  when  beer  has  be¬ 
come  flat,  or  dead  as  it  is  called, 
it  may  be  revived  by  employing 
the  fame  method:  but  the  delicate, 
though  brifk,  and  agreeable  fla¬ 
vour,  or  acidulous  tafte,  commu¬ 
nicated  by  the  fixed  air,  and  which 
is  fo  manifeft  in  water,  will  hardly 
be  perceived  in  wine,  or  other  li¬ 
quors,  which  have  much  tafte  of 
their  own. 


*  Dr.  Hulme’s  method  is,  to  give  fifteen  grains  of  fait  of  tartar,  diluted 
with  three  ounces  of  pure  or  diftilled  water,  four  times  a  day,  drinking  imme¬ 
diately  after,  at  every  time,  the  fame  quantity  of  water  impregnated  with 
twenty  drops  of  weak  fpirit  of  vitriol.  See  his  treatife,  intituled.  Safe  and 
Eafy  Remedy ,  &c. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


[  '39  1 


ANTI  Q^U  I  T  I  E  S. 


Account  of  the  fir  ft  Infiitution  of  the 
Office  of  Poet  Laureat.  From 
War  ton’/  Hiftory  of  Englijh  Poetry . 

GREAT  confufion  has  enter¬ 
ed  into  this  fubjeft,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  degrees  in  grammar, 
which  included  rhetoric  and  ver- 
fification,  anciently  taken  in  our 
univerfities,  particularly  at  Ox¬ 
ford  :  on  which  occafion,  a  wreath 
of  laurel  was  prefented  to  the  new 
graduate,  who  was  afterwards  ufu- 
ally  ftyled  Poet  a  Laureatus .  Thefe 
fcho'aftic  laureations,  however, 
feem  to  have  given  rife  to  the  appel¬ 
lation  in  queftion.  I  will  give  lome 
inliances  at  Oxford,  which  at  the 
fame  time  will  explain  the  nature 
of  the  ftudies  for  which  our  aca¬ 
demical  philologies  received  their 
rewards.  About  the  year  1470,  one 
John  Watfon,  a  ftudent  in  gram- 
'mar,  obtained  a  conceflion  to  be 
graduated  and  laureated  in  that 
fcience,  on  condition  that  he 
compofed  one  hundred  Latin  verfes 
in  praife  of  the  univerfity,  and  a 
Latin  comedy.  Another  gramma¬ 
rian  was  diftinguifhed  with  the 
fame  badge,  after  having  ftipulat- 
ed,  that,  at  the  next  public  aft, 
he  would  affix  the  fame  number  of 
hexameters  on  the  great  gates  of 
St.  Mary’s  church,  that  they  might 
be  feen  by  the  whole  univerfity. 
This  was  at  that  period  the  moft 
convenient  mode  of  publication. 


About  the  fame  time,  one  Maurice 
Byrchenfaw,  a  fcholar  in  rhetoric, 
lupplicated  to  be  admitted  to  read 
leftures,  that  is,  to  take  a  degree, 
in  that  faculty  ;  and  his  petition 
was  granted,  with  a  provifion,  that 
he  ihould  write  one  hundred  verfes 
on  the  glory  of  the  univerfity,  and 
not  fuffer  Ovid’s  Art  of  Love,  and 
the  Elegies  of  Pamphilus,  to  be 
ftudied  in  auditory.  Not  long  af¬ 
terwards,  one  John  Bulman,  ano¬ 
ther  rhetorician,  having  complied 
with  the  terms  impofed,  of  ex¬ 
plaining  the  firft  book  of  Tully’s 
Offices,  and  likewife  the  firft  of 
his  Epiftles,  without  any  pecuniary 
emolument,  was  graduated  in  rhe¬ 
toric  ;  and  a  crown  of  laurel  was 
publicly  placed  on  his  head  by  the 
hands  of  the  chancellour  of  the 
univerfity.  About  the  year  1489, 
Skelton  was  laureated  at  Oxford, 
and  in  the  year  1493,  was  permit¬ 
ted  to  wear  his  laurel  at  Cam¬ 
bridge.  Robert  Whittington  af¬ 
fords  the  laft  inftance  of  a  rhetori¬ 
cal  degree  at  Oxford.  He  was  a 
fecular  prieft,  and  eminent  for  his 
various  treatifes  in  grammar,  and 
for  his  facility  in  Latin  poetry  : 
having  exercifed  his  art  many 
years,  and  fubmitting  to  the  cuf- 
tomary  demand  of  an  hundred 
verfes,  he  was  honoured  with  the 
laurel  in  the  year  1512.  This 
title  is  prefixed  to  one  of  his 
grammatical  fyftems.  “  Rober- 

TI 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


ti  We  itt in  ton i,  Lichfeldtenjis ; 
Grammatices  Magijlri ,  Protova- 
Tis  Anglia ,  /»  fibrentijjima  Oxonienfi 
Academia  Laureati,  de  Octo 
Partirus  O  r  a  t  i  p  n  i  s .  ”  In  his 
Panegyric  to  Cardinal  Woifey,  he 
mentions  his  laurel. 

Sufcipe  lauriccmi  munufcula  parva 
Robcrti. 

With  regard  to  the  poet  laureate 
of  the  kings  of  England,  an  officer 
of  the  court  remaining  under  that 
title  to  this  day,  he  is  undoubtedly 
the  fame  that  is  ftyled  the  King’s 
Yerfifter,  and  to  whom  one  hun¬ 
dred  [hillings  were  paid  as  his  an¬ 
nual  ftipend,  in  the  year  1251. 
But  when  or  how  that  title  com¬ 
menced,  and  whether  this  officer 
was  ever  folemnly  crowned  with 
laurel  at  his  fir  ft  inveftiture,  I  will 
not  pretend  to  determine,  after  the 
fearches  of  the  learned  Selden  on 
this  queftion  have  proved  unfuccefs- 
ful.  It  feems  moft  probable,  that 
the  barbarous  and  inglorious  name 
of  ajerftfier  gradually  gave  way  to 
an  appellation  of  more  elegance  and 
dignity  :  or  rather,  that  at  length, 
thofe  only  were  in  general  invited 
to  this  appointment,  who  had  re¬ 
ceived  academical  fandtion,  and 
had  merited  a  crown  of  laurel  in 
the  univerfities  for  their  abilities  in 
Latin  compofition,  particularly  La¬ 
tin  verfiiicatlon.  Thus  the  king's 
laureate  was  nothing  more  than  “  a 
graduated  rhetorician  employed  in 
the  fervice  of  the  king.”  That  he 
originally  wrote  in  Latin,  appears 
from  the  ancient  title  ajerffcatcr  : 
and  may  be  moreover  colle&ed 
from  the  two  Latin  poems,  which 
Bafion  and  Gulielmus,  who  appear 
to  have  refpefHvely  aded  in  the  ca¬ 
pacity  of  royal  poets  to  Richard 
the  ftrft  and  Edward  the  Second. 


officially  compofed  on  Richards 
crufade,  and  Edward’s  fiege  of 
Striveling  Caftle. 

Andrew  Bernard,  fucceffively 
poet  laureate  of  Henry  the  Seventh 
and  the  Eighth,  affords  a  ftili 
ftronger  proof  that  this  officer  was 
a  Latin  fcholar.  He  was  a  native 
of  Tholoufe,  and  an  Auguftine 
monk.  He  was  not  only  the  king’s 
poet  laureate,  as  it  is  fuppofed,  but 
his  hiftoriographer,  and  preceptor 
in  grammar  to  Prince  Arthur.  He 
obtained  many  ecclefiaftical  pre¬ 
ferments  in  England.  All  the 
pieces  now  to  be  found,  which  he 
wrote  in  the  character  of  poet  lau¬ 
reate,  are  in  Latin.  Thefe  are, 
“  an  Addrefs  to  Henry  the  Eighth 
for  the  moft  aufpicious  beginning 
of  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign,  with 
an  j Epitbalamium  on  the  marriage 
of  Francis  the  dauphin  of  France 
with  the  king’s  daughter.”  A  New 
Tear's  Gift  for  the  year  1  5  I  5.  And 
verfes  wiffiing  profperity  to  his  ma- 
jefty’s  thirteenth  year.  He  has  left 
fome  Latin  hymns  ;  and  many  of 
his  Latin  profe  pieces,  which  he 
wrote  in  the  quality  of  hiftoriogra¬ 
pher  to  both  monarchs,  are  remain¬ 
ing. 

I  am  of  opinion,  that  it  was  not 
cuftomary  for  the  royal  laureate  to 
write  in  Englifh,  till  the  reforma¬ 
tion  of  religion  had  begun  to  di- 
rninifh  the  veneration  for  the  Latin 
language  ;  or  rather,  till  the  love 
of  novelty,  and  a  better  fenfe  of 
things,  had  baniffied  the  narrow 
pedantries  of  monaftic  erudition, 
and  taught  us  to  cultivate  our  na¬ 
tive  tongue.  In  the  mean  time  it 
is  to  be  wifhed,  that  another  change 
might  at  leaft  be  fuffered  to  take 
place  in  the  execution  of  this  infti- 
tution,  which  is  confeffedly  Go¬ 
thic,  and  unaccommodated  to  mo¬ 
dels 


ANTI  Q^U  I  T  I  E  S. 


dern  manners..  I  mean,  that  the 
more  than  anneal  return  of  a  corn* 
pofition  on  a  trite  argument  would 
be  no  longer  required.  I  am  con- 
fcious  I  fay  this  at  a  time,  when  the 
bell  of  kings  affords  the  moft  juft 
and  copious  theme  for  panegyric  : 
but  1  fpeak  it  at  a  time,  when  the 
department  is  honourably  filled  by 
a  poet  of  tafte  and  genius,  which 
are  idly  wafted  on  the  moft  fplendid 
fubjedls,  when  impofed  by  con- 
ftraint,  and  perpetually  repeated. 


The  Order  and  Planner  of  creating 
Knights  cf  the  Bath  in  the  Time  of 
Peace,  according  to  the  cufiom  of 
England. 

o 

I.II7  HEN  an  efquire  comes 
V V  t0  court,  to  receive  the 
order  of  knighthood,  in  the  time 
of  peace,  according  to  the  cuftom 
of  England,  he  fhall  be  honour¬ 
ably  received  by  the  officers  of  the 
court ;  Sc.  the  Reward  or  the  cham¬ 
berlain,  if  they  be  prefent,  but 
otherwife  by  the  marfhals  and 
ufhers.  Then  there  fhall  be  pro¬ 
vided  two  efquires  of  honour, 
grave,  and  well  ffien  in  courtfhip 
and  nurture,  as  alio  in  the  feats  of 
chivalrie,  and  they  fliali  be  efquires, 
and  govemours  in  all  things  relat¬ 
ing  to  him,  which  fhall  take  the 
order  aforefaid. 

2.  And  if  the  efquire  do  come 
before  dinner,  he  fhall  carry  up  one 
Hi fh  of  the  firft  courfe  to  the  king's 
table. 

3.  And  after  this  the  efqu  ire’s 
govemours  fhall  conduct  the  efquire, 
that  is  to  receive  the  order,  into  his 
chamber,  without  any  more  being 
feen  that  day. 

4.  And  in  the  evening  the 
efq  u  ire's  govemours  fhall  fend  for 


141 

the  harbour,  and  they  fhall  make 
ready  a  bath,  handfomely  hung 
with  linen,  both  within  and  with¬ 
out  the  veffel,  taking  care  that  it 
be  covered  with  tapiftrie  and  blan¬ 
kets,  in  refpeft  of  the  colonels  of 
the  night.  And  then  fhall  the 
efquire  be  (haven,  and  his  hair  cut 
round.  After  which  the  efquire’s 
govemours  fhall  go  to  the  king-, 
and  fay.  Sir,  it  is  novo  in  the  even¬ 
ing,  and  the  efquire  is  fitted  for  the 
bath  nvhen  you  pleafe  :  Whereupon 
the  king  (hall  command  his,  cham¬ 
berlain  that  he  fhall  take,  along 
with  him  unto  the  efquire's  cham¬ 
ber,  the  moft  gentle  and  grave 
knights  that  are  prefent,  to  inform, 
counfel,  and  inftruft  him  touching 
the  order,  and  feats  of  chivalrie  : 
and,  in  like  manner,  that  the  other 
efquires  of  the  houfehold,  with  the 
minftrells,  fhall  proceed  before  the 
knights,  Tinging,  dancing,  ^nd 
fporting,  even  to  the  chamber 
door  of  the  faid  efquire. 

5.  And  when  the  efquire’s  go- 
vernours  fhall  hear  the  noife  of  the 
minftrells,  they  fhall  undrefs  the 
faid  efquire,  and  put  him  naked 
into  the  bath  :  but,  at  the  entrance 
into  the  chamber,  the  efquire’s  go- 
vernours  fhall  caufe  the  mufic  to 
ceafe,  and  the  efquires  alfo  for  a 
while.  And  this  being  done,  the 
grave  knights  fhall  enter  into  the 
chamber  without  making  any  noife, 
and  doing  reverence  to  each  other, 
fhall  confider  which  of  theinfelvea 
it  fhall  be  that  is  to  inftruH  the 
efquire  in  the  order  and  courfe  of 
the  bath.  And  when  they  are  a- 
greed,  then  fhall  the  chief  of  them 
go  to  the  bath,  and  kneeling  down 
before  it,  fay,  with  a  foft  voice  : 
Sir  !  be  this  bath  of  great  honour  ta 
you  ;  and  then  he  fliali  declare  unto 
him  the  feats  of  the  order,  as  far  as 

he 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


142 

he  can,  putting  part  of  the  water 
of  the  bath  upon  the  (boulder  of 
the  efquire  ;  and  having  fo  done, 
take  his  leave.  And  the  efquire’s 
governours  (hall  attend  at  the  (ides 
of  the  bath,  and  fo  likewife  the 
other  knights,  the  one  after  the 
other,  till  all  be  done. 

6.  Then  (hall  thefe  knights  go 
out  of  the  chamber  for  a  while ; 
and  the  efquire’s  governours  (hall 
take  the  efquire  out  of  the  bath, 
and  help  him  to  his  bed,  there  to 
continue  till  his  body  be  dry  ; 
which  bed  (hall  be  plain  and  with¬ 
out  curtains.  And  as  foon  as  he  is 
dry,  they  (hall  help  him  out  of 
bed,  they  (hall  cloath  him  very 
warm,  in  refpeft  of  the  cold  of  the 
night ;  and  over  his  inner  gar¬ 
ments  (hall  put  on  a  robe  ofruflet, 
with  long  (leives,  having  a  hood 
thereto,  like  unto  that  of  an  her- 
mite.  And  the  efquire  being  out 
of  the  bath,  the  barbour  (hall  take 
away  the  bath,  with  whatfoever 
appertaineth  thereto,  both  within 
and  without,  for  his  fee  ;  and  like¬ 
wife  for  the  coller  (about  his  neck) 
be  he  earl,  baron,  baneret,  or  bat- 
cheler,  according  to  the  cuftom  of 
the  court. 

7.  And  then  (hall  the  efquire’s 
governours  open  the  dore  of  the 
chamber,  and  (hall  caufe  the  an- 
tient  and  grave  knights  to  enter, 
to  conduct  the  efquire  to  the  cha- 
pell :  and  when  they  are  come  in, 
the  efquires,  fporting  and  dancing, 
(hall  go  before  the  efquire,  with 
the  minftrells,  making  melodie  to 
the  chapell. 

8.  And  being  entered  the  cha- 
pell,  there  (hall  be  wine  and  fpices 
ready  to  give  to  the  knights  and 
efquires.  And  then  the  efquire’s 
governours  (hall  bring  the  faid 
knights  before  the  efquire  to  take 


their  leave  of  him  ;  and  he  (hall 
give  them  thanks  all  together,  for 
the  pains,  favour,  and  courtefie 
which  they  have  done  him  ;  and 
this  being  performed,  they  (hall  de¬ 
part  out  of  the  chapell. 

9.  Then  (hall  the  efquire’s  go¬ 
vernours  (hut  the  dore  of  the  cha¬ 
pell,  none  (laying  therein  except 
themfelves,  the  pried,  the  chandler, 
and  the  watch.  And,  in  this  man¬ 
ner  fhall  the  efquire  day  in  the 
chapell  all  night,  till  it  be  day, 
bedowing  himfelf  in  orifons  and 
prayers,  befeeching  Almighty  God, 
and  his  bleffed  mother,  that,  of 
their  good  grace,  they  will  give 
him  ability  to  receive  this  high 
temporal  dignitie,  to  the  honour, 
praife,  and  fervice  of  them  ;  as 
alfo  of  holy  church,  and  the  order 
of  knighthood.  And,  at  day  break, 
one  (hall  call  the  pried  to  confefs 
him  of  all  his  fins,  and,  having 
heard  mattines  and  mafs,  (hall  af¬ 
terwards  be  commended,  if  he 
pleafe. 

10.  And  after  his  entrance  into 
the  chapel),  there  (hall  be  a  taper 
burning  before  him  ;  and  fo  foon 
as  mafs  is  begun,  one  of  the  go¬ 
vernours  (hall  hold  the  taper  untill 
the  reading  of  the  gofpell ;  and 
then  fhall  the  governour  deliver  it 
into  his  hands,  who  (hall  hold  it 
himfelf,  till  the  gofpel  be  ended  ; 
but  then  (hall  receive  it  again  from 
him,  and  fet  it  before  him,  there 
to  dand  during  the  whole  time  of 
mafs. 

11.  And  at'  the  elevation  of  the 
hod,  one  of  the  governours  (hall 
take  the  hood  from  the  efquire,  and 
afterwards  deliver  it  to  him  again, 
untill  the  gofpell  hi  principio  ;  and 
at  the  beginning  thereof  the  go¬ 
vernour  (hall  take  the  fame  hood 
again,  and  caufe  it  to  be  carried 

away. 


ANTI  Q^U  ITIES,  143 


away,  and  (hall  give  him  the  taper 
again  into  his  own  hands. 

12.  And  then,  having  a  peny, 
or  more,  in  readinels,  near  to  the 
candlebick,  at  the  words  <verbum 
caro  fattum  eft ,  the  efquire,  kneel¬ 
ing,  fhall  offer  the  taper  and  the 
peny  ;  that  is  to  fay,  the  taper  to 
the  honour  of  God,  and  the  peny 
to  the  honour  of  the  perfon  that 
makes  him  a  knight.  AH  which 
being  performed,  the  efquire’s  go- 
vernours  lh all  conduct  the  efquire 
to  his  chamber,  and  fhall  lay  him 
again  in  bed,  till  it  be  full  day 
light.  And  when  he  fhall  be  thus 
in  bed,  till  the  time  of  his  rifing, 
he  fhall  be  cloathed  with  a  cover- 
ing  of  gold,  called  Singleton,  and 
this  (hall  be  lined  with  blew  Car- 
dene.  And  when  the  governoars 
fhall  fee  it  fit  time,  they  fhall  go  to 
the  king,  and  fay  to  him  ;  Sir, 
when  doth  it  pleafe you  that  our  mafter 
Jhali  rife  ?  Whereupon  the  king 
fhall  command  the  grave  knights, 
efquires,  and  minbrells,  to  go  to 
the  chamber  of  the  faid  efquire  for 
to  raife  him,  and  to  attire  and 
drefs  him,  and  to  bring  him  before 
him  into  the  hall.  But,  before 
their  entrance,  and  the  noife  of 
the  minbrells  heard,  the  efquire’s 
governours  fhall  provide  all  necef- 
faries  ready  for  the  order,  to  deliver 
to  the  knights,  for  to  attire  and  drefs 
the  efquire. 

And  when  the  knights  are  come 
to  the  efquire’s  chamber,  they  fhall 
enter  with  leave,  and  fay  to  him  ; 
Sir,  Good  morrow  to  you ,  it  is  time 
to  get  up  and  make  yourfelf  ready  ; 
and  thereupon  they  fhall  take  him 
by  the  arm  to  be  dreffed,  the  mob 
antient  of  the  faid  knights  reaching 
him  his  lhirt,  another  giving  him 
his  breeches,  the  third  his  doublet ; 
and  another  putting  upon  him  a 


kirtle  of  red  Tartann,  two  other 
fhall  raife  him  from  the  bed,  and 
two  other  put  on  his  nether  book¬ 
ings,  with  foies  of  leather  fowed  to 
them  ;  two  other  fhali  lace  his 
fleives,  and  another  fhall  gird  him 
with  a  girdle  of  white  leather  with¬ 
out  any  buckles  thereon  ;  another 
fhall  combe  his  head  ;  another 
fhall  put  on  his  coife ;  another 
fhall  give  him  his  mantle  of  filk 
(over  the  bafes  or  kirtle  of  red 
Tartarin)  tyed  with  a  lace  of  white 
filk,  with  a  pair  of  white  gloves 
hanging  at  the  end  of  the  lace. 
And  the  chandler  fhall  take  for  his 
fees  all  the  garments,  with  the 
whole  array  and  neceffaries  where¬ 
with  the  efquire  fhall  be  apparelled 
and  cloathed  on  the  day  that  he 
comes  into  the  court  to  receive  the 
order ;  as  alfo  the  bed  wherein  he 
fir fd  lay  after  his  bathing,  together 
with  the  fingleton  and  other  necef- 
faries  ;  in  confideration  of  which 
fees,  the  fame  chandler  fhall  find, 
at  his  proper  cob,  the  faid  coife, 
the  gloves,  the  girdle,  and  the 
lace. 

13.  And  when  all  this  is  done, 
the  grave  knights  fhall  get  on  horfe- 
back,  and  conduct  the  efquire  to 
the  hall,  the  minbrells  going  be¬ 
fore  making  mufick  ;  but  the  horfe 
mub  be  accoutred  as  followeth  : 
the  faddle  having  a  cover  of  black 
leather,  the  bow  of  the  faddle  be¬ 
ing  of  white  wood  quartered.  The 
birrup-leathers  black,  the  birrups 
gilt  ;  the  paitrell  of  black  lea¬ 
ther  gilt,  with  a  crofs-pate  gilt, 
hanging  before  the  breab  of  the 
horfe,  but  without  any  crooper  : 
the  bridle  black,  with  long  notched 
rains,  after  the  Spanifh  fafhion, 
and  a  crofs-pate  on  the  front.  And 
there  mub  be  provided  a  young 
efquire,  courteous,  who  fhall  ride 

before 


144  ANNUAL  RE 

before  the  efquire,  bareheaded, 
and  carry  the  efquire’s  fword,  with 
the  fpurs  hanging  at  the  handle  of 
the  fword  ;  and  the  fcabbard  of  the 
fword  fhall  be  of  white  leather, 
and  the  girdle  of  white  leather, 
without  buckles.  And  the  youth 
fhall  hold  the  fword  by  the  point, 
and  after  this  manner  mud  they 
ride  to  the  king’s  hall,  the  gover- 
jnours  being  ready  at  hand. 

14.  And  the  grave  knights  fhall 
conduct  the  faid  efquire  ;  and  fo 
foon  as  they  come  before  the,  hall 
dore,  the  marfhalls  and  huifhers 
are  to  be  ready  to  meet  him,  and 
defire  him  to  alight  ;  and  being 
alighted,  the  marfball  fhall  take 
the  horfe  for  his  fee,  or  elfe  c  s. 
Then  fhall  the  knights  condudl  him 
into  the  hall,  up  to  the  high  table, 
and  afterwards  up  to  the  end  of  the 
fecond  table,  until  the  king’s  com- 
ing,  the  knights  Handing  on  each 
fide  of  him,  and  the  youth  holding 
the  fword  upright  before  him,  be¬ 
tween  the  two  governours. 

14.  And  when  the  king  is  come 
into  the  hall,  and  beholdeth  the 
efquire  ready  to  receive  this  high 
order  and  temporal  dignitie,  he 
fhall  afke  for  the  fword  and  fpurs. 
which  the  chamberlain  fhall  take 
from  the  youth,  and  fhew  to  the 
king  ;  and  thereupon  the  king, 
taking  the  right  fpur,  fhall  deliver 
it  to  the  moll  noble  and  gentile 
perfon  there,  and  fhall  fay  to  him. 
Put  this  upon  the  efquire1  s  heel ;  and 
he  kneeling  on  one  knte,  mud 
take  the  efquire  by  the  right  leg, 
and,  putting  his  foot  on  his  own 
knee,  is  to  faden  the  fpur  upon  the 
right  heel  of  the  efquire  ;  and  then 
making  a  crofs  upon  the  efquire’s 
knee,  fhall  kifs  him  ;  which  being 
done,  another  knight  mud  come 
and  put  on  his  left  fpur  in  the  like 


CIS  TER,  1 778. 

manner.  And  then  fhall  the  king,, 
of  his  great  favour,  take  the  fword 
and  gird  the  efquire  therewith  ; 
whereupon  the  efquire  is  to  lift  up 
his  arms,  holding  his  hands  toge¬ 
ther,  and  the  gloves  betwbxt  his 
thumbs  and  fingers. 

16.  And  the  king,  putting  his 
own  armes  about  the  efquire’s 
neck,  fliall  fay.  Be  thou  a  good 
knight ,  and  afterwards  kifs  him. 
Then  are  the  antient  knights  to 
condufl  this  new  knight  to  the 
chapell,  with  much  mufick,  even 
to  the  high  altar,  and  there  he  fhall 
kneel,  and,  putting  his  right  hand 
upon  the  altar,  is  to  promife  to 
maintain  the  rights  of  the  holy 
church,  during  his  whole  life. 

17.  And  then  he  fliall  ungirt 
himfelf  of  his  fword,  and,  with, 
great  devotion  to  God  and  holy 
church,  offer  it  there  ;  praying  unto 
God  and  all  his  faints,  that  he  may 
keep  that  order,  which  he  hath  fo 
taken,  even  to  the  end  :  all  which, 
being  accomplifhed,  he  is  to  take  a 
draught  of  wine. 

18  And,  at  his  going  out  of 
the  chapell,  the  king’s  mader*. 
cook  being  ready  to  take  off  his 
fpurs,  for  his  own  fee,  fhall  fay, 
1  the  king's  mafler-cock  am  come  to 
receive  your  fpurs  for  my  fee  %  and  if 
you  do  any  thing  contrary  to  the  order 
of  knighthood ,  ('which  God  forbid ), 
1  fhall  hack  your  fpurs  from  your 
heels . 

19.  After  this  the  knights  mud 
conduct  him  again  into  the  hail, 
where  be  fhall  fit  the  fird  at  the 
knight’s  table,  and  the  knights 
about  him,  himfelf  to  be  ferved  as 
the  others  are  ;  but  he  mud  neither 
cut  nor  drink  at  the  table,  nor 
fpit,  nor  look  about  him,  up¬ 
wards  or  downwards,  more  than,  a 
bride.  And  this  being  done,  ope 

of 


ANTI  Q^U  I  T  I  E  S. 


of  his  governours  having  a  hand¬ 
kerchief  in  his  hand,  (hail  hold  it 
before  his  face  when  he  is  to  fpit. 
And  when  the  king  is  rifen  from 
the  table,  and  gone  into  his  cham¬ 
ber,  then  (hall  the  new  knight  be 
conduced,  with  great  (tore  of 
knights,  and  minftreis  proceeding 
before  him,  into  his  own  chamber; 
and  at  his  entrance,  the  knights 
and  minltrells  lhall  take  leave  of 
him,  and  go  to  dinner. 

20.  And  the  knights  being  thus 
gone,  the  chamber  dore  lhali  be 
fattened,  and  the  new  knight  dif- 
robed  of  his  attire,  which  is  to  be 
given  to  the  kings  of  armes,  in  cafe 
they  be  there  prefent;  and  if  not, 
then  to  the  other  heralds,  if  they 
be  there  ;  otherwife,  to  the  min- 
ftrells,  together  with  a  mark  of 
filver,  if  he  be  a  knight  bacheler  ; 
if  a  baron,  double  to  that  ;  if  an 
earl,  or  of  a  fuperior  rank  double 
thereto.  And  the  ruttet  night-cap 
muft  be  given  to  the  watch,  or  el le 
&  noble. 

Then  is  he  to  be  cloathed  again 
with  a  blew  robe,  the  fleives  where¬ 
of  to  be  freight,  lhaped  after  the 
falhion  of  a  prieft’s  ;  and  upon  his 
left  Ihoulder  to  have  a  lace  of  white 
filk  hanging  ;  and  he  lhall  wear 
that  lace  upon  all  his  garments, 
from  that  day  forwards,  untill  he 
have  gained  fome  honour  and  re- 
nown  by  arms,  and  is  regittred  of 
as  high  record  as  the  nobles, 
knights,  efquires,  and  heralds  of 
arms  ;  and  be  renowned  for  fome 
feats  of  arms,  as  aforefaid  ;  or,  that 
fome  great  prince,  or  mod  noble 
ladie,  can  cut  that  lace  from  his 
Ihoulder,  faying,  Sir,  we  have 
heard  Jo  much  of  the  true  renown  con¬ 
cerning  your  honour ,  which  you  have 
done  in  divers  parts ,  to  the  great 

Vo l»  XXI. 


fame  of  Chivalrie ,  as  to  yourfelf 
and  of  him  that  made  you  a  knight , 
that  it  is  meet  this  lace  be  taken  from 
you. 

21.  After  dinner,  the  knights 
of  honour  and  gentlemen,  mull 
cor  c-  to  the  knight,  and  conduit 
him  into  the  prelence  of  the  king, 
the  efquire’s  governors  going  be¬ 
fore  him,  where  he  is  to  lay.  Right 
noble  and  renowned  Sir  l  1  do ,  in  all 
that  I  can ,  give  you  thanks  for  theft 
honours ,  curtefies ,  and  bountie,  which 
you  have  vouchfafed  to  me.  And 
having  fo  laid,  (hall  take  his  leave 
of  the  king. 

22.  Then  are  the  efquire’s  go¬ 
vernours  to  take  leave  of  this  their 
maker,  faying,  Sir  !  we  have,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  king’s  command ,  and 
as  we  were  obliged,  done  what  we 
can  ;  but  if  through  negligence  we 
have  in  aught  dijpleafed  you ,  or  by 
any  thing  we  have  done  amijs  at  this 
time,  we  defire  pardon  of  you  for  it . 
And ,  on  the  other  fide.  Sir,  as  right 
is,  according  to  the  cufioms  of  the 
court ,  and  antient  kingdoms ,  voe  do 
require  our  robes  and  fees ,  as  the 
king’s  ej'quires,  companions  to  batche - 
lors,  and  other  lords . 


Uhe  Origin  of  Lotteries  in  Eng¬ 
land. 

H  E  firft  we  meet  with  was 
drawn  A.  D.  1569.  It  con¬ 
fined  of  40,000  lots,  at  ten  (hil¬ 
lings  each  lot  ;  the  prizes  were 
plate  ;  and  the  profits  were  to  go 
towards  repairing  the  havens  of 
this  kingdom.  “  ft  was  drawn  at 
the  welt  door  of  St.  Paul’s  cathe¬ 
dral.  The  drawing  began  on  the 
11th  of  Jaunary,  1569,  and  con- 
L  tinued 


i4  6  ANNUAL  RE 

tinued  incefiantly  drawing,  day  and 
night ,  till  the  6th  of  May  follow, 
ing;”  as  Maitland,  from  Stowe, 
informs  us  in  his  Hidory,  Vol,  I. 
p.  257.  There  were  then  only 
three  lottery  -  offices  in  London. 
The  propofals  for  this  lottery  were 
published  in  the  years  1567  and 
1568.  It  was  at  fird  intended  to 
have  been  drawn  at  the  houfe  of 
Mr.  Dericke,  her  Majefty’s  fer- 
vant  (i.  e.  her  jeweller),  but  was 
afterwards  drawn  as  above  men¬ 
tioned. 

Dr.  Rawlinfon  (hewed  the  Anti¬ 
quary  Society,  1748,  <f  A  Propo¬ 
sal  for  a  very  rich  Lottery,  gene¬ 
ral  without  any  Blankes,  con¬ 
taining  a  great  number  of  good 
prizes,  as  well  of  redy  money  as  of 
plate  and  certain  forts  of  merchan¬ 
dizes,  having  been  valued  and 
prized  by  the  commandment  of  the 
Queenes  mod  excellent  Majefties 
order,  to  the  entent  that  fuch  com¬ 
modities  as  may  chance  to  arife 
thereof  after  the  charges  borne 
may  be  converted  towards  the  re¬ 
parations  of  the  havens  and  (Length 
of  the  realme,  and  towards  fuch 
other  public  good  workes.  The 
number  of  Iotts  (hall  be  foure  hun¬ 
dred  thoufand,  and  no  more;  and 
every  lott  (hall  be  the  fumme  of 
tenne  fhillings  (lerling  only,  and 
no  more.  To  be  filled  by  the  feaft 
of  St.  Bartholomew.  The  (hew  of 
prifes  ar  to  be  feen  in  Cheap  fide, 
at  the  figrt  of  the  Queenes  Armes, 
the  houfe  of  Mr.  Dericke,  gold- 
fmith,  fervant  to  the  Queen.  Some 
other  orders  about  it  in  1567-8. 
Printed  by  Hen.  Bynneman.” 

46  In  the  year  161  2,  King  James, 
in  fpecial  favour  for  the  prefent 
plantation  of  Englilh  colonies  in 
Virginia,  granted  a  lottery,  to  be 
Md  at  the  wed  end  of  Sc,  Paul’s : 


G  IS  TER,  1778. 

whereof  one  Thomas  Sharplys,  a 
taylor  of  London,  had  the  chief 
prize,  which  was  four  thoufand 
crowns,  in  fair  plate.”  Baker's 
Chronicle. 

See  an  account  of  the  prizes,  &c. 
of  th  is  lottery,  in  Smith’s  Hifiory 
of  Virginia. 

In  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  it 
was  thought  necefiary  to  fupprefs 
lotteries,  as  nuifances  to  the  pub¬ 
lic.  See  Dr.  King’s  Works,  Vol.  II. 
p.  169. 


Abfradl  of  an  Account  of  fome  re- 
markable  a?teient  Ruins ,  lately  dif- 
conjered  in  the  Highlands  and 
northern  parti  of  Scotland.  By 
John  Williams,  Mineral  Engi¬ 
neer, 

Highlands  of  Scotland 
Jt  having  been  formerly  al- 
moft  an  inaccefiible  country,  made 
it  very  little  known  ;  yet,  I  be¬ 
lieve  few  countries  abound  more 
in  monuments  of  antiquity.  A- 
mongft  thefe,  the  vitrified  forts  are 
particularly  worthy  of  our  atten¬ 
tion,  though  they  appear  to  have 
hitherto  efcaped  the  curiofity  of 
thofe  few  travellers,  that  have  had 
the  courage  to  penetrate  into  that 
remote  part  of  the  ifland. 

Each  of  the  vitrified  forts  I  have 
yet  feen,  are  fituated  on  the  top  of 
a  (mall  hill.  Thefe  hills  every 
where  overlook,  and  command  the 
view  of  a  beautiful  valley,  or  wide¬ 
ly  extended  level  country. 

They  have  always  a  level  area 
on  the  fummit,  of  lefs  or  greater 
extent  ;  and  this  level  area  has 
been  furrounded  by  a  wall,  which, 
as  far  as  I  can  judge  by  the  ruins, 
has  been  very  high,  and  very 
(Long  :  but  what  is  mod  extraor- 
9  dinary. 


A  N  T  I  Q.U  I  T  I  £  S.  147 


Ginary,  thefe  walls  have  been  vi¬ 
trified,  or  run  and  compared  to¬ 
gether  by  the  force  of  fire ;  and 
that  fo  effectually,  that  molt  of 
the  Hones  have  been  melted  down  ; 
and  any  part  of  the  ltones  not 
quite  run  to  glafs,  has  been  en¬ 
tirely  enveloped  by  the  vitrified 
matter  ;  and  in  fome  places  the 
vitrification  has  been  fo  complete, 
that  the  ruins  appear  now  like  vail 
mailes,  or  fragments  of  coarfe glafs, 
or  flags. 

Though  thefe  fortified  hills  have 
a  level  area  on  the  fummit,  yet 
they  are  always  difficult  of  accefs, 
except  in  one  place,  which  has 
every  where  been  ltrengthened  by 
additional  works. 

I  have  feen  fome  of  thefe  hills 
of  a  long  oval  figure,  which  were 
acceflible  at  both  ends  ;  and  when 
that  is  the  figure,  fuch  have  been 
ftrongly  fortified  at  each  end,  as 
now  appears  by  the  ruins. 

For  your  farther  fatisfaClion,  and 
for  your  infirudtion,  if  you  fhould 
travel  through  that  country,  I  will 
point  out  a  few  places,  where 
1  have  feen  thefe  extraordinary 
ruins. 

The  firfi  I  will  take  notice  of, 
is  on  'the  hill  of  Knockfarril,  the 
fouth  fide  the  valley  of  Strathpef- 
far,  two  miles  welt  of  Dingwall  in 
Rofsfh  ire. 

This  hill  is  about  nine  hundred 
feet  of  perpendicular  height  above 
the  valley  ;  has  a  perfed  command 
of  the  view  of  the  whole  valley, 
and  of  the  country  for  fome  miles 
eafiward. 

This  hill  is  of  a  long  figure,  ex* 
ceeding  fleep  on  both  fides  ;  but 
the  ridge  falls  on  both  ends  with 
an  eafy  Hope. 

The  area  within  the  walls  is 
about  a  hundred  and  twenty  paces 


long,  and  about  forty  broad.  But 
as  they  could  not,  it  feems,  con¬ 
veniently  take  in  the  whole  length 
of  the  ground  that  was  moderately 
level,  there  have  been  very  high, 
and  apparently  very  firong  works 
at  each  end,  without  the  furroun- 
ing  wall. 

At  the  defire  of  the  honourable 
board  of  annexed  efiates,  I  made  a 
feCtion  quite  through  the  ruins  of 
the  vitrified  fort  here,  beginning 
without  all  the  ruins,  and  cutting 
to  the  rock  all  the  way,  not  only 
through  the  ruins,  but  alfo  through 
the  inclofed  area,  in  order  to  ob- 
ferve  every  thing  that  appeared, 
both  in  going  through  the  ruins* 
and  under  the  green  furface  of 
the  area,  within  the  ruins  of  the 
walls. 

1  began  the  cut  at  Knockfarril, 
not  exadtly  in  the  middle,  but  a 
little  nearer  the  eafi  end,  to  be 
quite  clear  of  two  hollow  places, 
which,  upon  examination,  I  found 
to  have  been  wells.  Thefe  wells 
I  have  invariably  found  in  all  the 
forts. 

I  began  to  dig  here,  quite  on  the 
outfide  of  all  the  ruins.  At  firH 
we  met  with  nothing  in  digging, 
but  rich  black  mold,  mixed  with 
large  Hones,  and  fragments  of  the 

vitrified  ruins. 

^ _ 

This  continued  the  fame  for 
feveral  yards,  only  that  the  Hones 
and  fragments  increafed  more  and 
more  as  we  advanced  ,  and  when 
we  came  near  the  ruins  of  the 
wall,  we  met  with  little  befides 
Hones,  and  fragments  of  the  vitri¬ 
fied  matter. 

When  we  had  advanced  to  the 
ruins  of  the  wall,  on  the  fouth 
fide,  we  found  it  difficult  to  ge( 
through  ;  for,  though  it  is  evident 
the  wall  has  fallen  down,  and 

L  2  broke 


148  ANNUAL  RE 

broke  to  pieces  in  the  fall,  yet 
many  of  the  fragments  are  fo  large 
and  ftrong,  and  the  vitrification  fo 
entire,  that  it  was  not  eafy  break¬ 
ing  through.  However,  with  the 
help  of  the  crows,  and  plenty  of 
hands,  we  tumbled  over  fome  very 
large  fragments ;  which  at  firft  be¬ 
gan  to  go  whole  down  the  hill,  but 
when  they  gained  the  velocity  of  mo¬ 
tion,  they  dallied  to  pieces  againll 
the  rocks,  and  ended  in  a  furious 
Ihower  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill. 

I  was  obliged  to  get  under  one 
large  fragment,  which  I  left  as  a 
bridge  over  the  fouth  end  of  the 
cut. 

On  the  north  fide,  we  began  on 
the  outfide  of  the  wall,  imme¬ 
diately  in  the  rubbilh  of  the  vitri¬ 
fied  ruins,  and  foon  came  to  pret¬ 
ty  high  ruins  of  a  wall,  more  hard 
and  ftrong  than  any  thing  of  the 
kind  I  had  feen  before;  which  I 
did  not  expedt  here,  as  this  wall 
was  a  1  mo  ft  wholly  grown  over  with 
heath  and  grafs.  I  found  it  ne- 
celfary  to  undermine  the  ruins  of 
this  north  wall,  to  let  its  own 
weight  contribute  its  help  to  bring 
it  down. 

The  height  of  the  ruins  of  this 
north  wall,  is  now  no  lefs  than 
twelve  feet  perpendicular,  though 
certainly  all  fallen  down;  what 
then  mult  it  have  been  when  Hand¬ 
ing  ?  It  appears  quite  evident,  that 
the  whole  of  the  vitrified  wall, 
furrounding  the  inelofed  area,  has 
fallen  fiat  outward., 

It  appears  to  me  from  the  exa¬ 
mination  I  was  enabled  to  make, 

I 

that  the  wall  on  Knockfarril,  has 
been  run  together  by  vitrification, 
much  more  perfectly  than  moil  of 
the  kind  I  have  feen. 

in  fome  others,  the  ftones  feern 
ft>  have  been  partly  run  down. 


GISTER,  1778. 

and  partly  enveloped  by  the  vltrid 
matter  ;  but  here  the  whole  wall 
has  been  run  together  into  one  fo- 
lid  mafs  :  at  the  fame  time,  in  any 
fe&ion  of  this  wail,  or  of  the  frag¬ 
ments  of  it,  we  fee  many  pieces 
and  ends  of  ftones,  not  quite  melt¬ 
ed  down  ;  but  thefe  are  fo  much 
one  mafs  with  the  vitrified  matter, 
that  it  is  evident  the  whole  wall 
was  melted  down,  and  run  toge¬ 
ther  in  the  building  of  it,  and  that 
it  was  not  any  matter  they  poured 
among  the  ftones  in  the  wall, 
for  I  could  never  fee  in  this  wall, 
which  I  examined  very  minutely, 
fo  much  as  one  ftone,  nor  a  piece 
of  a  ftone,  that  was  not  affected 
by  the  fire,  and  lefs  or  more  of  it 
vitrified. 

Immediately  on  the  infide  of  this 
furrounding  wall,  there  are  ruins 
of  vitrified  buildings,  which  feem 
to  have  been  worfe  done,  and  fa 
are  fallen  into  more  decay  than 
the  outer  walls.  I  imagine  thefe 
inner  works  have  been  a  range  of 
habitations ,  reared  againft ,  or 
under  the  fhade  of  the  outer 
wall. 

Thefe  inner  buildings  appear  to 
have  gone  quite  round  ;  but  they 
have  been  much  higher  and  larger 
on  the  north  fide,  facing  the  fun, 
than  on  the  fouth  fide,  facing  the 
north* 

1  faw  nothing  in  the  middle  of 
the  area,  but  rich  black  mold, 
mixt  with  ftones,  bits  of  bo-nes, 
which  the  Highland  workmen  faid 
were  deers  bones,  and  fmall  frag¬ 
ments  of  the  vitrified  ruins,  which 
evidently  have  been  fcattered  in 
the  courl'e  of  time,  and  mixed  with 
the  foil. 

I  opened  both  the  holes  which 
looked  like  the  ruins  of  wells,  and 
foon  came  to  water. 


I  alfo 


ANTI  Q^U  I  T  I  E  S. 


t  alfo  made  a  cut  into  a  very 
high  heap  of  ruins,  without  the 
furrounding  wall,  at  the  welt  end 
of  this  place  of  ftrength.  This 
feems  to  have  been  an  outwork  of 
great  ftrength  and  confequence,  as 
the  ruins  are  very  high,  and  very 
vv.de  ;  but  ot  what  fort  it  has  been, 
is  hard  to  determine,  as  it  is  now 
an  unatftinguuhable  heap  of  rub-- 
bilh. 

I  began  low  enough  here,  that  I 
might  be.  certain  1  was  without  the 
foundation  or  all  former  buildings. 
At  firft,  I  met  with  nothing  but 
rich  black  mold,  mixt  with  large 
ilones,  and  fragments  of  the  vitri¬ 
fied  walk,  as  in  the  fedtion  of  the 
inclofed  area  ;  and  when  we  ad¬ 
vanced  into  the  ruins,  1  found  no¬ 
thing  but  a  confufed  heap  of  cal¬ 
cined  ftones,  duft  refembling  alhes, 
with  larger  and  fmaller  fragments 
of  the  vitrified  matter, 

I  only  went  half  way  through 
this  heap  of  ruins,  which  is  no  lefs 
than  twenty-three  feet  perpendi¬ 
cular,  from  the  top  of  the  heap  of 
ruins,  down  to  the  foundation  ; 
from  which  it  plainly  appears,  it 
has  been  of  great  height  when 
handing. 

I  (aid  above,  that  this  vaft  ruin 
is  only  an  unaiftinguiihable  heap 
of  rubbifh  ;  notwithftanding,  it  is 
very  evident,  it  has  been  a  vitri¬ 
fied  building,  as  there  are  in  it 
fragments  of  the  vitrified  walls, 
of  different  dinienfions,  and  in  dif¬ 
ferent  degrees  of  decay.  Some  of 
thefe  fragments  are  many  feet  every 
way,  and  io  ftrong  I  could  hardly 
get  them  broke  ;  others,  large  in¬ 
deed,  but  eafily  broken  to  pieces, 
and  a  great  deal  fallen  down  into 
rubbifh,  which  appeared  like  cal¬ 
cined  ftones  and  allies :  and  when 
we  were  advanced  into  the  middle. 


*49 

it  was  all  one  heap  of  vitrified 
ruins  from  top  to  bottom,  broken 
and  cruihed  to  pieces  by  its  own 
weight. 

At  the  out-fkirts  of  thefe  ruins, 
and  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill  below, 
there  is  a  great  quantity  of  large 
hones  of  all  fizes  and  (hapes,  which 
have  not  been  touched  by  fire  ; 
from  which  it  appears  to  me,  there 
has  been  feme  fort  of  hone  build¬ 
ings  going  round,  on  the  outficie 
of  the  vitrified  walls:  and  I  ima¬ 
gine  thefe  dry  hone  buildings  have 
been  raifed  on  the  fouth  fide  only, 
with  a  proper  fpace  between  them 
and  the  vitrified  walls,  for  the  pur- 
pofe  of  keeping  in,  and  fecuring 
their  cattle  from  their  enemies. 
One  great  reafon  why  I  think  io, 
is,  that  when  cutting  into  the  out¬ 
work  at  the  weft  end  of  Knock- 
farril,  I  faw,  under  the  ruins,  a 
ftratum  of  dung,  about  three  inches 
deep,  preffed  hard  by  the  weight 
of  the  ruins.  This  ftratum  of  dung 
continued  for  many  yards,  as  we 
advanced. 

I  have  obferved  the  remains  of 
dry  ftone  ruins  going  round  fome 
part  of  the  outfide  of  all  the  vitri¬ 
fied  forts  I  have  feen,  and  always 
at  fome  little  diftance  from  the  vi¬ 
trified  ruins  ;  and,  to  the  beft  of 
my  memory,  they  are  on  the  fouth 
fide  of  theVuins  of  the  fort,  where 
the  lituation  will  admit  of  it  :  They 
are  always  fure  to  be  on  the  flatted: 
fide  of  the  hill,  for  the  eafe  of  the 
cattle  Handing  or  lying,  and  on 
the  funny  fide,  if  poffible,  for  their 
comfort.  And  I  have  frequently 
obferved,  that  where  there  was  not 
room  enough  on  the  level  area 
above,  to  have  this  dry  ftone  in- 
clofure  without  the  furrounding 
vitrified  wall,  on  the  fummir, 
they  have  made  a  large  ditch  on 
L  3  '  that 


j5o  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


that  fide  of  the  hill  which  has  the 
eafieft  fiope ;  and  on  the  outfide  of 
thefe  ditches,  there  are  every  where 
dry  fione  ruins  ;  which  makes  it 
evident  to  me,  that  thefe  outer 
fences  have  been  to  fecure  their 
cattle.  Where  they  had  not  room 
on  the  level  above,  they  were 
obliged  to  cut  a  level  place  be¬ 
low,  as  the  cattle  could  not  Hand 
upon  the  fiope. 

The  full  name  of  this  remark¬ 
able  fortified  hill,  is  Knockfarril- 
naphian,  which  1  am  told  by  gen¬ 
tlemen  (killed  in  the  Gallic  lan¬ 
guage,  is  Fingal’s  place  on  Knock- 
farril,  this  being  the  name  of  the 
hill. 

The  tradition  of  the  common 
people  concerning  this  place,  is, 
that  it  was  the  habitation  of  giants ; 
and  that  the  chief  of  thefe  giants 
was  Ree  Phian  PvTCoul,  which,  I 
am  told,  means  King  Fingal  the 
fop  of  Coul. 

The  next  vitrified  fort  I  will 
point  out  to  you,  is  on  the  hill 
of  Craig  -  Phadrick,  immediately 
above  the  houfe  of  Muirtoun,  two 
miles  weft  of  Invernefs. 

There  is  one  thing  here,  pecu¬ 
liar  only  to  this  ruin,  which  I  have 
not  yet  feen  on  any  other  fortified 
hill ;  viz.  There  are  here  diftinfl 
ruins  of  two  vitrified  walls  quite 
round  the  inclofed  area,  and  three 
at  the  entrance  on  the  eaft  end  : 
but  it  is  common  in  other  places 
of  this  kind,  to  have  additional 
works  at  the  entry. 

The  inner  wall  here  appears  to 
have  been  very  high  and  ftrong  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  the  outer 
wall  feems  to  me,  never  to  have 
been  of  any  great  height.  It  is 
founded  on  the  bare,  folid  rock, 
about  fix  or  eight  paces  from  the 
inner  wall ;  goes  quite  round,  but 


what  remains  of  it  is  fo  low,  that 
I  cannot  think  it  was  defigned  for 
defence,  unlefs  it  was  to  fecure 
their  cattle,  which  I  imagine  it  was 
intended  for,  as  I  do  not  remember 
to  have  feen  any  dry  done  ruins 
here. 

I  faw  a  good  deal  of  this  outer 
wall,  feeming  to  me  entire,  kick¬ 
ing  to  the  firm,  bare  rock,  where 
it  was  firft  run,  not  above  four  or 
five  feet  high,  but  it  muft  have 
been  fomewhat  higher, 

I  cannot  help  looking  upon  what 
remains  entire  of  this  low  vitrified 
wall,  as  the  greateft  curiofity  of 
any  ruins  in  Europe. 

This  is  a  fpecimen  in  little  of 
the  vitrified  walls,  not  fallen  to  to¬ 
tal  ruin,  which  may  help  to  give 
an  idea  of  what  fort  of  ftruftures 
they  were,  that  have  produced 
fuch  vaft,  though  undiftinguilhable 
ruins. 

About  twelve  or  fourteen  miles 
from  Invernefs,  there  are  other  two 
of  thefe  fortified  hills,  called  Caftle- 
Finlay,  two  miles  north-eaft,  and 
Dun-Evan,  two  miles  fouth-weft 
of  the  caftle  of  Calder,  in  the  (hire 
of  Nairn. 

I  have  feen  a  fmall  vitrified 
ruin,  three  miies  from  Fort-Au- 
guftus,  which  I  think  is  called 
Tor-dun  Caftle;  and  a  much  more 
confiderable  one,  on  the  weft  fide 
of  Gleneves,  in  Lochaber,  about 
three  miles  fouth  fide  the  garri- 
fon  of  Fort-William. 

The  forts  I  have  already  enu¬ 
merated,  are  fituated  in  the  High¬ 
lands  and  North.  I  will  now  beg 
leave,  to  lead  you  at  once  as  far 
fouth  as  the  caftle  hill  of  Finaven. 
The  vitrified  ruins  at  Finaven,  are 
about  a  (hort  mile  weft  fide  the 
kirk  of  Aberlemny,  about  half  a 
mile  north  fide  the  public  road-, 

half 


ANTI  QU  I  T  I  E  S. 


half  way  between  Brechin  and 
Forfar,  in  the  lhire  of  Angus. 

The  area  within  walls  here,  is 
the  longell  1  have  yet  feen,  being 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  paces 
long,  and  thirty-fix  broad.  Be¬ 
fore  I  faw  this  place,  I  was  very 
curious  to  know  if  there  were  any 
of  thefe  extraordinary  ruins  fouth 
fide  the  Grampians.  This  one  fa- 
tisfied  me  in  that  point.  I  make 
no  doubt  of  many  more  being 
found,  if  1  had  time  to  felfcrcli  for 
them.  Now  I  am  anxious  to  know, 
if  there  be  any  of  them  on  the 
fouth  fide  the  Forth,  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  ifland.  The  following 
hints  may  affiil  thofe,  whofe  curio- 
fity  may  lead  them  to  learch  for 
thefe  antiquities. 

Many  of  the  fortified  hills  are 
about  the  height  of  Arthur’s  feat, 
near  Edinburgh  ;  fome  of  them  a 
little  higher,  and  fome  lower. 
The  vitrified  ruins  often  appear  at 
a  difiance,  crowning  the  head  of 
the  hill,  like  fome  fort  of  an  inclo- 
fure  which  one  cannot  underfiand 
the  meaning  of.  The  fortified 
hills  are  generally  very  fieep  on 
one  or  more  of  the  fides.  If  a  great 
heap  of  large  fiones  are  feen,  near 
the  head  of  fuch  a  hill,  or  going 
round  any  part  of  the  fides  of  it, 
they  fhould  examine  the  fummit 
with  great  care  and  accuracy  ;  for 
in  fome  places  the  vitrified  ruins  are 
nearly  all  grown  over  with  heath 
and  grafs,  and  often  appear,  at 
firfi  fight,  like  the  ruins  of  l'ome 
earth  or  fod  buildings,  which,  per¬ 
haps,  is  one  reafon  why  thefe  ex¬ 
traordinary  ruins  were  not  difeo- 
vered  fooner. 

With  regard  to  the  confiruflion 
of  thefe  vitrified  walls,  it  mull  be 
pblerved  in  the  firfi  place,  that. 


the  rock  of  all  the  fortified  hills  I 
have  yet  feen,  is  more  or  lefs  of 
that  coagulated  kind,  commonly 
called  the  plumpudding  rock.  The 
rock  on  the  head  of  Knockfarril, 
and  half  way  down,  is  fo  firong  a 
fpecies  of  it,  that  it  appears  like 
vafi  firata  of  water-rounded  fiones 
and  gravel,  like  the  fea  beach, 
cemented  together  with  lime,  and 
fome  iron. 

This  fort  of  ftone  is  eafily  run. 
down  with  a  firong  fire  ;  and  I 
have  obferved  in  other  places, 
where  the  rock  was  lefs  of  this 
kind,  and  had  not  much  lime  in 
the  compofition  of  the  (tone,  that 
the  vitrification  feemed  not  to  be 
fo  well  done,  as  the  ruins  in  fuch 
places  appear  like  calcined  fiones 
and  allies,  with  here  and  there  a 
fragment  flicking  together,  to  make 
me  fure  it  is  the  ruins  of  a  vitrified 
building. 

Mr.  Watt,  engineer,  whofe  de~ 
feription  of  Craig  Patrick  is  an¬ 
nexed  to  our  author’s  account,  ob~ 
ferves,  that  the  rock  of  which 
the  mountain  confifts,  is  of  a  gra¬ 
nite  fpecies, — but  not  an  uniform 
fione.  It  is-  compofed  principally 
of  round  water-worn  pieces  of  a  red 
granite,  mixed  with  pieces  of  a 
Hone  which  I  call  granulated  quartz.^ 
which  are  generally  of  a  greyiih 
colour  ;  and  alfo  with  pieces  of  the 
common  quartz.  The  whole  is  ce¬ 
mented  together,  and  the  inter- 
ftices  filled  up,  by  a  courfe  fiand  of 
the  red  granite. 

The  materials  of  which,  upon 
examination,  he  found  the  walls 
to  be  compofed,  greatly  refemble, 
he  fays,  the  cinders  or  clinkers 
produced  in  a  lirne-kiln,  being,  in 
fome  parts,  a  vitrified  fpongy  mafs, 
with  a  glofiy  iurface;  and,  in 

L  4  other 


152  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


other  places,  when  it  has  been 
broke  into  for  a  final!  depth,  you 
may  fe®  calcined,  though  unvitri¬ 
fied  matters  mixed  in  large  pieces 
among  the  fpongy  flag.  It  is  evi¬ 
dently  the  native  rock,  vitrified  : 
and  the  granite  parts  feem  to  be 
the  only  ones  which  have  come 
into  fufion,  and  have  formed  tire 
flag. 

That  a  very  ftrong  fire  would 
melt  the  hones,  is  a  fa  ft  of  w  hich  the 
rudeft  nations  might  have  frequent 
experience  ;  but  ftill  it  is  difficult 
to  conceive  how  they  could  ereft 
fuch  vail  buildings,  run,  and  cgid- 
pafted  together,  by  the  force  of 
fire. 

X  am  inclined  to  imagine  that  they 
xaifed  two  parallel  dykes  of  earth 
or  fods,  in  the  direction  or  courfe 
of  their  intended  wall  or  building; 
and  left  a  fpace  between  them, 
juft  wide  enough  for  the  wall.  I 
fuppofe  thefe  two  parallel  dykes, 
the  groove  or  mould  in  which 
they  were  to  run  the  r  wall  This 
groove  between  the  two  dykes  I 
fuppofe  they  packed  full  of  fuel, 
on  which  they  would  lay  a  proper 
quantity  of  the  materials  to  be  vi¬ 
trified,  There  is  no  doubt  but  a 
hot  fire  would  melt  down  the 
hones,  efpecially  if  they  were  of 
the  plumpudding  kind,  and  not 
too  large.  And  the  frame  of  earth 
would  keep  the  materials,  when  in 
fufion,  from  running  without  the 
breadth  of  their  intended  wall. 

This  being  the  foundation,  X 
fuppofe  they  have  added  new'  fires, 
and  more  materials,  and  raifed 
their  mould  of  earth  by  degrees, 
till  they  brought  the  whole  to  the 
intended  height,  and  then  have 
removed  the  earth  from  both  fides 
the  vitrified  wall. 


I  am  confident,  from  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  the  ruins,  \that  the 
materials  were  run  down  by  the 
fire,  in  fome  fuch  method  as  this. 
In  ail  the  feftions  of  the  larger  and 
fmaller  fragments  of  the  vitrified 
ruins  I  have  feen,  X  never  faw  the 
leal!  appearance  of  a  ftone  being 
laid  in  any  particular  way,  I  ne¬ 
ver  law  a  large  fione  in  any  frag¬ 
ment  cf  the'e  ruins  ;  nor  any 
ftone,  nor  piece  of  a  ftone,  that 
was  not  afiefted  by  the  fire,  and 
feme  part  of  it  vitrified;  and  all 
the  bits  of  ftone  that  appear  in 
thefe  fragments,  appear  ju'il  as  we 
would  fuppofe  they  would  fall 
down  in  the  fire,  when  the  mate« 
rials  were  in  a  ftate  of  fufion. 

The  ingenious  Dr.  Jofeph  Black, 
profeffor  of  chymiftry  in  the  uni- 
verfity  of  Edinburgh,  in  a  letter  to 
the  author,  thinks  it  very  proba¬ 
ble,  that  they  were  executed  in 
fome  luch  manner  as  is  here  ima¬ 
gined,  He  adds,  there  are  in 
moft  parts  of  Scotland,  different 
Kinds  of  ftone,  which  can,  with¬ 
out  much  difficulty,  be  melted  or 
fattened  by  fire,  to  fuch  a  degree, 
as  to  make  them  cohere  together. 
Such  is  the  grey  ftone,  called 
whin-llone,  which,  for  fome  time 
paft,  has  been  carried  to  London 
to  pave  the  ftreets.  Such  alfo  is 
the  granite,  or  moor~ftone,  which 
is  applied  to  the  fame  ufe,  and 
pieces-  of  which  are  plainly  vifsble 
in  fome  fac'd  mens  of  thefe  vitrified 
wails,  which  I  received  from  my 
friends.  — -  i  here  are  abo  many 
lime- nones,  which,  in  confequence 
-of  their  containing  certain  pro¬ 
portions  of  fand  and  clay,  are  very 
fufible  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt, 
that  fan! -ftone,  and  podden-ftone, 
when  they  happen  to  contain  cer¬ 
tain 


/ 


ANTI  Q_U  I  T  I  E  S. 


tain  proportions  of  iron,  mixed 
with  the  fand  and  gravel  of  which 
they  are  compofed,  muft  have  the 

fame  quality. - A  pudden-ftone 

compofed  of  pieces  of  granite,  mult 
meceffarily  have  it. 

There  is  abundance  of  one  or 
other  of  thefe  kinds  of  hone  in 
many  parts  of  Scotland  ;  and  as  the 
whole  country  was  anciently  a  fo~ 
reft,  and  the  greater  part  of  it  over¬ 
grown  with  wood,  it  is  eafy  to  un¬ 
derhand  how  thole  who  erected 
thefe  works,  got  the  materials  ne- 
ceflary  for  their  purpofes. 


Further  Remarks  on  the  fuppofed  an¬ 
cient  Poems ,  ajcribed  to  Rowlie. 

IN  a  former  volume  (19th)  we 
gave  our  readers  an  account  of 
the  difcovery  faid  to  have  been 
made  by  one  Chatterton,  of  fome 
ancient  poems  in  the  church  of 
St.  Mary  of  Radcliffe,  near  Briftol, 
and  afcribed  by  him  to  Thomas 
Rowlie,  a  monk  of  that  city.  In 
this  age  of  literary  forgeries,  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered,  that  the  fufpL 
cious  circumftances  under  which 
thefe  poems  made  their  firll:  ap¬ 
pearance,  ftiould  have  created  many 
doubts  with  regard  to  their  authen¬ 
ticity.  There  were  not,  however, 
wanting  many  perfons,  and  among!! 
thofe,  men  of  conftrierable  note  as 
antiquarians,  who  imagined  they 
faw  in  thefe  productions  indubita¬ 
ble  proofs  of  their  antiquity.  Cri¬ 
tics  of  another  clafs,  judging  from 
the  ftyle,  thoughts  and  verifica¬ 
tion  of  thofe  compofitions,  did  not 
hefitate  to  pronounce  them  fpu- 
rious.  The  opinion  of  Mr.  War- 
ton,  whofe  knowledge,  as  an  anti¬ 
quarian,  and  judgment,  as  a  man 
cf  tafte,  are  univerfally  acknow¬ 


*53 

ledged,  muft  necefiarily  be  deci- 
five. 

“lam  of  opinion,  he  fays,  (Hift. 
of  Eng.  Poet.  Vol.  2.  p.  1 53.)  that 
none  of  thefe  pieces  are  genuine. 
The  Execution  of  Sir  Charles  Baud- 
win,  is  now  allowed  to  be  modern, 
even  by  thofe  who  maintain  all  the 
other  poems  to  be  ancient.  The 
Ode  to  Ella,  and  the  Epiftle 
Lvdo-ate,  with  his  Anfwer,  were 
written  on  one  piece  of  parch¬ 
ment  ;  and,  as  pretended,  in  Row- 
lie’s  own  hand.  This  was  (hewn 
to  an  ingenious  critic  and  intelli¬ 
gent  antiquary  of  my  acquain¬ 
tance  ;  who  allures  me,  that  the 
writing  was  a  grofs  and  palpable 
forgery.  It  was  not  even  Ikilfully 
counterfeited.  The  form  of  the 
letters,  although  artfully  contrived 
to  wear  an  antiquated  appearance, 
differed  very  effentially  from  every 
one  of  our  early  alphabets.  Nor 
were  the  charafters  uniform  and 
confident :  part  of  the  fame  manu- 
fcript  exhibiting  fome  letters  fhaped 
according  to  the  prefent  round 
hand,  while  others  were  traced  in 
imitation  of  the  ancient  court  and 
text  hands.  The  parchment  was 
old  ;  and  that  it  might  look  ftill 
older,  was  ftained  on  the  outfide 
with  ochre,  which  was  eafily  rub¬ 
bed  off  with  a  linen  cloth.  Care 
had  alfo  been  evidently  taken  to 
tindlure  the  ink  with  a  yellow  caff. 
To  communicate  a  ftronger  ftamp 
of  rude  antiquity,  the  Ode  was 
written  like  profe  :  no  diftin&ion, 
or  termination,  being  made  be¬ 
tween  the  feveral  verfes.  Lyd¬ 
gate’s  Anfwer,  which  makes  a  part 
of  this  manufcript,  and  is  written 
by  the  fame  hand,  1  have  already 
proved  to  be  a  manifeft  impofition. 
This  parchment  has  ft  nee  been  un¬ 
fortunately  loft.  I  have  myfelf 
carefully  examined  the  original 

manu- 


154  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


manufcript,  as  it  is  called,  of  the 
little  piece  intitled.  Account  of 
W.  Cannynge’s  Fead,  It  is  like- 
wife  on  parchment,  and,  I  am 
forry  to  fay,  that  (the  writing  be¬ 
trays  all  the  fufpicious  fignatures 
which  were  obferved  in  that  of  the 
Ode  to  Ella.  I  have  repeatedly 
and  diligently  compared  it  with 
three  or  four  authentic  manufcripts 
of  the  time  of  Edward  the  fourth, 
to  all  which  I  have  found  it  to¬ 
tally  unlike.  Among  other  fmaller 
veftiges  of  forgery,  which  cannot 
be  fo  eafily  defcribed  and  explain¬ 
ed  here,  at  the  bottom  are  added 
in  ink  two  coats  of  arms,  contain¬ 
ing  empalements  of  Cannynge  and 
of  his  friends  or  relations,  with  fa¬ 
mily-names,  apparently  delineated 
by  the  fame  pen  which  wrote  the 
verfes.  Even  the  dyle  and  draw¬ 
ing  of  the  armorial  bearings  difco- 
ver  the  hand  of  a  modern  herald. 
This,  I  believe,  is  the  only  pre¬ 
tended  original  of  the  poetry  of 
Rowlie,  now  remaining. 

As  to  internal  arguments,  an 
unnatural  affe&ation  of  ancient 
fpelling  and  of  obfolete  words,  not 
belonging  to  the  period  affigned  to 
the  poems,  ftrikes  us  at  drft  fight. 
Of  thefe  old  words  combinations 
are  frequently  formed,  which  ne¬ 
ver  yet  exided  in  the  unpoliibed 
Fate  of  the  Englifh  language  :  and 
fometimes  the  antiquated  di&ion 
is  molt  inartificially  mifapplied,  by 
an  improper  contexture  with  the 
prefent  modes  of  fpeech.  The  at¬ 
tentive  reader  will  alfo  difcern, 
that  our  poet  fometimes  forgets  his 
affumed  character,  and  does  not 
always  adt  his  part  with  confiden¬ 
tly  :  for  the  chorus,  or  interlude, 
of  the  damfel  who  drowns  herfelf, 
which  I  have  cited  at  length  from 
the  Tragedy  of  Ella,  is  much  more 


intelligible,  and  free  from  un- 
couth  expreflions,  than  the  general 
phrafeoiogy  of  thefe  compofitions. 
In  the  Battle  of  Haftings,  faid  to 
be  tranflated  from  the  Saxon, 
Stonehenge  is  called  a  Druidical 
temple.  The  battle  of  bladings 
was  fought  in  the  year  10 66.  We 
will  grant  the  Saxon  original  to 
have  been  written  foon  afterwards  : 
about  which  time,  no  other  notion 
prevailed  concerning  this  miracu¬ 
lous  monument,  than  the  fuppod- 
tion  which  had  been  delivered 
down  by  long  and  condant  tradi¬ 
tion,  that  it  was  eredled  in  me¬ 
mory  of  Hengid’s  maffacre.  This 
was  the  edablifhed  and  uniform 
opinion  of  the  Welfh  and  Armori- 
can  bards,  who  mod  probably  re¬ 
ceived  it  from  the  Saxon  mindrels  : 
and  that  this  was  the  popular  be¬ 
lief  at  the  time  of  the  battle  of 
bladings,  appears  from  the  evi¬ 
dence  of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth, 
who  wrote  his  hidory  not  more 
than  eighty  years  after  that  me¬ 
morable  event.  And  in  this  doc¬ 
trine  Robert  of  Glouceder  and  all 
the  monkifh  chroniclers  agree. 
That  the  Druids  conftru&ed  this 
dupendous  pile  for  a  place  of  wor- 
fhip,  was  a  difcovery  defer ved  for 
the  fagacity  of  a  wifer  age,  and  the 
laborious  difcuffion  of  modern  an¬ 
tiquaries.  In  the  Epidle  to  Lyd¬ 
gate,  prefixed  to  the  Tragedy,  our 
poet  condemns  the  abfurdity  and 
impropriety  of  the  religious  dra¬ 
mas,  and  recommends  fome  great 
dorv  of  human  manners,  as  mod 
fuitable  for  theatrical  reprefenta- 
tion.  But  this  idea  is  the  relult 
of  that  tade  and  difcrimination, 
which  could  only  belong  to  a  more 
advanced  period  of  fociety. 

But,  above  all,  the  cad  of 
thought,  the  complexion  of  the 

fentiments. 


ANTI  Q^U  I  T  I  E  S. 


fentirnents,  and  the  ItruCture  of  the 
compofition,  evidently  prove  thefe 
pieces  not  ancient.  The  Ode  to 
Ella,  for  inftance,  has  exactly  the 
air  of  modern  poetry  ;  fuch,  I 
mean,  as  is  written  at  this  day, 
only  difguifed  with  antique  fpel- 
ling  and  phraleology.  That  Row. 
lie  was  an  accomplifhed  literary 
character,  a  fcholar,  an  hillorian, 
and  an  antiquarian,  if  contended 
for,  I  will  not  deny.  Nor  is  it 
impoflible  that  he  might  write 
Englilh  poetry.  But  that  he  is  the 
writer  of  the  poems  which  I  have 
here  cited,  and  which  have  been  fo 
confidently  afcribed  to  him,  I  am 
not  yet  convinced. 

On  the  whole,  I  am  inclined  to 
believe,  that  thefe  poems  were 
compofed  by  the  Ion  of  the  fchool- 
mailer  before  mentioned  ;  who  in¬ 
herited  the  inefiimable  treafures  of 
Cannynge’s  chelt  in  RadclifFe. 
church,  as  I  have  already  related 
at  large.  This  youth,  who  died 
at  eighteen,  was  a  prodigy  of  ge¬ 
nius  ;  and  would  have  proved  the 
frit  of  Englilh  poets,  had  he 
reached  a  maturer  age.  From  his 
childhood,  he  was  fond  of  reading 
and  writing  verfes  ;  and  fome  of 
his  early  compofitions,  which  he 
wrote  without  any  delign  to  de¬ 
ceive,  have  been  judged  to  be  molt 
altonifhing  productions  by  the  frit 
Critic  of  the  prefent  age.  From 
his  ftuation  and  connections,  he 
became  a  fkilful  practitioner  in 
various  kinds  of  hand  -  writing. 
Availing  himfelf  therefore  of  his 
poetical  talent,  and  his  facility  in 
the  graphic  art,  to  a  mifcellany  of 
obfcure  and  neglected  parchments, 
which  were  commodioufly  placed 
in  his  own  pofleffion,  he  was 
tempted  to  add  others  of  a  more 
interefling  nature,  and  fuch  as  he 


was  enabled  to  forge,  under  thefe 
circumltances,  without  the  fear  of 
detection.  As  to  his  knowledge  of 
the  old  Englilh  literature,  which 
is  rarely  the  ltudy  of  a  young  poet, 
a  fufticient  quantity  of  obfolete 
words  and  phrafes  were  readily  at¬ 
tainable  from  thegloffary  to  Chau¬ 
cer,  and  to  Percy’s  Ballads.  It  is 
confeffed,  that  this  youth  wrote  the 
Execution  of  Sir  Charles  Baudwin  ; 
and  he  who  could  forge  that  poem, 
might  ealily  forge  all  the  ref. 

In  the  mean  time,  we  will  al¬ 
low,  that  fome  pieces  of  poetry 
written  by  Ro.vlie  might  have  been 
preferved  in  Cannynge’s  chef: 
and  that  thefe  were  enlarged  and 
improved  by  young  Chatterton. 
But  if  this  was  the  cafe,  they  were 
fo  much  altered  as  to  become  en¬ 
tirely  new  compolitions.  The  poem 
which  bids  the  fairefl:  to  be  one  of 
thefe  originals  is  Cannynge’s  Feaft, 
But  the  parchment-manufcript  of 
this  little  poem  has  already  been 
proved  to  be  a  forgery.  A  circum- 
flance  which  is  perhaps  alone  fuf¬ 
ficient  to  make  us  fufpeCt  that  no 
originals  ever  exilied. 

It  will  be  alked,  for  what  end  or 
purpofe  did  he  contrive  fuch  an 
impofture  ?  I  anfwer,  from  lucra¬ 
tive  views  ;  or  perhaps  from  the 
pleafure  of  deceiving  the  world,  a 
motive  which,  in  many  minds, 
operates  more  powerfully  than  the 
hopes  of  gain.  He  probably  pro- 
mifed  himfelf  greater  emoluments 
from  this  indirect  mode  of  exer- 
cifing  his  abilities  :  or,  he  might 
have  facrificed  even  the  vanity  of 
appearing  in  the  character  of  an 
applauded  original  author,  to  the 
private  enjoyment  of  the  fuccefs  of 
his  invention  and  dexterity. 

I  have  obferved  above,  that  Can- 
nynge  ordered  his  iron  cheft  in 

RadclifFe- 


c6  annual  register 


Radcliffe-church  to  be  folemnly 
viiited  once  in  every  year,  and  that 
an  annual  entertainment  fhould  be 
provided  for  the  visitors.  In  the 
notices  relating  to  this  matter, 
which  fome  of  the  chief  patrons  of 
Rowlie’s  poetry  have  lately  fent  me 
from  Briftol,  it  is  affirmed,  that 
this  order  is  contained  in  Can- 
nynge’s  will :  and  that  he  fpecihes 
therein,  that  not  only  his  manu- 
fcript  evidences  abovementioned, 
but  that  the  poems  of  his  confeflbr 
Rowlie,  which  likewife  he  had  de- 
pofited  in  the  aforefaid  cheft,  were 
alfo  to  be  fubmitted  to  this  annual 
infpeition.  This  circumftance  at 
firft  ftrrngly  inclined  me  to  think 
favourably  of  the  authenticity  of 
thefe  pieces.  At  leaft  it  proved,, 
that  Rowlie  had  left  fome  perform¬ 
ances  in  verfe.  But  on  examining 
Cannynge’s  will,  no  fuch  order 
appears.  All  his  beqnefts  relating 
to  RadclifFe-church,  of  every  kind, 
are  the  following.  He  leaves  le¬ 
gacies  to  the  vicar,  and  the  three 

clerks,  of  the  faid  church:  to  the 

*  \ 

two  chantry -priefts,  or  chaplains, 
of  his  foundation  :  to  the  keeper 
of  the  pyxis  oblationurn ,  in  the 
north-door :  and  to  the  fraternity 
Com  memo  ratio  ms  mart  tr  {tin,  Aifo 

veftments  to  the  altars  of  Saint  Ca¬ 
tharine,  and  Saint  George,  He 
mentions  his  tomb  built  near  the 
altar  of  Saint  Catharine,  where  his 
late  wife  is  interred.  He  gives 
/  augmentations  to  the  endowment 
of  his  two  chantries,  at  the  altars 
of  Saint  Catharine  and  Saint 


1778. 

George,  abovementioned.  To  the 
choir,  he  leaves  two  fervice-books, 
called  Liggers ,  to  be  ufea  there,  on 
either  fide,  by  his  two  chantry- 
priefls.  He  direfts,  that  his  fu¬ 
neral  fhall  be  celebrated  in  the 
faid  church  with  a  month's  mine/. 
and  the  ufual  folemniues*. 

Thofe  who  have  been  converfant 
in  the  works  even  of  the  beft  of 
our  old  Englifh  poets,  well  know, 
that  one  of  their  leading  charafter- 
Iftics  is  inequality-  In  thefe  wri¬ 
ters,  fplendid  deferiptions,  or¬ 
namental  companions,  poetical 
images,  and  linking  thoughts, 
occur  but  rarely :  for  many  pages 
together,  they  are  tedious,  profaic, 
and  unintereifing.  On  the  con¬ 
trary,  the  poems  before  us  are 
every  where  fupported  ;  they  are, 
throughout,  poetical  and  animated. 
They  have  no  imbecilities  of  ftyle 
or  fenciment.  Our  old  Englith. 
bards  abound  in  unnatural  con¬ 
ceptions,  ilrange  imaginations,  and 
even  the  moll  ridiculous  absurdi¬ 
ties.  But  Rowlie’s  poems  prefent 
us  with  no  incongruous  combina¬ 
tions,  no  mixture  of  manners,  in- 
flitutions,  culloms,  and  chara&ers. 
They  appear  to  have  been  com- 
pofed  after  ideas  of  diferimination 
had  taken  place  ;  and  when  even 
common  writers  had  begun  to  con¬ 
ceive,  on  moft  fubjedls,  with  pre- 
cifion  and  propriety.  There  are 
indeed  in  the  Battle  of  Haftings, 
fome  great  anacronifms ;  and  prac¬ 
tices  are  mentioned  which  did  not 
exift  till  afterwards.  But  thefe  are 


*  The  fupporters  of  the  authenticity  of  the  poems  afterf,  ©n  the  other  hand, 
that  the  appointment  ol  the  vifitors,  &c.  though  not  mentioned  in  the  will,  is 
in  a  deed,  now  in  Mr.  Banet’s  hands:  and  that  mention  is  there  made  of  a 
particular  portion  of  Mr.  Cannynge’s  eftates  fet  apart  for  defraying  the  expences 
upon  that  occafion,  and  that  the  cheft  itfelf  is  moft  particularly  deferibed.  It 
is  alfo  alledged,  that  this  deed  is  written  in  Latin,  and  that  Chatterton  was  not 
known  to  have  had  any  knowledge  of  that  language, 

12 


fuch 


I 


ANTI  Q^U  I  T  I  E  S. 


fuch  inconfiftencies,  as  proceeded 
from  fraud  as  well  as  ignorance  : 
they  are  luch  as  no  old  poet,  could 
have  poflibly  fallen  into,  and  which 
only  betray  an  unfkilful  imitation 
of  ancient  manners.  The  verfes  of 
Lydgate  and  his  immediate  fuc- 
cefiors  are  often  rugged  and  unmu- 
jfical  :  but  Rowlie’s  poetry  fuilains 
one  uniform  tone  of  harmony  : 
and,  if  we  brufh  away  the  afperi- 
ties  of  the  antiquated  fpelling, 
conveys  its  cultivated  imagery  in  a 
polifhed  and  agreeable  ilrain  of 
verification.  Chatterton  feems  to 
have  thought,  that  the  diftindion 
of  old  from  modern  poetry  con  filled 
only  in  the  ufe  of  old  words.  Jn 
counterfeiting  the  coins  of  a  rude 
age,  he  did  not  forget  the  ufual 
application  of  an  artificial  rull ; 
but  this  difguife  was  not  fufficient 
to  conceal  the  elegance  of  the 
workmanfhip. 

The  Battle  of  Haftings,  juft 
mentioned,  might  be  proved  to  be 
a  palpable  forgery  for  many  other 
reafons.  It  is  faid  to  be  tranflated 
from  the  Saxon  of  Turgot.  But 
Turgot  died  in  1015,  and  the  batr 
tie  of  Hafiings  was  fought  in  1066. 
We  will,  however,  allow,  that 
Turgot  lived  in  the  reign  of  the 
Conqueror.  But,  on  that  fuppo- 
lition,  it  is  not  extraordinary,  that 
a  cotemporary  writer  fhould  men¬ 
tion  no  circumftances  of  this  adtion 
which  we  did  not  know  before,  and 
which  are  not  to  be  found  in 
IMalmfbury,  Ordericus  Vitalis,  and 
other  ancient  chroniclers  ?  Elpe- 
daily  as  Turgot’s  defcription  of 
th  is  battle  was  profeftedly  a  de¬ 
tached  and  feparate  performance, 
and  at  leaft,  on  that  account,  would 
be  minute  and  circumftantial.  An 
original  and  a  cotemporary  writer, 
defcribing  this  battle,  would  not 
lonly  have  told  us  fomething  new. 


but  would  otherwife  have  been  full 
of  particularities.  The  poet  before 
us  dwells  on  incidents  common  to 
all  battles,  and  fuch  as  were  eafily 
to  be  had  from  Pope’s  Homer.  We 
may  add,  that  this  piece  not  only 
dete&s  itfelf,  but  demonftrates  the 
fpurioufnefs  of  all  the  reft.  Chat¬ 
terton  himfeif  allowed  the  firft  part 
of  it  to  be  a  forgery  of  his  own. 
The  fecond  part,  from  what  has 
been  faid,  could  not  be  genuine. 
And  he  who  could  write  the  fecond 
part  was  able  to  write  every  line  int 
the  whole  colle&ion.  But  while  I 
am  fpeaking  of  this  poem,  I  can¬ 
not  help  expofing  the  futility  of  ant 
argument  which  has  been  brought 
as  a  decifive  evidence  of  its  origi¬ 
nality.  It  is  urged,  that  the  name* 
of  the  chiefs  who  accompanied  the 
Conqueror,  correfpond  with  the 
Roll  of  Battle- Abbey.  As  if  a  mo¬ 
dern  forger  could  not  have  feen  this 
venerable  record.  But,  unfortu¬ 
nately,  it  is  printed  in  Hollinfhead’s 
Chronicle. 

It  is  faid  that  Chatterton,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  his  youth  and  education, 
could  not  write  thefe  poems.  This 
may  be  true  ;  but  it  is  no  proof 
that  they  are  not  forged.  Who 
was  their  author,  on  the  hypothe- 
fis  that  Rowlie  was  not,  is  a  new 
and  another  queftion.  I  am,  how¬ 
ever,  of  opinion  that  it  was  Chat¬ 
terton.  For  if  we  attend  only  to 
fome  of  the  pieces  now  extant  in  a 
periodical  magazine,  which  he  pub- 
lifhed  under  his  own  fignature,  and 
which  are  confefiedly  of  his  com- 
pofition,  to  his  letters  now  remain¬ 
ing  in  manufeript,  and  to  the  tefti- 
mony  of  thofe  that  were  acquainted 
with  his  converfation,  he  will  ap¬ 
pear  to  have  been  a  fingular  in- 
ftance  of  a  prematurity  of  abili¬ 
ties  ;  to  have  acquired  a  ftore  of 
general  information  far  exceeding 

his 


158  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177s. 


his  years,  and  to  have  poffeffed 
that  comprehen fion  of  mind,  and 
activity  of  underltanding,  which 
predominated  over  his  fituations  in 
life,  and  his  opportunities  of  in* 
lfrudion.  Some  of  his  publica¬ 
tions  in  the  magazines  difcover  alfo 
his  propenfity  to  forgery,  and  more 
particularly  in  the  walk  of  anci¬ 
ent  manners,  which  feem  greatly 
to  have  ftruck  his  imagination. 
Thefe,  among  others,  are  Ethel- 
gar,  a  Saxon  poem  in  profe  ;  Ken- 
rick,  tranflated  from  the  Saxon  ; 
Cerdich,  tranflated  from  the  Saxon  ; 
Codred  Crovan,  a  poem  com- 
pofed  by  Dothnel  Syrric,  King  of 
the  I  fie  of  Man  ;  the  Hirlas,  com- 
pofed  by  Blythyn,  Prince  of  North 
Wales ;  Gothmund,  tranflated  from 
the  Saxon  ;  Anecdote  of  Chaucer, 
and  of  the  Antiquity  of  Chriftmas 
Games.  The  latter  piece,  in  which 
he  quotes  a  regifter  of  Keinfham 
nunnery,  which  was  a  priory  of 
black  canons,  and  advances  many 
imaginary  fads,  ffrongly  fhews  his 
track  of  reading,  and  his  fbndnefs 
for  antiquarian  imagery.  In  this 
monthly  colledion  he  inferted  ideal 
drawings  of  fix  atchievements  of 
Saxon  heraldry,  of  an  inedited 
coin  of  Queen  Sexburgeo,  wife  of 
King  Kinewalch,  and  of  a  Saxon 
amulet ;  with  explanations  equally 
fantaflic  and  arbitrary.  From 
Rowlie’s  pretended  parchments  he 
produced  feveral  heraldic  delinea¬ 
tions.  He  alfo  exhibited  a  draught 
by  Rowlie  of  Briftcl  caflle  in  its 
perfed  ftate,  I  very  much  doubt 
if  this  fortrefs  was  not  almoft  to¬ 
tally  ruinous  in  the  reign  of  Ed¬ 
ward  IV.  This  draught,  however, 
was  that  of  an  edifice  evidently 
fiditious.  It  was  exceedingly  in¬ 
genious  ;  but  it  was  the  reprefen- 
.tatioa  of  a  building  which  never 


exifted,  in  a  capricious  and  affeded 
flyle  of  Gothic  architedure,  redu¬ 
cible  to  no  period  or  fyftem. 

To  the  whole  that  is  here  fuo;- 
gefted  on  this  fubjed,  let  us  add 
Chatterton’s  inducements  and  qua¬ 
lifications  for  forging  thefe  poems, 
arifing  from  his  charader,  and  way 
of  living.  He  was  an  adventurer, 
a  profeffed  hireling  in  the  trade  of 
literature,  full  of  projeds  and  in¬ 
ventions,  artful,  enterprifing,  un¬ 
principled,  indigent,  and  com¬ 
pelled  to  fubfift  by  expedients. 

It  is  with  regret  that  I  find  my- 
felf  obliged  to  pronounce  Rowlie’s 
poems  to  be  fpurious.  Ancient 
remains  of  Englifh  poetry,  unex- 
pededly  difcovered  and  fortunately 
refcued  from  a  long  oblivion  are 
contemplated  with  a  degree  of 
fond  enthufiafm:  exclufive  of  any 
real  or  intrinfic  excellence,  they 
afford  thofe  pleafures  arifing  from 
the  idea  of  antiquity  which  deeply 
intereft  the  imagination.  With 
thefe  pleafures  we  are  unwilling  to 
part.  Blit  there  is  a  more  folid 
fatisfadion  refill  ting  from  the  de- 
tedion  of  artifice  and  impofture.>> 


In  Addition  to  what  we  have  inferted 
in  our  Twelfth  Volume,  for  1769, 
page  152,  relative  to  the  ancient 
Mode  of  Electing  Members  for  Par¬ 
liament ,  the  following  may  be  Jub - 
joined ;  taken  from  a  Memoran¬ 
dum  MSS,  of  J.  Harington,  Efqi 
of  Kelfton,  in  Somerfetfhire, 
dated  1646. 

A  Note  of  my  Bathe  Bu/inefs  about 
the  P arli ament. 

SATURDAY,  December  26th, 
1646,  went  to  Bathe,  and 
dined  withe  the  Maior  and  citi¬ 
zens  ;  conferred  about  my  eledion 

to 


ANTI  Q^U  I  T  I  E  S 


to  ferve  in  parliament,  as  my  fa¬ 
ther  was  helplefs  and  ill  able  to  go 
any  more  ; — went  to  the  George 
Jnn  at  night,  met  the  bailifs,  and 
defired  to  be  difmiffed  from  ferv- 
ing ;  drank  ilrong  beer  and  me. 
theglin  ;  expended  about  iijs.  went 
home  late,  but  could  not  get  ex- 
cufed,  as  they  entertained  a  good 
opinion  of  my  father. 

Monday,  Dec.  28th,  went  to 
Bathe  :  met  Sir  John  Horner  ;  we 
were  chofen  by  the  citizens  to  ferve 
for  the  city.  The  Maior  and  ci¬ 
tizens  conferred  about  parliament 
bufinefs.  The  Maior  promifed  Sir 
fohn  Horner  and  my f elf  a  horje  apiece, 
when  we  went  to  London  to  the 
parliament,  which  we  accepted  of ; 
and  we  talked  about  the  fynod  and 
ecclefiallical  difmiflions.  I  am  to 
go  again  on  Thurfday,  and  meet 
the  citizens  about  all  fuch  matters, 
and  take  advice  thereon. 

Thurfday,  31,  went  to  Bathe: 
Mr.  Alhe  preached.  Dined  at  the 
George  Inn  with  the  Maior  and 


lS9 

four  citizens ;  fpent  at  dinner  vjfh. 
in  wine- 

Laid  out  in  vi&uals  at  the  s.  d. 

George  Inn  —  —  xj  4. 

Laid  out  in  drinking  —  vij  ij 
Laid  out  in  tobacco  and 

drinking  veffels  —  iiij  4. 
Jan.  1.  My  father  gave  me  4J.  to 
bear  my  expences  at  Bathe. 

Mr.  Chapman  the  Maior,  came 
to  Keikon  and  returned  thanks,  for 
my  being  chofen  to  ferve  in  par¬ 
liament,  to  my  father,  in  name  of 
all  the  citizens.  My  father  gave 
me  good  advice,  touching  my 
fpeaking  in  parliament  as  the  city 
fhould  dirett  me.  Came  home 
late  at  night  from  Bathe,  much 
troubled  hereat  concerning  my 
proceeding  truly  for  mens  good 
report  and  mine  own  fafety. 

Note,  I  gave  the  city  meffenger 
ij  fh.  for  bearing  the  Maiors 
letter  to  me.  Laid  out,  in 
all,  3I.  vij  (h.  for  viduals, 
drink,  and  horfe-hire,  toge¬ 
ther  with  divers  gifts. 


N.  B.  The  editor  is  not  quite  certain  that  this  election  was  in  164^,  as  the 
date  is  obfcure  in  the  MS8.  but  it  was  within  a  year  or  two  of  that  time. 


) 


[  1 


/ 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS. 


f ”he  Origin  of  Knighthood  and  the 
Judicial  Combat ,  of  Kerne  aments 
and  Blazonry .  The  Sources  of 
Chivalry .  From  Stuartb  Vievj 
of  Society  in  Europe. 

WHEN  the  inhabitants  of 
Germany  Tallied  from  their 
woods,  and  made  conquers,  the 
change  of  condition  they  expe¬ 
rienced  produced  a  change  in  their 
manners.  Narrow  communities 
grew  into  exteniive  kingdoms,  and 
petty  princes,  and  temporary 
leaders,  were  exalted  into  mo¬ 
narch  s.  The  ideas,  however,  they 
had  formerly  entertained,  and  the 
cuftoms  with  which  they  had  been 
familiar,  where  Neither  forgotten 
nor  neglefted.  The  modes  of 
thought  and  of  adlion  which  had 
been  displayed  in  their  original 
feats,  advanced  with  them  into  the 
territories  of  Rome,  continued 
their  operation  and  power  in  this 
new  fituadon,  and  created  that 
uniformity  of  appearance  which 
Europe  every  where  exhibited. 
Their  influence  on  /the  forms  of 
government  and  polity  which  arofe, 
was  deciflve  and  extenfive  ;  and  it 
was  not  lefs  efficacious  and  power¬ 
ful  on  thofe  inferior  circumftances 
which  join  to  comftitute  the  fyftem 
of  manners,  and  to  produce  the 
complexion  and  features  that  dif- 
tinguifh  ages  and  nations. 


The  inclination  for  war  enter¬ 
tained  by  the  Germanic  ftates,  the 
reipe£t  and  importance  in  which, 
they  held  their  women,  and  the 
fentiments  they  had  conceived  of 
religion,  did  not  forfake  them  when 
they  had  conquered.  To  excel  in 
war  was  kill  their  ruling  ambition, 
and  ufages  were  ftill  connected  with, 
arms.  To  the  fex  they  ftill  looked 
with  affedtion  and  courtefy.  And 
their  theology  was  even  to  operate 
in  its  fpirit,  after  its  forms  were 
decayed,  and  after  chriftianity  was 
eftablifhed.  Arms,  gallantry,  and 
devotion,  were  to  ad  with  un¬ 
common  force  ;  and,  to  the  forefta 
of  Germany,  we  muft  trace  thofe 
romantic  indications,  which  filled 
Europe  with  renown,  and  with 
fpiendour  ;  which,  mingling  reli¬ 
gion  with  war,  and  piety  with 
love,  raifed  up  fo  many  warriours 
to  contend  for  the  palm  of  valour 
and  the  prize  of  beauty. 

The  paflion  for  arms  among  the 
Germanic  ftates  was  carried  to  ex¬ 
tremity.  It  was  amidft  feenes  of 
death  and  peril  that  the  young  were 
educated :  it  was  by  valour  and 
feats  of  prowefs  that  the  ambitious 
fignalized  their  manhood.  All  the 
honours  they  knew  were  allotted  to 
the  brave.  The  fword  opened  the 
path  to  glory.  It  was  in  the  field 
that  the  ingenuous  and  the  noble 
flattered  moil  their  pride,  and 

acquired 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  161 


acquired  an  afcendancy.  The 
firength  of  their  bodies,  and  the 
vigour  of  their  counfels,  furround- 
ed  them  with  warriours,  and  lilted 
them  to  command. 

But,  among  thefe  nations,  when 
the  individual  felt  the  call  of  va¬ 
lour,  and  wifhed  to  try  his  ftrength 
againfi  an  enemy,  he  could  not  of 
his  own  authority  take  the  lance 
and  the  javelin.  The  admiffion  of 
their  youth  to  the  privilege  of  bear¬ 
ing  arms,  was  a  matter  of  too 
much  importance  to  be  left  to 
chance  or  their  own  choice.  A 
form  was  invented  by  which  they 
were  advanced  to  that  honour. 

The  council  of  the  diltridl,  or 
of  the  canton  to  which  the  can¬ 
didate  belonged,  was  affembled. 
His  age  and  his  qualifications  were 
inquired  into  ;  and,  if  he  was 
deemed  worthy  of  being  admitted 
to  the  privileges  of  a  foldier,  a 
chieftain,  his  father,  or  one  of  his 
kindred,  adorned,,  hiiji  with  the 
fhield  and  the  lanes.  In  confe- 
quence  of  this  folemnity,  he  pre¬ 
pared  to  difiinguifh  himfelf;  his 
mind  opened  to  the  cares  of  the 
public  ;  and  the  domeftic  concerns, 
or  the  offices  of  the  family  from 
which  he  had  fprung,  were  no 
longer  the  obje&s  of  his  atten¬ 
tion. 

To  this  ceremony,  fo  fimple  and 
fo  interefting,  the  inftitucion  of 
knighthood  is  indebted  for  its  rife. 
The  adorning  the  individual  with 
arms,  continued  for  ages  to  cha- 
radterile  his  advancement  to  this 
dignity.  And  this  rite  was  per¬ 
formed  to  him  by  his  fovereign, 
his  lord,  or  fome  approved  war- 
riour.  In  conformity,  alfo,  to  tne 
manners  which  produced  this  in- 
flitution,  n  is  to  be  <*>bferved,  that 
even  the  Tons  of  a  king  prefumed 
.  Vol.  XXI. 


not  to  approach  his  perfon  before 
their  admiffion  to  its  privileges  ; 
and  the  nobility  kept  their  deicen- 
dants  at  an  equal  difiance.  It  was 
the  road,  as  of  old,  to  diftindtioa 
and  honour.  Without  the  ad¬ 
vancement  to  it,  the  mod  illufiri- 
ous  birth  gave  no  title  to  perfonal 
rank. 

Their  appetite  for  war,  and  their 
predatory  life,  taught  the  Ger¬ 
mans  to  fancy  that  the  gods  were 
on  the  fide  of  the  valiant.  Force 
appeared  to  them  to  be  juftice,  and 
weaknefs  to  be  crime.  When 
they  would  divine  the  fate  of  an 
important  war,  they  f el e died  a 
captive  of  the  nation  with  whom 
they  were  at  variance,  and  oppofed 
to  him  a  warriour  out  of  their  own 
number.  To  each  champion  they 
prefented  the  arms  of  his  country  ; 
and,  according  as  the  vidtory  fell 
to  the  one  or  the  other,  they  prog- 
nofticated  their  triumph  or  defear. 
Religion  interfered  with  arms  and 
with  valour  ;  and  the  party  who 
prevailed,  could  plead  in  his  fa¬ 
vour  the  interpofition  of  the  deity. 
When  an  individual  was  called  be¬ 
fore  the  magiftrate,  and  charged 
with  an  offence,  if  the  evidence 
was  not  clear,  he  might  challenge 
his  accufer.  The  judge  ordered 
them  to  prepare  for  battle,  made  a 
fignal  for  the  onfet,  and  gave  his 
award  for  the  vidfor. 

Nor  was  it  only  when  his  in- 
terefi  and  property  were  at  fiake, 
that  the  German  had  recourfe  to 
his  fword.  He  could  bear  no  fiain. 
on  his  perfonal  charadter.  To 
treat  him  with  indignity  or  dif- 
dain,  was  to  offend  him  mortally. 
An  affront  of  this  kind  covered 
him  with  inTfny,  if  he  forgave 
it.  The  blood  of  his  adveriary 
could  alone  wipe  it  away  ;  and 


1 62  ANNUAL  RE 

he  called  upon  him  to  vindicate  his 
charge,  or  to  periih. 

In  thefe  proceedings,  we  per¬ 
ceive  the  fource  of  the  judicial  com¬ 
bat,  which  fpread  fo  univerfally 
over  Europe,  and  which  is  not  only 
to  be  coniidered  as  a  precaution  of 
civil  polity,  but  as  an  inilitution 
of  honour. 

Thefe  nations,  fo  enamoured  of 
valour,  and  fo  devoted  to  arms, 
courted  dangers  even  in  paftkne, 
and  fported  with  blood.  They 
had  fhows  or  entertainments,  in 
which  the  points  of  the  lance  and 
the  fword  urged  the  young  and  the 
valiant  to  feats  of  a  defperate  agi¬ 
lity  and  boldnefs ;  and  in  which 
they  learned  to  confirm  the  vigour 
of  their  minds,  and  the  force  of 
their  bodies.  Perfeverance  gave 
them  expertnefs,  expertnefs  grace, 
and  the  applaufe  of  the  furround¬ 
ing  multitude  was  the  envied  re- 
compenfe  of  their  audacious  teme¬ 
rity. 

Thefe  violent  and  military  exer- 
cifes  followed  them  into  the  coun¬ 
tries  they  fubdued,  and  gave  a  be¬ 
ginning  to  the  joujls  and  tornea - 
merits ,  which  were  celebrated  with 
fo  unbounded  a  rage,  which  the 
civil  power  was  fo  often  to  forbid, 
and  the  church  fo  loudly  to  con¬ 
demn  ;  and  which,  refilling  alike 
the  force  of  religion  and  law,  were 
to  yield  only  to  the  progrefs  of  ci¬ 
vility  and  knowledge. 

Unacquainted  with  any  profef- 
lion  but  that  of  war,  difpofed  to  it 
by  habit,  and  impelled  to  it  by 
ambition,  the  German  never  parted 
with  his  arms.  They  accompanied 
him  to  the  fenate-houfe,  as  well  as 
to  the  camp,  and  he  tranfa&ed  not 
without  them  any  matter  of  pub¬ 
lic  or  of  private  concern.  They 
were  the  friends  of  his  manhood. 


G  I  S  T  E  R,  1778. 

when  he  rejoiced  in  his  firength* 
and  they  attended  him  in  his  age, 
when  he  wept  over  his  weaknefs. 
Of  thefe,  the  mofl  memorable  was 
the  Jhield .  To  leave  it  behind  him 
in  battle,  was  to  incur  an  extre¬ 
mity  of  difgrace,  which  deprived 
him  of  the  benefit  of  his  religion, 
and  of  his  rank  as  a  citizen.  It 
was  the  employment  of  his  lei* 
fure  to  make  it  confpieuous.  He 
was  fed ulous  to  diverfify  it  with 
chofen  colours  ;  and,  what  is  worthy 
of  particular  remark,  the  orna¬ 
ments  he  bellowed,  were  in  time 
to  produce  the  art  of  blazonry  and 
the  occupation  of  tne  herald. 
Thefe  chofen  colours  were  to  be 
exchanged  into  reprefentations  of 
acts  of  heroiim.  Coats  of  arms 
were  to  be  neceflary  to  diflinguifii 
from  each  other,  warriours  who 
were  cafed  compleatly  from  head  to 
foot.  Chriftianity  introduced  the 
fign  of  the  crofs  ;  wifdom  and  folly 
were  to  multiply  devices  ;  and  fpe- 
culative  and  political  men,  to  flat¬ 
ter  the  vanity  of  the  rich  and 
great,  were  to  reduce  to  regula¬ 
tion  and  fyfiem  what  had  begun 
without  rule  or  art. 

It  is  thus  I  would  account  for 
knighthood,  and  the  Angle  com¬ 
bat,  for  torneament  and  blazonry  ; 
infiitutions  which  were  to  operate 
with  an  influence  not  lefs  import¬ 
ant  than  extenfive.  And,  in  the 
fame  difiant  antiquity,  we  meet 
the  fource  of  that  gallantry  and  de¬ 
votion,  which  were  to  mount  them 
to  fo  wild  a  height. 

To  the  women,  while  he  wfas  yet 
in  his  woods,  the  German  behaved 
with  refpeft  and  obfervance.  He 
was  careful  to  deferve  their  appro¬ 
bation  ;  and  thev  kept  alive  in  his 
inind  the  fire  of  liberty,  and  the 
fenfe  of  honour.  By  example,  as 


r 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  163 


well  as  exhortation,  they  encou¬ 
raged  his  elevation  of  fentiment  and 
his  valour.  When  the  Teutones 
were  defeated  by  Marius,  their  wo¬ 
men  fent  a  deputation  to  that  com¬ 
mander,  to  require  that  their  cha- 
ftity  might  be  exempted  from  vio¬ 
lation,  and  that  they  might  not  be 
degraded  to  the  condition  of  flaves. 
He  refufed  their  requed  ;  and,  on 
approaching  their  encampment,  he 
learned,  that  they  had  firil  dabbed 
their  infants,  and  had  then  turn¬ 
ed  their  daggers  againft  them- 
felves.  To  fome  German  wo. 
men  taken  in  war,  Caracalla  hav¬ 
ing  offered  the  alternative  of  being 
fold  or  put  to  the  fword,  they  una- 
nimoufly  made  choice  of  death. 
He  ordered  them,  notwithstand¬ 
ing,  to  be  led  out  to  the  market. 
The  difgrace  was  infupporta’ble ; 
and,  in  this  extremity,  they  knew 
how  to  preferve  their  liberty, 
and  to  die.  It  was  amid  ft  this 
fiercenefs  and  independency,  that 
gallantry  and  the  point  of  honour 
grew  and  profpered.  It  was  the 
reproach  of  thefe  women,  which, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  and  the 
Danube,  filled  the  coward  with 
the  bittered  forrow,  and  fiained 
him  with  the  moft  indelible  infa. 
mv.  It  was  their  praife  which 
communicated  to  the  brave  the 
li velieft  joy  and  the  moft  lading  re¬ 
putation.  Hi ,  fays  Tacitus,  cuique 
fanEtiJJimi  teftes ,  hi  maximi  lauda¬ 
tor  es. 

Thefe  notions  did  not  perifii 
when  the  Germans  had  made  con¬ 
quers.  The  change  of  air,  and  of 
fituation,  did  not  enfeeble  this 
fpirit.  The  women  were  dill  the 
judges  of  perfonal  merit;  and,  to 
fome  didinguifhed  female,  did  the 
valorous  knight  afcribe  the  glory 
of  his  achievements.  Her  frnile 


and  approbation,  he  confidered  as 
the  moil  precious  recomperife  ;  and, 
to  obtain  them,  be  plunged  into 
dangers,  and  covered  himfelf  with 
dud  and  with  blood.  Ah  !  ji  ma 
Dame  me  <voyoit  /  exclaimed  the 
knight  when  performing  a  feat  of 
valour. 

Nor  were  arms  and  the  attach¬ 
ment  to  women  the  only  features 
of  importance  in  the  character  of 
the  German.  Religion,  which, 
in  every  age  and  in  every  nation, 
gives  .rife  to  fo  many  cudoms,  min¬ 
gled  itfelf  in  all  his  tran factions. 
He  adored  an  invifible  being,  to 
whom  he  afcribed  infinite  know¬ 
ledge,  judice,  and  power.  To 
profit  by  his  knowledge,  he  ap¬ 
plied  to  divination  ;  to  draw  ad¬ 
vantage  from  his  judice,  he  made 
appeals  to  his  judgment;  and 
to  acquire,  in  fome  degree,  his 
power,  he  had  recourfe  to  in¬ 
cantation  and  magic.  The  ele¬ 
ments  and  the  vifible  parts  of  na¬ 
ture,  he  conceived,  at  the  fame 
time,  to  be  the  refidence  of  fubor- 
dinate  divinities,  who,  though  the 
inftrucnents  only  of  the  agency  of 
the  iupreme  intelligence,  had  a 
great  Gperiority  over  men,  and 
were  entitled  to  their  attention 
and  reverence.  Every  tree  and 
every  fountain  had  its  genius;  the 
air,  the  woods,  the  water,  had 
their  (pints.  When  he  made  a 
dep,  or  looked  around  him,  he  felt 
an  impuKe  of  awe  and  of  devotion,* 
His  anxiety,  his  amazement,  his 
curiofity,  his  hope,  and  his  terror, 
were  every  moment  excited.  The 
mod  ample  fcope  was  afforded  by 
this  theology  for  the  marvellous. 
Every  thing,  common  as  well  as 
lingular,  was  imputed  to  fiiper- 
natural  agents.  Elves,  fairies, 
fprights,  magicians,  dwarfs,  in- 
M  a  chanters. 


1 64  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


chanters,  and  giants,  arofe.  But, 
while  the  lefTer  divinities  of 
thefe  nations  attracted  notice,  it 
was  to  the  fupreme  intelligence, 
that  the  moft  fincere  and  the  molt 
flattering  worfhip  was  direCled ; 
and  this  god,  amidit  the  general 
cares  which  employed  him,  found 
leifure  to  attend  more  particularly 
to  war,  and  valued  his  votary  in 
proportion  to  his  courage.  Thus 
religion  and  love  came  to  inflame, 
and  not  to  foften  the  ferocity  of 
the  German.  His  fvvord  gained  to 
him  the  affection  of  his  millrefs, 
and  conciliated  the  favour  of  his 
deity.  The  lall  was  even  fond  of 
obeying  the  call  of  the  valiant ;  he 
appeared  to  them  in  battle,  and 
fought  by  their  fide.  Devotion, 
of  confequence,  was  not  lefs  me¬ 
ritorious  than  love  or  than  va¬ 
lour.  Chriftianity  did  not  abolifh 
this  ufage.  It  defcended  to  the 
middle  ages.  And,  to  love  God 
and  the  ladies^  was  the  fir  ft  leffon 
of  chivalry. 

But,  though  arms,  gallantry, 
and  devotion,  produced  the  infti- 
iutions  of  chivalry,  and  formed  its 
manners,  it  is  not  to  be  fancied, 
that  they  operated  thefe  effects  in  a 
moment ;  and  that,  immediately 
on  the  fettlements  of  the  barbari¬ 
ans,  this  fabric  was  ere&ed.  The 
conquerors  of  Rome  continued  to 
fed  and  to  praCtife  in  its  pro¬ 
vinces,  the  inftin&s,  the  paflions, 
and  the  ufages  to  which  they  had 
been  accuilomed  in  their  original 
feats.  They  were  to  be  aCtive  and 
ilrenuous,  without  perceiving  the 
lengths  to  which  they  would  be 
carried.  They  were  to  build, 
without  knowing  it,  a  moft  mag¬ 
nificent  ftruCture.  Out  of  the  im- 
pulfe  of  their  paflions,  the  inflitu- 
tions  of  chivalry  were  gradually  to 


form  themfelves.  The  paflion  for 
arms,  the  fpirit  of  gallantry,  and 
of  devotion,  which  fo  many  writers 
pronounce  to  be  the  genuine  off- 
fpring  of  thefe  wild  affections, 
were  in  faCt  their  fource ;  and  it 
happened,  by  a  natural  confe¬ 
quence,  that,  for  a  time,  the  ce¬ 
remonies,  and  the  ufages  produced 
by  them,  encouraged  their  im¬ 
portance,  and  added  to  their 
ftrength.  The  fteps  which  marked 
their  progrefs,  ferved  to  fofter  their 
fpirit  ;  and,  to  the  manners  of 
ages,  which  we  too  often  defpife  as 
rude  and  ignoble,  not  to  political 
reflection  or  legiflative  wifdom,  is 
that  fyftem  to  be  afcribed,  which 
was  to  aCt  fo  long  and  fo  powerful¬ 
ly  in  fociety,  and  to  produce  infi¬ 
nite  advantage  and  infinite  cala¬ 
mity. 

It  is  to  thofe  only  who  apply  to 
rude  focieties  the  ideas  of  a  culti¬ 
vated  asra,  that  the  inflitutions  of 
chivalry  feem  the  production  of  an 
enlightened  policy.  They  remem¬ 
ber  not  the  inexperience  of  dark 
ages,  and  the  attachment  of  nati¬ 
ons  to  their  antient  ufages.  They 
confider  not,  that  if  an  individual, 
in  fuch  times,  were  to  arife,  of  a 
capacity  to  frame  fchemes  of  ,!e- 
giflation  and  government,  he  could 
not  reduce  them  to  execution.  He 
could  not  mould  the  conceptions 
of  dates  to  correfpond  to  his  own. 
It  is  from  no  pre-conceived  plan, 
but  from  circumftances  which 
exill  in  real  life  and  affairs,  that 
legiflators  and  politicians  acquire 
an  afcendancy  among  men.  It 
was  the  aCtual  condition  of  their 
times,  not  projeCls  fuggefted  by 
philofophy  and  fpeculation,  that 
direCled  the  conduCl  of  Lycurgus 
and  Solon 


Of 


MISCELL  ANE 

Of  Manners  and  Refinement.  The 
difolute  Conduct  of  the  W omen 
amidf  the  Decline  and  OppreJJions 
of  Fiefs.  The  general  Corruption 
which  invades  Society. 

WHILE  the  varying  fituation 
of  fiefs  and  chivalry  was  to 
produce  the  moll  important  confe- 
quences  in  poliry  and  government, 
it  was  to  be  no  lefs  powerful  in 
changing  the  general  picture  of  fo- 
ciety  ;  and  the  manners,  which 
were  to  figure  in  their  Hate  of  con- 
fufion  and  diforder.  are  a  contrail 
to  thofe  which  attended  their  ele¬ 
vation  and  greatnefs.  The  roman¬ 
tic  grandeur  and  virtue  which  grew 
out  of  the  feudal  affiociation,  in  its 
age  of  cordiality  and  happinefs, 
could  not  exift  when  that  cordiality 
and  happinefs  were  decayed.  The 
diforders  of  fiefs  had  operated  on 
chivalry  ;  and  the  deviations  of 
both  from  perfection,  affedting 
llrongly  the  commerce  of  life  and 
the  condition  of  the  female  fex, 
were  to  terminate  in  new  modes  of 
thinking,  and  new  fy Hems  of  ac¬ 
tion. 

The  difaflrous  Hate  of  fiefs,  dis¬ 
uniting  the  interelis  of  the  lord  and 
the  vaffal,  gave  rife  to  oppreflions 
and  grievances.  Thefe  produced 
a  prouenefs  to  venality  and  corrup¬ 
tion.  All  ranks  of  men,  from  the 
fovereign  to  the  Have,  feemed  at 
variance.  Rapacity  and  infolence 
were  to  cKaradlerife  the  fuperior  and 
the  mailer  ;  chicane  and  difaffec- 
tion,  the  vaffial  and  the  fervant. 

A  relaxation  of  morals,  total  and 
violent,  was  to  prevail.  Chivalry, 
lofing  its  renown,  the  purity  of  the 
knightly  virtues  was  to  be  tarnilhed. 
When  it  le  1  as  a  military  elta- 
blifhment.  Us  generous  manners 
were  not  to  remain  in  vigour.  The 


OUS  ESSAYS.  1 65 

women  were  to  lofe  their  value  and 
their  pride.  The  propenfity  to 
vice,  foftered  by  political  diforder, 
and  the  paffion  for  gallantry,  driven 
to  extremity  by  the  romantic  ad¬ 
miration  which  had  been  paid  to 
the  fex,  were  to  engender  a  vo- 
luptuoufnefs,  and  a  luxury  which, 
in  the  circle  of  human  affairs,  are 
ufually  to  dillinguifh  and  to  hallen 
the  decline  and  the  fall  of  nations. 

Manners,  too  {lately  and  pure 
for  humanity,  are  not  to  flourifh 
long.  In  the  ruined  Hate  of  fiefs 
and  chivalry,  there  prevailed  not, 
in  the  one  fex,  the  fcruptjlous  ho¬ 
nour,  the  pundilious  behaviour, 
and  the  difiant  adoration  of  beauty, 
which  had  illullrated  the  sera  of 
their  greatnefs  j  nor,  in  the  other, 
were  there  to  be  remarked,  the 
cold  and  unconquerable  chaflity, 
the  majeflic  air,  and  the  ceremo¬ 
nious  dignity  which  had  lifted  them 
above  nature.  A  gallantry,  lefs 
magnificent,  and  more  tender,  took 
place.  The  faflidioufnefs  and  de¬ 
licacies  of  former  ages  wore  away. 
The  women  ceafed  to  be  idols  of 
worfhip,  and  became  obje&s  of 
love.  In  an  unreferved  intercourfe, 
their  attraflions  were  more  alluring. 
The  times,  prone  to  corruption, 
were  not  to  re li ft  their  vivacity, 
their  graces,  their  paffion  to  pleafe. 
Love  feemed  to  become  the  foie 
bufinefs  of  life.  The  ingenious 
and  the  fentimental  found  a  lading 
interell  and  a  bewitching  occupa¬ 
tion  in  the  affidtiities,  the  anxie¬ 
ties,  and  the  tendernefs  of  in¬ 
trigue.  The  coarfe  and  intem¬ 
perate,  indulging  their  indolence 
and  appetite,  fought  the  haunts, 
and  threw  themfelves  into  the  arms 
of  proftituted  beauty. 

The  talents  which,,  of  old,  re¬ 
corded  the  deeds  of  valour,  and  the 
M  3  atchieve- 


1 66  ANNUAL  RE 

achievements  of  war,  were  now 
devoted  to  the  fair.  In  every 
country  of  Europe,  the  poet,  or 
the  Troubadour  t  was  to  confecrate 
to  them  his  homage  and  his 
fongs.  And,  to  the  fafiiions  of 
gallantry,  the  rife  of  literature 
Is  to  be  afcribed.  Men  of  genius, 
and  men  who  fancied  they  poflefled 
It,  reforted  to  the  courts  of  princes, 
and  to  the  palaces  of  the  noble ; 
and  the  praife  which  they  knew 
how  to  lavifh,  got  them  attention 
and  patronage.  To  make  verfes 
was  the  road  to  preferment.  No 
lady  was  without  her  poet.  Nor 
was  poetry  the  exercife  only  of  thofe 
who  wifiied  to  better  their  fortunes. 
While  it  was  to  give  riches  and  re- 
fpeCt  to  the  obfcure,  by  the  con¬ 
nections  it  was  to  gain  to  them,  it 
was  to  be  an  ornament  and  an  ho- 
nour  to  the  great.  Princes  and 
^arons,  as  well  as  knights  and  gen¬ 
tlemen,  found  it  the  fureft  re¬ 
commendation  to  their  miftrefles. 
They  fung  their  charms,  their  dif- 
dain,  and  their  rigours.  Even  the 
artificial  tendernefs  of  the  poet  of¬ 
ten  grew  into  reality  ;  and  the  fair 
one,  who,  at  firft,  only  liftened  to 
praife,  was  to  yield  to  paffion. 
The  adulation  paid  to  beauty,  dif- 
pofed  it  to  approve;  complaints 
led  to  pity  :  pity  to  love.  The 
enchantment  of  perpetual  flatte¬ 
ries,  of  probations  refpeCtful  and 
paffionate,  of  vows  repeated  with 
ardour,  of  fighs  ever  meant  to  al¬ 
lure,  corrupted  a  fex,  of  which  the 
fen  Abilities  are  fo  exquifite.  The 
rite  of  marriage,  formerly  fo  fanc- 
tlmonious,  was  only  courted  to 
Te  abufed.  The  pride  of  condi¬ 
tion,  more  powerful  than  modefty, 
was,  indeed,  a  check  to  the  vir¬ 
gin  ;  but  Ihe  was  to  wait  reluctant¬ 
ly  the  moment,  when  her  coy  nets 


GISTER,  177S. 

and  timidities,  Inilead  of  rebuking 
the  paflions  were  to  be  a  zeil  to 
them.  All  the  fopperies  of  fancy 
were  exhibited,  all  the  labyrinths 
of  love  were  explored.  A  licen- 
tioufnefs,  which  knew  no  reftraint 
from  principle,  w^s  rendered  more 
feducing  by  the  decorums  and  de¬ 
corations  of  a  fantaflic  gallantry. 

Religion,  which  muft  ever  mix 
in  human  affairs,  is  oftner  to  de- 
bafe  than  to1  enlighten.  It  is,  for 
the  molt  part,  a  mafs  of  fuperfii^ 
tions,  which  encourage  the  weak- 
neffes  of  mankind.  This  was  the 
cafe  with  chriftianity  in  the  dark- 
nefs  of  the  middle  times.  The  vo¬ 
taries  of  beauty  did  not  fcruple  to 
addrefs  the  Deity  to  foften  its  ob- 
ftinacy.  In  the  heat  of  intrigue 
they  invoked*  the  Trinity  and  the 
faints  for  fuccefs.  Religion  was 
employed  to  give  a  poignancy 
to  the  diforders  of  proflitution  and 
luft.  The  rich  were  to  have  houfes 
of  debauch  in  the  form  of  monafte- 
ries,  confining  of  many  cells  or 
apartments,  and  under  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  abbefles,  The  profane- 
nefs  of  gallantry  dilturbed  and  de¬ 
formed  even  the  meditations  of  the 
molt  pious.  The  devotee  was  to 
feek  a  miftrefs  in  heaven.  He  was 
to  look  up  to  the  virgin  with  the 
eyes  of  a  lover,  and  to  contem¬ 
plate  the  beauties  of  her  perfon, 
and  the  graces  of  her  carriage. 
What  is  more  extravagant,  the  fe¬ 
licities  of  futurity  Teemed  a  trifle 
unworthy  of  acceptance,  without 
the  contaCls  and  the  vanities  of  an 
irreverent  courtefy.  e  I  would 
not,5  laid  a  Troubadour ,  *  fee  in 
Paradife,  but  on  the  condition  of 
making  love  to  her  whom  I  a*? 
dore/ 

The  vices  and  example  of  the 
clergy  added  to  the  general  conta¬ 
gion, 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  167 


gion.  They  were  to  exceed  not 
only  in  fuperb  living,  and  in  the 
luxuries  of  the  table,  but  in  the 
padimes  and  the  gratifications 
of  illicit  love.  It  was  in  vain 
that  laws  were  made  to  prohibit 
them  from  entertaining,  in  their 
houfes,  ‘  any  virgins  dedicated  to 
God.’  The  arts  of  the  popes  to 
tear  them  from  their  women,  would 
fill  volumes.  No  ecclefiadic  was 
without  his  concubines.  The 
fins  of  the  faint  were  grofs  and 
comfortable.  In  contempt  of  all 
decency,  they  were  even  to  edu¬ 
cate  publicly  the  fruits  of  their 
amours.  Rampant  and  diffolute, 
they  preached  religion,  and  were  a 
difgrace  to  it  ;  virtue  and  they 
were  in  hade  to  contemn  it  ;  an¬ 
other  world  and  they  were  im- 
merfed  in  the  enjoyments  of  the 
prefen  t. 

An  univerfal  corruption  aifFufed 
itfelf.  To  be  deep  in  debauch,  and 
fuccefsful  with  the  ladies,  were  cer- 
tain  marks  of  worth.  They  were 
parts  of  the  eminence  to  which 
the  deferving  were  to  afpire.  To 
be  amorous  and  deceitful,  were  not 
lefs  meritorious  than  to  be  brave 
and  witty.  There  was  exhibited  a 
drange  picture  of  fiercenefs  and 
effeminacy,  oppreflion  and  polite- 
nefs,  impiety  and  devotion. 

The  age,  in  which  fo  many  ar¬ 
mies,  inflamed  with  zeal,  were  to 
fight  for  the  recovery  and  poffef- 
fion  of  the  holy  fepulchre,  was  re¬ 
markable  for  the  mod  criminal  de¬ 
pravity.  The  pilgrims  and  cru- 
faders  exported  the  vices  of  Eu¬ 
rope,  and  imported  thofe  of  Afia. 
Saint  Louis,  during  his  pious  and 
memorable  expedition,  could  not 
prevent  the  mod  open  licentiouf- 
nefs  and  diforder.  He  found  houfes 
of  proditution  at  the  doors  of  his 


tent.  His  character,  his  exam¬ 
ple,  and  his  precautions,  were 
redraints,  ineffectual  and  fruit- 
left. 

While  the  ladies  of  rank  were  to 
be.befieged  in  form,  to  be  purfued 
in  all  the  windings  of  affectation 
and  caprice,  and  to  oppofe  to  their 
impatient  lovers  all  the  obdacles  of 
a  delicacy  pretended  or  real,  the 
women  of  inferior  condition  were 
to  be  approached  with  familiarity. 
It  even  appears  to  have  been  com¬ 
mon  for  hufbands  to  make  a  traffic 
of  the  chadity  of  their  wives, 
though  fevere  regulations  were  en¬ 
acted  to  reprefs  this  praClice.  The 
offices  of  the  laundrefs  and  the  mil¬ 
liner,  being  yet  no  paticular  pro- 
feffions,  there  were  in  the  habita¬ 
tions,  and  the  palaces  of  the  rich, 
apartments  for  women,  who,  while 
they  performed  the  fervices  pecu¬ 
liar  to  thefe,  were  alfo  debauched  to 
impurity,  and  fubfervient  to  lud. 
JurifdiClion,  being  yet  ambula¬ 
tory,  and  kings,  making  frequent 
progreffes  through  their  dominions, 
it  was  ufual  for  proditutes  to  fol¬ 
low  the  court  ;  and  officers  were 
appointed  to  keep  them  in  fubjec- 
tion  and  order.  To  be  mar  foal  of 
the  King's  <whoresy  in  particular  pla¬ 
ces  and  didri&s,  was  an  honour  and 
a  dignity. 

To  this  degeneracy  and  profane- 
nefs,  I  am  inclined  to  trace  the  law, 
which,  in  the  declining  condition 
of  fiefs,  made  it  a  forfeiture  of  the 
edate,  for  the  vaffal  to  debauch  the 
fider,  the  daughter,  or  the  wife  of 
his  fuperior. 

In  the  greater  towns,  there  were 
women  who  lived  openly  by  prodi¬ 
tution,  exercifmg  it  as  a  prof,  ffion. 
There  were  even  whole  dreets 
which  were  inhabited  by  them.  In 
Paris  and  in  London,  the  number 
M  4  of 


1 68  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 


of  public  brothels  was  incredible. 
In  the  latter,  in  the  days  of  Ri¬ 
chard  II.  a  lord  -  mayor  imported 
flrumpets  from  Flanders,  and  kept 
ilew-houfes,  where  the  dainty  and 
the  fqueamifh  were  to  trade  in 
this  foreign  merchandize.  Bor- 
delloes  or  flews  were  permitted  and 
fanflioned  by  the  authority  of  go- 
•vermpent  in  every  country  of 
Europe.  To  twelve  of  thefe  Hen¬ 
ry  VII.  gave  his  licenfe  ;  and  figns 
painted  on  their  walls  difting mill¬ 
ed  them,  and  invited  the  pafTen- 
ger.  So  general  was  the  licen- 
tioufnefs  which  fpread  itfelf,  that 
the  proprietors  of  houfes  found  it 
necefTciry  to  let  them  out  under 
the  exprefs  condition,  that  the 
leffee  thould  keep  and  harbour  no 
common  women.  Henry  VIII. 
who  approved  not  love  in  any 
form,  but  that  of  matrimony,  fup- 
preiled  many  flew-houfes  in  South¬ 
wark,  and  ordained,  that  proili- 
lutes  fnould  nOt  receive  the  rites  of 
the  church  while  they  lived,  nor 
have  a  chriftian  burial,  when  they 
were  dead. 

* 

Such  were  the  manners  which 
were  produced  by  the  bppreflions 
and  diforders  of  fiefs  and  chivalry. 
And  thus,  notwithftanding  what 
many  writers  have  afferted,  I  arn 
entitled  to  conclude,  that  the  fpi- 
rit  of  chivalry  was  not  uniform  any 
more  than  that  of  fiefs  ;  and  that, 
at  different  periods,  its  manners 
were  oppofite  and  contradictory. 


On  the  Prevalence  of  the  Feudal  Syf 
tem  in  the  Eaji  in  early  Times' 
graces  of  it  in  Perfia  ;  in  Arabia  » 
in  Hindoitan  ;  in  Turkey  ;  in 
Tartary.  apparently  introduced 
into  Germany  and  Scandinavia, 


by  the  T artars,  before  the  Irrup» 
tion  of  the  Goths  into  the  Roman 
States.  From  Richardfonb  Pre¬ 
face  to  his  Arabic  and  Perfian 
Did  ionary. 


T1  H  E  feudal  fyflem,  which 
was  introduced  and  diffufed 
over  Europe  by  the  conquerors  of 
the  Roman  power,  produced,  in  a 
civil  light,  an  alteration  in  laws, 
government,  and  habits,  no  lefs 
important  than  the  difmember- 
ment  of  the  empire  by  their  arms. 
Our  greateft  lawyers,  hiitorians, 
and  antiquaries,  whofe  object  has 
been  lefs  to  trace  its  origin  than  to 
mark  its  influence,  have  uniformly 
attributed  this  great  foundation  of 
the  jurifprudence  of  modern  Eu¬ 
rope  to  the  military  policy  of  the 
northern  nations  ;  and  feem  in  ge¬ 
neral  rather  to  have  confidered  it 
as  a  confequence  of  their  fttuation, 
after  their  conquefts,  than  as  ex¬ 
iting  previous  to  their  irruptions. 
It  appears  not  only  to  have  formed, 
however,  their  great  fyflem  of  po¬ 
lity  before  the  grand  invafion,  but 
to  have  dourifhed  in  the  Eaft  wit^ 
much  vigour  in  very  early  times. 

In  Perfia,  Tartary,'  India,  and 
othern  eaderfi  countries,  the  whole 
detail  of  government,  from  the 
poll  ancient  accounts  down  to  the 
prefent  hour,  can  hardly  be  defined 
by  any  other  description.  We  ob- 
ierve,  in  genera],  one  Great  King, 
to  whom  a  number  of  fubordinate 

“  •  t  c  i  ■  ; 

princes  pay  homage  and  tribute  ; 
all  deviation  from  this  fyltem  Teem¬ 
ing  merely  temporary  and  acci. 
dental.  Poffefled  of  every  effen- 
tial  power  of  royalty,  the  degree 
of  dependence  of  thefe  fecondary 
kings,  we  find,  has  evef  been  pro¬ 
portioned  to  the  vigour  or  imbed!- 
lity  of  the  paramount  foverdgr.  ; 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  169 


for  where  no  folid  code  of  conftitu- 
tional  laws  prevails,  the  brilliant 
or  difgraceful  periods  in  the  hiltory 
oi  a  people  will  generally  depend 
upon  the  genius  of  one  man.  A 
great  monarch  will  give  to  the 
component  parts  the  appearance  of 
one  defpotic  whole  j  whilft  the  ap¬ 
proaches  to  difobedience  will  ever 
be  proportioned  to  the  weaknefs  of 
admimftration.  Conftantly  recur- 
ring,  however,  to  hr  ft  principles, 
every  variation  of  oriental  rule  pre¬ 
sents  only,  to  our  alternate  view, 
an  overgrown  empire,  feebly  go¬ 
verned,  crumbling  into  indepen¬ 
dent  kingdoms  ;  and  independent 
kingdoms  again  uniting,  to  form 
the  empire  of  feme  more  fortunate 
and  enterprifing  fovereign, 

A  general  view  of  the  hiftories  of 
eaftern  nations  would,  perhaps, 
fufficiently  fupport  the  above  por¬ 
tions  ;  but  1  lhall  venture  to  offer 
a  few  particular  authorities.  The 
more  ancient  fads,  it  may  be  eb- 
feived,  like  every  remote  event, 
will  not  admit  of  pofitive  proof; 
but  in  tracing  manners  or  modes 
of  government,,  abfolute  hiftorical 
or  chronological  preciiion  is  by  no 
means  requiiite.  The  adions  of 
one  prince  may  be  imputed  jo  an¬ 
other  ;  anacronifms  and  milno- 
mers  may  abound  ;  and  the  at- 
chievements  of  twenty  warriors  may 
fwell  the  renown  of  one  hero:  but 
no  writer  will  attribute  to  his  na¬ 
tion  cuftoms  and  ideas  of  govern¬ 
ment,  to  which  they  or  their  an- 
ceftors  were  ftrangers  ;  and  agamft 
which  the  opinions  of  his  fellow- 
fubjeds  rnuft  inftantly  and  loudly 
revolt.  When  uncommon  and 
great  innovations  happen  in  the 
cuftoms  of  a  country,  writers  are 
careful  to  trace  their  origin,  to  fix 
their  iiurodudion*  and  to  obferve 


their  influence.  But  when  circum- 
ftances,  however  interefting,  are 
Amply  mentioned,  without  parti¬ 
cular  obfervation  or  commentary, 
we  may  rationally  conclude,  that 
fuch  cuftoms  are  of  high  antiquity  ; 
and  no  more  deferving  of  lpecial 
animadverfton  than  the  general 
complexion,  configuration,  or  teme 
perament  of  their  countrymen. 
The  rife  and  progrefs  of  the  feudal 
fyftem  in  Europe  is  marked  :  it 
was  an  exotic  plant  ;  and  it  has, 
of  confequence,  engaged  the  at¬ 
tention  of  our  ableft  antiquaries. 
But  in  the  Eaft  it  is  indigenous, 
univerfal,  and  immemorial  :  and 
the  eaftern  hiftorians  have  never 
dreamt  of  inveftigating  its  fource, 
any  more  than  the  origin  of  regal 
government.  Both  have  long  been 
to  them  equally  familiar  ;  and  the 
firft  extenflve  monarchy  gave  pro¬ 
bably  a  beginning  to  the  firft  de¬ 
pendence  of  feudal  chiefs.  It  may 
be  thought  too,  that  examples  of 
this,  or  any  other  cuftom,  brought 
from  events,  fubfequent  to  their 
introdudion  into  Europe,  can  be 
no  corroborative  proof  of  their  fub- 
fifting  in  the  Eaft,  previous  to 
their  appearance  in  the  Weft.  But 
the  leaf!  attention  to  oriental  man¬ 
ners  will  cleariy  fhcwr,  that  the 
charaderiftic  habits  of  thole  peo¬ 
ple,  even  at  this  hour,  are,  in 
every  refped,  fimilar  to  the  moft 
remote  accounts  :  nor  have  we 
ground  to  believe,  that  (the  Mo¬ 
hammedan  religion  and  fire  arms 
excepted)  the^e  is  one  fingle  cuftom 
peculiar  to  the  Perfians,  the  Ara¬ 
bians,  or  the  Tartars,  of  the  pre« 
fent  day,  which  did  not  prevail 
amongft  their  anceftors  at  a  period 
too  remote  for  human  refearch. 
With  a  wonderful  prediledion  for 
their  own  ancient  manners,  they 

have 


,7o  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


have  a  peculiar  and  invincible  an- 
tipathy  to  thofe  of  Europe.  They 
are  fo  oppofite  to  their  genius,  to 
their  hereditary  prejudices,  and  to 
«very  idea  political  and  religious, 
that  no  in  dance  can  be  produced, 
perhaps,  of  one  fingle  cuftom  ori¬ 
ginally  European  having  etfer  been 
adopted  by  the  Afiatic  nations  : 
the  Turks  (whofe  vicinity  expofe 
them  mod  to  wedern  innovation) 
even  preferving  dill  unchanged 
that  remarkable  didin&ion  of  cha¬ 
racter  which  they  poffeffed  before 
they  eroded  the  Bofphorus  of 
Thrace.  On  this  ground,  there* 
fore,  I  give  no  anecdotes  as  un- 
quedioned  truths  :  they  are  men¬ 
tioned  by  Afiatic  hidorians ;  and  I 
offer  them  fimply  as  beliefs  in  or- 
ginal  cuftoms.  We  may  not  fub- 
feribe  to  the  apparition  of  Casfar’s 
ghod  before  the  battle  of  Philippi ; 
but  we  may  red  affured,  that  it 
would  not  have  been  recorded  by 
Plutarch,  had  it  not,  in  his  time, 
been  univerfally  believed. 

Above  800  years  before  the 
chridian  tera,  an  ufurper  called 
Zohak,  we  are  informed,  reigned 
in  Perfia.  His  government  was 
oppreffive,  and  became  at  length 
unfupportable.  The  citizens  of 
Ifpahan  flew  to  arms ;  and,  headed 
by  a  blackfmith  named  Gao,  at¬ 
tacked,  defeated,  and  killed  the 
tyrant.  Gao,  after  this  vi&ory, 
difeovering  the  retreat  of  Feridoun, 
the  heir  to  the  crown,  placed  him 
on  the  throne  ;  and  received,  in 
return,  Ifpahan,  with  its  depen¬ 
dencies,  as  a  feudal  principality. 
What  truth  may  be  in  this  remote 
event  it  is  impoffible  to  determine  ; 
but  it  is  a  generally  recorded  fad, 
that  the  blackfmith’s  apron,  faid 
to  have  been  difplayed  by  Gao, 
when  marching  againit  Zoliak,  as 


a  banner,  from  the  point  of  z 
fpear,  was  taken  by  the  Arabians 
at  the  battle  of  Cadeffia,  when 
they  conquered  Perfia,  in  the  year 
636.  It  had  been  laid  up  in  the 
treafury  of  the  Perfian  kings,  and 
was  enriched  with  jewels  to  a  pro¬ 
digious  value.  It  was  confidered 
as  the  great  llandard  and  palladium 
of  the  empire  ;  and  was  never  car¬ 
ried  to  the  field  but  on  important 
emergencies,  or  when  the  King 
marched  in  perfon.  »—  Roftarn  is  a 
hero  whofe  prowefs  is  highly  cele¬ 
brated.  He  is  equally  the  favou¬ 
rite  of  hiftory  and  romance.  He 
was  a  fuccefsful  general  under  the 
firft  kings  of  the  Kaianian  dynafty  ; 
and  received,  in  reward  for  his 
fervices,  the  provinces  of  Sejeftan 
and  Zableftan,  as  feudal  appen- 
nages  of  the  crown  of  Perfia :  on 
the  condition  of  marching  a  body 
of  forces,  as  the  exigencies  of  the 
Hate  might  require  ;  but  particu¬ 
larly  to  repulfe  the  inroads  of  the 
Tartars.  —  Babylonia,  Syria,  Af- 
fyria,  and  Media,  as  formerly  ob» 
ferved,  feem  to  have  been  merely 
feudatory  kingdoms  of  the  old 
Perfian  empire  —  Alexander  the 
Great  divided  the  eallern  provinces 
of  Perfia  among!!:  the  princes  to 
whofe  families  they  had  originally 
belonged.  On  this  occafion  they 
received  a  banner  from  the  hands 
of  the  conqueror,  paid  homage, 
and  engaged  to  maintain  a  certain 
number  of  troops,  upon  a  footing 
(fays  the  author  of  theTarikh  Mon- 
tekheb)  fomewhat  refembling  the 
military  vaflals  of  the  Ottoman  em¬ 
pire,  called  Sanjacs  and  cfimars< 
Thefe  princes  are  called  by  the 
Mohammedan  writers  MoloukuH’’ Ta- 
nvayif  (kings  of  the  nations) ;  and 
are  by  feme  confidered  as  a  parti¬ 
cular  dynalty,  between  the  Kaia-» 

#ians 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  i7r 


iiians  and  the  Afhcanians,  com¬ 
monly  called  Arfacides  by  Euro¬ 
peans.  They  11  r i 61 1  y  performed, 
it  is  added,  their  feudal  engage¬ 
ments  to  Alexander;  but  on  his 
death,  as  the  Grecian  commanders 
feized  upon  the  weftern  kingdoms, 
they  alfo  affumed  an  independency 
in  their  refpeftive  provinces.  This 
account  feems  highly  probable ;  as 
the  fucceffors  of  Alexander,  ac¬ 
cording  both  to  the  eaftern  and 
weftern  writers,  foon  loll  all  fove- 
reignty  to  the  eaftward  of  the  Ti¬ 
gris. 

The  Tobba,  or  King  of  Arabia 
Felix,  was  the  acknowledged  pa¬ 
ramount  fovereign  in  very  old 
times  of  a  number  of  tribes. — 
Moll  of  the  provinces  of  Arabia 
on  the  Perfian  gulph,  with  thofe 
Fretching  towards  Babylonia,  held 
of  the  Perfian  kings  of  the  Safta- 
nian  dynafty ;  who  often  appointed 
feudatory  princes  on  the  death  or 
mifcondudt  of  their  predeceftors. — 
The  Khalif  Almamoin  gave  Khora- 
fan,  which  he  himfelf  held  as  a 
feudal  fovereignty  under  his  father 
Haron  Arrafhid,  to  his  great  ge¬ 
neral  Thaher  ;  where  he  foon  after 
became  independent,  and  founded 
the  dynafty  of  Thaherians. — Mo- 
tamed,  the  fifteenth  Khalif  of  the 
houfe  of  Abbas,  gave,  in  the  year 
874,  the  great  province  of  Mawa- 
rannahar,  as  a  feudal  government, 
to  Naffer  ben  Ahmed  ;  which  his 
brother  and  fucceftor  Ifmael,  eigh¬ 
teen  years  afterwards,  eredled  into 
a  monarchy,  and  founded  the  dy¬ 
nafty  of  the  Samanides.— -Similar 
grants  were  made  or  extorted  from 
fucceeding  Khalifs  ;  fo  that  partly 
by  gift,  partly  by  ufurpation,  the 
Khalifat,  from  the  middle  of  the 
ninth  century,  till  its  diffolution  in 
the  year  1258,  was  in  faft  one  im- 


menfe  feudatory  empire  *  where 
every  Sultan  acknowledged  the  fu- 
periority  of  the  Khalif;  but,  like 
the  great  feudal  chiefs  in  Europe, 
paid  him  juft  that  degree  of  obe- 
dience  which  each  judged  coniift- 
ent  with  his  own  intereft. — A  fi- 
milar  fyftem  prevails  to  the  prefent 
hour  in  Hindollan  ;  through  a  re¬ 
gular  gradation  of  Subabs,  Nabobs , 
Foujdars ,  Killadars,  and  other  fub- 
ordinate  chiefs;  who  all  confider 
the  Great  Mogul  as  lord  paramount 
of  the  empire. — In  the  Ottoman 
government  there  are  many  re¬ 
markable  traces  of  the  feudal  fy¬ 
ftem  ;  efpeciallv  in  the  Khan  of  the 
Crim  Tartars,  in  the  Wavy  odes  of 
Moldavia,  Wallakhia,  and  other 
European  diftri&s  ;  in  Algiers  and 
other  Barbary  ftates ;  in  the  Sherif 
of  Mecca  ;  in  feveral  Sheiks  or 
princes  of  Syria  ;  as  well  as  in  the 
military  fiefs,  which,  under  the 
titles  of  Sanjacs ,  Zayms ,  and  9T- 
maricts,  are  bellowed  with  the  ex- 
prefs  condition  of  fupporting  bo¬ 
dies  of  men,  but  efpecially  of 
horfe,  ready  to  take  the  held  at 
the  order  of  the  Sultan. 

In  Tart  ary  we  fee  it  ftrong.  Te- 
mujin,  afterwards  diftinguilhed  by 
the  more  celebrated  name  of  Jen. 
giz  Khan,  was  the  fon  of  a  chief, 
who  had  feveral  feudatories  ;  yet 
he  himfelf  held  of  Thogrul,  the 
Khan  of  Caracum,  better  known 
by  the  name  of  Frejler  John.  Tho¬ 
grul,  though  a  prince  of  great 
power,  was  ftill  fubjeft  to  the  Em¬ 
peror  of  Katha,  the  paramount  of 
Tartary  ;  who  accordingly,  in  the 
true  feudal  iiile,  fummoned  him 
with  his  arriere  vaftals  to  aftift  in 
quelling  a  dangerous  rebellion. 
Thogrul,  attended  by  young  Te- 
mujm,  obeyed  ;  a  decifive  viblory 
was  gained  ov»r  the  infurgents ;  in 

which 


1 72  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


which  both  behaved  with  fo  much 
gaiiantry,  that  the  Emperor  cre¬ 
sted  Fhogrul  Vang  Khan ,  which  is 
a  high  royal  tide  ;  and  gave  Te- 
rnujin  a  confiderable  command  in 
bis  army.  When  Temujin,  by  his 
fuccefs  and  abilities,  had  riien  to 
a  gfe-srt  degree  of  power,  about  the 
■year  1205  a  grand  council  of  the 
Tartar  nations  alTembled.  Nine 
of  the  chief  Khans  appeared  at  the 
rendezvous,  each  attended  by  his 
v  a  dais.  They  difpiayed  nine  large 
banners  of  command.  They  placed 
jengiz  upon  an  eminence,  with  a 
piece  of  black  felt-cloth  under  his 
feet.  The  ipeaker  of  the&ffembly 
addjreffed  him  :  he  recognised  him 
as  emperor  in  the  name  of  the 
whole;  and  told  him,  if  merci¬ 
ful  and  juft,  that  God  would  prof 
per  his  government ;  if  not,  his 
per  Ton  and  memory  would  become 
black  and  defpicable  as  the  felt 
on  which  he  ftood.  A  prophet 
called  Cockza,  and  furnamed  the 
Image  of  Goal,  declared,  that  he 
had  received  a  revelation  from  hea¬ 
ven,  ordering  Temujin  to  take, 
irom  that  time,  the  name  of  Jen- 
giz,  which  fignifies  The  mofi  Great. 
Tiie  Khans  then  advanced  and  paid 
him  homage,  bending  the  knee 
pine  times  ;  the  nobles  followed  ; 
and  then  the  body  of  the  people, 
making  the  lame  number  of  genu¬ 
flections,  proclaimed  him  emperor 
with  loud  acclamations.  We  find 
fome  variation  of  ceremony  in  the 
inauguration  of  Tamerlane  in  the 
year  1369.  He  mounted  a  mag¬ 
nificent  throne  ;  he  wore  a  bril¬ 
liant  crown  :  he  girded  himfelf 
publicly  with  his  fword  :  his  feu¬ 
datory  princes  acknowledged  his 
Sovereignty  by  a  profofion  of  pre¬ 
cious  ftones  which  they  fhowered 
over  his  head  ;  whiiit  a  holy  man 


put  into  his  hands  a  drum,  and  4 
ltandard,  as  the  infignia  of  impe¬ 
rial  authority. 

Every  thing  in  the  hiftories  of 
thofb  princes  is  indeed  completely 
feudal.  Before  their  great  expe¬ 
ditions,  we  find  them  iffuing  orders 
for  the  attendance  oi  their  great 
vaffals,  with  their  contingents  of 
troops.  And  we  aifo  obferve  a 
conftitutiona!  parliament  or  meet¬ 
ing  of  eftates  :  who,  amongft  other 
privileges,  claimed  that  of  trying 
great  offenders,  Arrok  Buga,  one 
of  the  grandfons  of  Jengiz  Khan, 
having  revolted  again  ft  his  brother 
the  Emperor  Coblai  Khan,  was  at 
length  defend  :  but  Coblai  did 
not  punifh  furs  till  he  had  called 
an  affembly  of -t>e  ftates  ;  where  he 
was  tried  and  condemned  to  be  fhufc 
up  between  four  walls,  made  of 
the  tragacanfch  tree,  where  he  lived 
twelvemonths.  A  feudatory  prince 
of  Herat,  called  Pir  Ali,  beine- 
fufpedted  of  a  defign  to  revolt  foon 
after  Tamerlane’s  inauguration., 
was  cited  to  appear  before  the  ge¬ 
neral  affembly  :  he  evaded  the  fum- 
mons  till  he  had  fortified  his  ca¬ 
pital  *  upon  which  a  decree  was 
paffed  fimilar  to  the  Ban  of  the 
empire  in  Germany  ;  and  Tamer¬ 
lane  being  defired  to  reduce  him  to 
obedience,  he  was  accordingly  put 
to  death  in  confequence  of  this 
fentence.  It  is  neediefs  to  multi¬ 
ply  examples ;  hut  it  may  not  be 
improper  to  obferve,  that  thofe  ge¬ 
neral  meetings,  called  KounltaG 
bear  fo  near  a  refemblance  to  the 
diets  of  the  Gothic  nations,  that 
a  ltrong  additional  argument  may 
thence  be  drawn  to  fupport  the  by- 
pothefis  of  the  early  Tartar  efta- 
bliihments  in  Germany  and  Scan¬ 
dinavia.  Jengiz  and  Tamerlane, 
powerful  and  defpotic  as  they  were, 

held 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  173 


held  many  of  thofe  diets.  The 
Great  Khans,  though  generally 
chofen  from  the  Tons  of  the  late  l'o- 
vereign,  were  elected  by  them  ; 
and  primogeniture  was  of  little 
confequence.  Jengiz  Khan,  for  ex 
ample,  nominated  his  fecond  fur- 
viving  fon  O&ay,  as  his  fucceffor  : 
but  though  uncommon  deference 
was  paid  to  the  will  ot  a  man 
whom  the  Tartars  almolt  adored, 
the  new  emperor  was  not  acknow¬ 
ledged,  as  fuch,  till  the  meeting 
of  the  great  aflembly  two  years 
afterwards  ;  where,  upon  his  ex¬ 
prefling  fome  reluctance  to  accept 
of  the  imperial  dignity,  his  elder 
and  younger  brothers,  Jagathay 
and  Tuli,  taking  him  by  the  hands, 
inftalled  him  on  the  throne,  and 
fainted  him  Khan .  Olug  Nuvin, 
the  youngeft  of  Jengiz  Khan’s 
fons,  as  mailer  of  the  houfhold, 
prefented  him  with  a  cup  of  wine  : 
and  all  the  people  making  nine 
genuflections  to  their  fovereign, 
and  three  to  the  fun,  hailed  him 
Emperor. 

It  may  not  be  unworthy  of  re¬ 
mark,  that  the  fituation  of  Olug 
Nu<vin  is  a  curious  inflance  of  a 
Angular  cuftom,  long  prevalent  in 
Tartary,  as  well  as  among  the 
northern  nations  ;  and  even  to  be 
found  in  our  old  Saxon  tenures, 
under  the  defcription  of  Borough 
Englijh:  where  the  youngeft  fon 
fucceeds  to  his  father  in  preference 
to  his  eider  brothers.  Sir  William 
Blackftone,  after  mentioning  the 
opinions  of  Littleton  and  other 
^minent  lawyers,  in  regard  to  the 
prigin  of  this  ftrange  cuilom,  con- 
jje&ures,  with  great  judgment,  that 
it  might  be  deduced  from  the  Tar¬ 
tars.  Among  thole  people,  the 
elder  Tons  as  they  grew  to  man’s 
silate,  migrated  from  their  father 

L 


with  a  certain  portion  of  cattle ; 
and  the  youngeft  fon  only  remain¬ 
ing  at  home,  became  in  confe- 
quence  the  heir  to  his  father’s 
houie,  and  all  his  remaining  poft. 
feflions.  Jengiz  Khan  had,  agree¬ 
ably  to  this  idea,  given  to  his  four 
eldeft  Tons  great  governments  and 
great  offices  ;  but  Olug  always  at¬ 
tended  his  perfon.  During  the 
interval  of  forty  days,  therefore, 
from  the  meeting  of  the  Great  Tar¬ 
tar  Aflern  ly,  till  the  inftallation 
of  0£iay  Khan,  this  youngeft  bro¬ 
ther  feems  to  have  been  acknow¬ 
ledged  by  him  and  the  other  princes 
as  Lord  of  the  family  :  he  was  a 
kina  of  public  adminiftrator  during 
this  interregnum  ;  and  prefented 
the  Great  Khan  with  the  cup  on 
his  enthronement,  as  the  higheft: 
token  of  eaftern  hofpitality,  which 
the  mafter  of  a  family  can  Ihow  to 
a  gueft. 

In  the  above  outlines,  we  can 
obferve  fever al  ftrong  traces  of  Go« 
thic  government.  We  can  per¬ 
ceive  the  ruder  draughts  of  ftates 
general,  of  parliaments,  of  juries; 
and,  in  the  circumftances  of  the 
electors  and  the  defied,  fome 
ftriking  features  of  that  fyftem, 
which  ftill  unites  the  great  Ger¬ 
manic  body.  We  can  fee,  in  the 
bent  of  national  genius,  the  ftrong- 
eft  marks  of  wild  freedom  ;  with 
a  regular  gradation  of  military 
vaflals  :  and  although  in  their  own 
country,  from  a  general  attach¬ 
ment  to  paftoral  life,  fiefs,  or 
pofleffions  in  land,  formed  no  part 
of  Tartar  jurifprudence  or  pro¬ 
perty  ;  yet  when  they  fettled  in 
the  Wreft,  a  difference  of  fituation 
would  naturally  fuggeft  an  altera¬ 
tion  adapted  to  it.  The  more 
fteady  temper  of  the  native  Scandi¬ 
navians  and  Germans  would  mo¬ 
dify 


i74  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


dify  the  roaming  Scythian  fpirit  ; 
a  fuperior  attachment  to  a  parti¬ 
cular  (pot  would  naturally  arife. 
As  the  country  became  more  popu¬ 
lous,  ground  would  become  more 
valuable;  and  what  was  former¬ 
ly  in  common,  to  avoid  difputes, 
would  then  be  portioned  off.  A 
wifti  to  defend  this  property  from 
new  inroads  might  foon  produce  a 
more  permanent  and  folid  fyftem 
of  fubordination.  And  the  more 
irregular  ideas  of  the  Tartars,  im- 
proved  by  territorial  poffeflion,  pave 
thus,  by  degrees,  the  way  for  that 
more  refined  fyllem,  fo  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  fituation  of  fettling 
invaders  ;  which,  in  the  fifth  and 
following  centuries,  almoft  univer- 
fally  took  place  in  Europe. 


Qbfer nations  on  an  Equal  Land  'Tax, 
by  Dr.  Burn. 

IT  is  a  vulgar  miftake,  fays  our 
author,  (in  the  Hiftory  and 
Antiquities  of  Weftmoreland),  that 
the  former  of  thefe  counties  paid 
no  fubfidies  during  the  exiftence  of 
the  border  fervice,  as  fuppohng  it 
to  be  exempted  from  fuch  payment 
merely  upon  that  account  ;  for  we 
find  all  along  fuch  and  fuch  per- 
fons  [mentioned  as]  collectors  of 
the  fubfidies  in  this  county  granted 
both  by  clergy  and  laity. 

The  land-tax  fucceeded  into  the 
place  of  fubfidies  ;  being  not  fo 
properly  a  new  tax,  as  an  old  tax 
by  a  new  name. 

From  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 
downward,  certain  fuins  and  pro¬ 
portions  were  fixed  upon  the  feve- 
ral  townfhips  within  the  refpec- 
tive  counties,  according  vvhereunto 
the  taxation  hath  conitandy  been 
made. 


In  procefs  of  time  this  valuation 
may  be  fuppofed  to  have  become 
unequal,  efpeeially  fince,  by  the 
increafe  of  trade  and  manufactures 
in  fome  large  towns,  much  wealth, 
is  accumulated  within  a  fmall  com- 
pafs,  the  tax  upon  fuch  divifion 
continuing  the  fame  ;  and  hence  a 
new  valuation  hath  often  been  fu<y. 
gelled  to  render  this  tax  more  ade¬ 
quate,  which  neverthelefs  from  the 
nature  of  the  thing  muft  always  be 
fluctuating  according  to  the  in¬ 
creafe  or  diminution  of  property  in 
different  parts  of  the  kingdom.  But 
in  reality  this  notion  proceeds  up¬ 
on  a  very  narrow  and  partial  prin¬ 
ciple;  an  equal  tax,  according  to 
what  a  man  is  worth,  is  one  thing; 
and  an  equal  land-tax,  all  the  other 
taxes  being  unequal,  is  quite  an¬ 
other. 

Setting  afide  the  populous  tna- 
nufiaCturing  towns,  let  us  take  the 
county  of  Weftmoreland  in  gene¬ 
ral,  in  which  there  is  no  fuch  ma¬ 
nufacturing  town,  Kendal  only  ex¬ 
cepted  ;  and  we  {hall  find  that  this 
county,  upon  the  whole,  taking 
all  the  taxes  together,  pays  more  to 
the  government,  in  proportion  to 
the  wealth  of  the  inhabitants,  than, 
perhaps,  any  other  county  in  the 
kingdom  ;  and  that  is,  by  reafon  of 
its  comparative  populoufnefs. 

Suppofe  a  tawnfhip  (which  is  a 
common  cafe  in  Weftmoreland) 
worth  400  1.  a  year:  in  this  town- 
fhip  there  are  about  forty  meffuages, 
and  a  family  in  each  meffuage; 
and,  at  the  proportion  of  five  per- 
fons  to  a  family,  there  are  two  hun¬ 
dred  inhabitants.  Thefe,  by  their 
labour  and  what  they  con  fume,  are 
worth  to  the  public  double  and 
treble  the  value  of  the  land-tax  in 
its  higheft  eftirnation.  Thefe  forty 
msffuages,  at  3  s,  each,  pay  yearly 

61.  houfe** 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS. 


61.  houfe-duty  ;  and  fo  many  of 
them  perhaps  have  above  feven 
windows  as  will  make  up  61.  more. 
Now  let  us  advance  further  fouth, 
and  an  eftate  of  400  a  year  is  there 
frequently  in  one  hand.  There  is 
one  family,  perhaps,  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  perfons ;  one  houfe-duty  of 
3  s.  fome  few  {hillings  more  for 
windows,  and  a  tenth  part  of  the 
confumption  of  things  taxable;  as 
fait,  foap,  leather,  candles,  and 
abundance  of  other  articles.  Now 
where  is  the  equality  ?  One  man 
for  five  or  ten  pounds  a-year  pays 
as  much  houfe-duty  as  another  per- 
fon  for  400 1.  a  year.  In  Weft, 
moreland  many  perfons  (and  the 
clergy  almoft  in  general)  dwell  in 
houfes  that  pay  more  houfe  and 
window  duty  than  the  houfe  itfelf 
woald  let  for  :  and  in  other  re- 
fpe&s  the  public  is  as  much  bene¬ 
fited  by  three  or  four  families  occu¬ 
pying  10  or  20 1.  a-year  each,  as  in 
the  other  cafe  by  one  family  occu¬ 
pying  ten  times  as  much. 

It  hath  been  computed  by  poli¬ 
tical  calculators,  that  every  perfon, 
one  with  another,  is  worth  to  the 
public  4I.  a-year.  On  that  fuppo- 
iition,  the  inhabitants  in  one  cafe 
are  eftimated  at  800  1.  in  the  other 
cafe  at  80 1,  fo,  if  we  reduce  the 
fum  to  half,  or  a  quarter,  or  any 
other  fum,  it  will  always  come  out 
the  fame  that  the  one  and  the  other 
are  of  value  to  the  public  juft  in  the 
proportion  of  ten  to  one. 

In  fhort,  populoufnefs  is  the 
riches  of  a  nation,  not  only  from 
the  confumption  of  things  taxable, 
but  for  the  fupply  of  hands  to  arts, 
manufactures,  war,  and  commerce. 

A  man  who  purchafes  an  eftate 
and  lays  it  to  his  own,  making  one 
farm  of  what  was  two  before,  de¬ 
prives  the  public  of  a  proportion- 


able  (hare  of  every  tax  that  depends 
upon  the  number  of  houfes  and  in¬ 
habitants. 

A  man  that  gets  a  whole  village 
or  two  into  his  pofteflion  by  this 
means,  confifting  of  an  hundred 
antient  feudal  tenements,  evades 
ninety-nine  parts  Hn  an  hundred  of 
fuch  taxes,  and  throws  the  burden 
upon  others,  who,  by  reafon  of  the 
final Inefs  of  their  property,  are 
proportionably  lefs  able  to  bear  it; 
for  a  man  of  an  hundred  pounds 
a-year  can  better  fpare  twenty 
pounds,  than  a  man  of  ten  pounds 
a-year  can  fpare  forty  {hillings,  for 
the  one  has  eighty  pounds  left,  the 
other  only  eight  pounds. 

This  is  a  new  argument  againft: 
altering  the  eftablifhed  mode  of 
collecting  the  land-tax,  added  to 
that  of  the  danger  of  every  inno¬ 
vation,  how  fpecious  foever  the 
pretence. 


The  two  following  Letters  were  writ¬ 
ten  by  Mr .  Addifon,  in  the  Tear 
1708,  to  the  young  Earl  of  War¬ 
wick,  who  afterwards  became  his 
Son-in-  Law ,  when  that  Nobleman, 
was  very  young.  Though  the  Sub - 
je£t  is  puerile ,  yet ,  as  they  are  full 
of  that  Good-Nature  and  Humour 
for  which  Mr.  Addiion  was  fo 
eminently  difinguijhed%  we  doubt 
not  that  our  Readers  will  be  pleafed 
with  the  Perufal  of  them. 

My  dear  Lord, 

Have  employed  the  whole  neigh-  ' 

bourhood  in  looking  after  birds- 
nefts,  and  not  altogether  without 
fuccefs.  My  man  found  one  iafl 
night;  but  it  proved  a  hen’s  with 
fifteen  eggs  in  it,  covered  with  an 
old  broody  duck,  which  may  fatif- 
fy  your  Lordlhip’s  curiofity  a  little, 
i  though 


!76  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 


though  I  am  afraid  the  eggs  will 
be  of  little  ufe  to  us.  This  morn¬ 
ing  I  have  news  brought  me  of  a 
neft  that  has  abundance  of  little 
eggs,  ftreaked  with  red  and  blue 
veins,  that  by  the  defcription  they 
give  me,  mull  make  a  very  beauti¬ 
ful  figu  re  on  a  firing.  My  neigh- 
boars  are  very  much  divided  in 
their  opinions  upon  them  :  fome 
fay  they  are  a  fey-lark’s ;  others 
will  have  them  to  be  a  canary- 
bird’s;  but  I  am  much  miftaken  in 
the  colour  and  turn  of  the  eggs,  if 
they  are  not  full  of  tom-tits.  If 
your  Lordfhip  does  not  make  hade, 

I  am  afraid  they  will  be  birds  be¬ 
fore  you  fee  them  ;  for,  if  the  ac¬ 
count  they  gave  me  of  them  be  true, 
they  can’t  have  above  two  days 
more  to  reckon. 

Since  I  am  fo  near  your  Lord- 
ihip,  methinks,  after  having  pafTed 
the  day  among  more  fevere  feudies, 
you  may  often  take  a  trip  hither, 
and  relax  yourfeif  with  thefe  little 
curiofities  of  nature.  I  affure  you, 
no  lefs  a  man  than  Cicero  com¬ 
mends  the  two  great  friends  of  his 
age,  Scipio  and  Laelius,  for  enter-/ 
taining  tnemfelves  at  their  coun- 
try-houfe,  which  flood  on  the  fea- 
fhore,  with  picking  up  cockle- 
fhells,  and  looking  after  birds- 
nefts.  For  which  reafon  I  fhall 
conclude  this  learned  letter  with  a 
faying  of  the  fame  author,  in  his 
treadle  of  Friendship.  Abfint  au- 
tern  triflitia,  &  in  omni  re  feweritas  : 
habent  ilia  quidem  graAtatem ;  Jed 
amicrtia  debet  ejfe  lenior  &  remijjior > 
&  ad  omnem  fuanjit atem  f  acilit atemque 
morum  procli-vior  * .  If  your  Lord¬ 
fhip  underiiands  the  elegance  and 


fweetnefs  of  thefe  words,  you  may 
affure  yourfeif  you  are  no  ordinary 
Latinift  ;  but  if  they  have  force 
enough  to  bring  you  to  Sandy- 
End,  1  fhall  be  very  well  pleafed. 
I  am,  my  dear  Lord,  your  Lord- 
fhip’s  moft  affe&ionate. 

And  moft  obedient. 

May  20,  1708.  J.  Addison, 


My  deareft  Lord, 

f  Can’t  forbear  being  troublefome 
I  to  your  Lordfhip,  whilft  I  am 
in  your  neighbourhood.  The  bu- 
finefs  of  this  is  to  invite  you  to  a 
concert  of'  mu  lie,  which  I  have 
found  out  in  a  neighbouring  wood. 
It  begins  precifely  at  fix  in  the 
evening,  and  confiits  of  a  black¬ 
bird,  a  thruth,  a  robin-red-bieaft5 
and  a  buli-finch.  There  is  a  lark 
that,  by  way  of  overture,  lings 
and  mounts  till  (he  is  almoft  out  of 
hearing,  and  afterwards,  falling 
down  leifurely,  drops  to  the  ground, 
or  as  foon  as  fne  has  ended  her 
fong.  The  whole  is  concluded  by 
a  nightingale,  that  has  a  much, 
better  voice  than  Mrs.  Tofts,  and 
fomething  of  the  Italian  manner  in 
her  biviiions.  If  your  Lordfhip 
will  honour  me  with  your  company ; 
I  will  promife  to  entertain  you 
with  much  better  mulic,  and  more 
agreeable  feenes,  than  you  ever 
met  with  at  the  opera;  and  will 
conclude  with  a  charmine  de- 
feription  of  a  nightingale,  out  of 
our  friend  Virgil  : 


Squalls  fopulea  mcerens  Philomela  fuh 
umbra, 

Amiffos  queritur  foetus,  quos  durus  arator 


*  But  far  be  ftatelinefs  and  feverity  from  us.  There  is,  indeed,  a  gravity  in 
thefe;  but  friendfhip  ought  to  be  gentle  and  relaxed,  con  defending  to  the  tu¬ 
rn  oft  ftveetnefs  and  eafinefs  of  manners. 


Obfervans 


MISCELLANE 

Ohftr'vans  nido  implumes  detraxit ;  at  ilia 

Fiet  nociem ,  ramoque  fedetts,  mijerabile  car¬ 
men 

Integrate  mcejlis  late  loca  qujftulus  mplet . 

So,  clofe  in  poplar  /hades,  her  children 
gone, 

The  mother  nightingale  laments  alone  : 

Whofe  neft  fome  prying  churl  had  found, 
and  thence*  [cence. 

By  ftealth,  convey’d  th’  unfeather’d  inno- 

But  /he  fupplies  the  night  with  mournful 
/trains. 

And  melancholy  mufic  fills  the  plains. 

Dry  deft* 

Your  Lord/hip’s  molt  obedient, 
May  2 7,  1708.  J.  Addison. 


Account  of  the  Reception  of  King 
James  at  Cambridge,  in  the  year 
1614.  From  the  Hardwick  State 
Papers . 

Mr,  Chamberlain  to  Sir  Dudley 
Carleton  at  Turin, 

My  very  good  Lord, 

Am  newly  returned  from  Cam¬ 
bridge,  whither  I  went  iome 
two  days  after  I  wrote  you  my  lall. 
The  King  made  his  entry  there 
the  7th  of  this  prefent,  with  as 
much  folemnity  and  concourfe  of 
gallants  and  great  men,  as  the 
hard  weather  and  extreme  foul 
ways  would  permit.  The  Prince 
came  along  with  him,  but  not  the 
Queen,  by  reafon,  (as  it  is  faid) 
that  (he  was  not  invited  ;  which 
error  is  rather  imputed  to  their 
chancellor,  than  to  the  fcholars, 
that  underhand  not  hefe  courfes. 
Another  defed  was,  that  there 
were  no  .  mbaftadors,  which  no 
doubt  wa*  upon  the  fame  reafon  3 
but  the  abfence  of  women  may  be 
the  better  excufed  for  default  of 
language,  there  being  few  or  none 
Vol.  XXL 


OUS  ESSAYS.  J77 

•  r 

prefent,  but  of  the  Howards,  or 
that  alliance;  as  the  Countefs  of 
Arundel,  with  her  lifter*  the  Lady 
Elizabeth  Grey  ,  the  Countefs  of 
Suffolk,  with  her  daughters  of 
Salifbury  and  Somerfet  5  the  Lady 
Walden,  and  Henry  Howard’s 
wife;  which  were  all  that  I  re¬ 
member.  The  Lord  Trealmer  kept 
there  a  very  great  port  and  mag¬ 
nificent  table*  with  the  expence 
of  a  thcuiand  pounds  a  clay,  as 
is  faid  ;  but  that  feems  too  large 
an  allowance ;  but  fure  his  pro- 
vifions  were  very  great,  befides 
plenty  of  prefen ts  ;  and  may  be  in 
fome  fort  eftimated  by  his  propor¬ 
tion  of  wine,  whereof  he  fpenC 
twenty-fix  tun  in  five  days.  He 
lodged  and  kept  his  table  at  St, 
John’s  College  5  but  his  lady  and 
her  retinue  at  Magdalen  College, 
whereof  his  grandfather  Audley 
was  founder.  The  King-  and  Prince 
lay  at  Trinity  College,  where  the 
plays  were  repiefented  3  and  the 
hall  fo  well  ordered  for  room,  that 
above  2000  perfons  were  conve¬ 
niently  placed.  The  firft  night’s 
entertainment  vv  .s  a  comeciy,  and 
aded  by  St.  John’s  men.  the  chief 
part  confifting  of  a  counterfeit  Sir 
Edwaru  Ratcliffe*  a  fooluh  tutor 
of  phyfic  ;  which  proved  but  a  lean 
argument  ;  and  though  it  were 
larded  with  pretty  fhews  at  the  be¬ 
ginning  and  end,  and  With  fome- 
what  too  broad  fpeech  for  fuch  a 
prefence,  yet  it  was  fill  I  dry.  The 
fecond  night  was  a  comedy  of 
Clare  Hall,  with  the  help  of  two 
or  three  good  adors  from  other 
houfes,  wherein  David  Drummond 
in  a  hobby  horfe,  and  Brakin  the 
recorder  of  the  town,  undeif  the 
name  of  Ignoramus,  a  common 
lawyer,  bare  great  parts.  The 
thing  was  full  of  mirth  and  variety, 
N  with 


,78  ANNUAL  RE 

with  many  excellent  aftors  (among 
whom  the  Lord  Compton’s  fon, 
though  lead,  was  not  word),  but 
more  than  half  marred  with  ex¬ 
treme  length.  The  third  night 
was  an  Englidi  comedy,  calied 
Albumazar,  of  Trinity  College’s 
adion  and  invention ;  but  there 
was  no  great  matter  in  it,  more 
than  one  good  Clown’s  part.  The 
lad  night  was  a  Latin  padoral  of 
the  fame  houfe,  excellently  writ¬ 
ten,  and  as  well  a&ed,  which 
gave  great  contentment,  as  well 
to  the  King,  as  to  the  reft.  Now 
this  being  the  date  of  their  plays, 
their  ads  and  difputations  fell  out 
much  after  the  fame  manner;  for 
the  divinity  ad  was  performed  rea- 
fonably  well,  but  not  anfwerable 
to  the  expectation  ;  the  law  and 
phyfic  ads  dark  naught ;  but  the 
philofophy  ad  made  amends,  and 
indeed  was  very  excellent  ;  info- 
much  that  the  fame  day,  the  Bifhop 
of  Ely  fent  the  moderator,  the  an- 
fwerer,  the  varier  or  prevaricator, 
and  one  of  the  repliers,  that  were 
all  of  his  houfe,  twenty  angels  a 
piece.  Now,  for  orations  and 
confcios  ad  clerum ,  I  heard  not 
many  ;  but  thofe  I  did,  were  ex¬ 
traordinary  ;  and  the  better,  for 
that  they  werelhort.  The  univer- 
lity  orator,  Netherfole,  though  he 
be  a  proper  man,  and  think  well 
of  himfelf,  yet  he  is  taxed  for  call¬ 
ing  the  Prince  JacobijJime  Carole  ; 
and  fome  will  needs  add,  that  he 
called  him  yacobule  too  ;  which 
neither  plealed  the  King  nor  any 
body  elfe.  But  fure  the  King  was 
exceedingly  pleafed  many  times, 
both  at  the  plays  and  difputations; 
for  I  had  the  hap  to  be,  for  moft 
part,  within  hearing  ;  and  often  at 
his  meals  he  would  exprefs  as 
much.  He  vifited  all  the  colleges 


GISTER,  1778. 

fave  two  or  three,  and  commends 
them  beyond  Oxford,  yeti  am  not 
fo  partial,  but  therein  I  muft  crave 
pardon  not  to  be  of  his  opinion. 
Though  I  endured  a  great  deal  of 
penance  by  the  way  for  this  little 
pleafure,  yet  I  would  net  have 
miffed  it,  for  that  I  fee  thereby  the 
partiality  of  both  ftdes  ;  the  Cam¬ 
bridge  men  pleaftng  and  applaud¬ 
ing  themfelves  in  all,  and  the  Ox¬ 
ford  men  as  faft  condemning  and 
detracting  all  that  was  done; 
wherein  yet  I  commended  Cor¬ 
bet’s  rnodefty  whilft  he  was  there  ; 
who  being  ferioufiy  dealt  withal 
by  fome  friends  to  fay  what  he 
thought,  anfwered,  that  he  had 
left  his  malice  and  judgment  at 
home,  and  came  thither  only  to 
commend. 

Paul  Tomfon  the  gold-clipper 
hath  his  pardon,  and  not  only  fo, 
but  is  abfolved  a  feena.  et  culpa , 
whereby  he  keeps  his  livings,  and 
never  came  to  trial ;  and  I  heard 
he  had  the  face  to  appear  in  the 
town,  whilft  the  King  was  there. 

Sir  Arthur  Ingram  is,  in  a  forte 
defurranne ,  for  Sir  MarmadukeDor- 
rel  is  appointed  to  keep  the  table, 
and  difpatch  the  bufinefs  of  the 
cofferer,  and  he  only  to  retain  the 
name  till  Michaelmas,  that  the  ac- 
compts  may  be  made  up,  and  in 
the  mean  time  order  taken,  that  he 
may  be  reimburfed  of  fuch  monies 
as  he  hath  lawfully  laid  out,  or  can 
challenge  in  this  caufe. 

Old  Sir  John  Cutts  is  lately 
dead,  and  here  is  fuch  a  fpeech  of 
the  Lord  Roffe,  but  there  is  no 
great  credit  given  to  it,  becaufe  it 
comes  only  out  of  the  low7  coun¬ 
tries.  Your  nephew  Carleton  is 
arrefted  with  the  fmall-pox,  which 
hindered  his  journey  to  Cam¬ 
bridge. 


I  had 


MISCELLANE 

T  had  almoft  forgotten,  that  al- 
troll  all  the  courtiers  went  forth 
mailers  of  arts,  at  the  King’s  be¬ 
ing  there;  but  few  or  no  dodtors, 
lave  only  Younge,  which  was  done 
by  a  mandate,  being  fon  to  Sir 
Peter,  the  King’s  fchool-maller. 
The  Vice  Chancellor  and  univer- 
fity  were  exceeding  llridt  in  that 
point,  and  refufed  many  importu¬ 
nities  of  great  men,  among  whom 
was  Mr.  Secretary,  that  made  great 
means  for  Mr.  Weltfield  ;  but  it 
would  not  be  ;  neither  the  King’s 
intreaty  for  John  Dun  would  pre¬ 
vail  ;  yet  they  are  threatened  with 
a  mandate,  which,  if  it  come,  it 
is  like  they  will  obey  ;  but  they 
are  refolved  to  give  him  fuch  a 

O 

blow  withal,  that  he  were  better 
be  without  it.  Indeed  the  Bilhop 
■of  Chichelter,  Vice  Chancellor, 
hath  been  very  ItifF,  and  carried 
himfelf  very  peremptory  that  way, 
wherein  he  is  not  much  to  be 
blamed,  being:  a  matter  of  more 
confequence  than  at  firft  was  ima¬ 
gined.  He  did  this  part  every 
way,  as  well  in  moderating  the  di¬ 
vinity  a£t,  as  in  taking  great  pains 
in  all  other  things,  and  keeping  ex¬ 
ceeding  great  cheer. 

I  have  here  fent  you  the  queflions 
in  brief,  for  otherwife  they  would 
bear  too  great  bulk.  And  fo  I 
commend  you  to  the  protection  of 
the  Almighty.  From  London  the 
•l6th  of  March  1614.. 

Your  Lordlhip’s  to  command, 

John  Chamberlain. 


OUS  ESSAYS.  179 

\ 

On  Wit  and  Raillery.  From  Lord 
CheiterfieidT  Letters . 

LETTER  VIIL 

My  dear  little  Roy,  Bath. 

T  F  God  gives  you  wit,  which  I 
am  not  lure  that  I  wilh  you, 
unlefs  he  gives  you,  at  the  fame 
time,  at  lealt  an  equal  portion  of 
judgment,  to  keep  it  in  good  or¬ 
der,  wear  it  like  your  fword  in  the 
fcabbard,  and  do  not  brandilh  it 
to  the  terror  of  the  whole  com¬ 
pany.  If  you  have  real  wit,  it 
will  flow  fpontaneoufly,  and  you 
need  not  aim  at  it ;  for,  in  that 
cafe,  the  rule  of  the  gofpel  is  re. 
verfed  ;  and  it  will  prove,  feek,  and 
you  fhall  not  find.  Wit  is  a  fhin- 
ing  quality  that  every  body  ad¬ 
mires  ;  moft  people  aim  at  it,  all 
people  fear  it,  and  few  love  it, 
unlel's  in  themfelves.  A  man  mull 
have  a  good  fliare  of  wit  himfelf 
to  endure  a  great  (hare  in  another. 
When  wit  exerts  itfel-f  in  fatire,  it 
is  a  moll  malignant  diftemper ; 
wit,  it  is  true,  may  be  (hewn  in 
fatire ;  but  fatire  does  not  conlli- 
tute  wit,  as  many  imagine.  A 
man  of  wit  ought  to  find  a  thou, 
fand  better  occafions  of  View¬ 
ing  it. 

Abltaln,  therefore,  moll  care, 
fully  from  fatire,  which,  though  it 
fall  on  no  particular  perfon  in 
company,  and  momentarily,  from 
the  malignancy  of  the  human 
heart,  pleafes  all  ;  yet,  upon  re¬ 
flection,  it  frightens  all  too.  Every 
one  thinks  it  may  be  his  turn  next, 
and  will  hate  you  for  what  he  finds 
you  could  fay  of  him,  more  than 
be  obliged  to  you  for  what  you  do 
not  fay.  Fear  and  hatred  are  next- 
door  neighhours  ;  the  more  wit 

N  2 


igo  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


you  have  the  more  good-nature 
and  politenefs  you  mail  fhew  to 
induce  people  to  pardon  your  fu- 
periority  ;  for  that  is  no  eafy  mat¬ 
ter.  Learn  to  fhrink  yourfelf  to 
the  fize  of  the  company  you  are  in. 
Take  their  tone,  whatever  it  may 
be,  and  excel  in  it,  if  you  can  ; 
but  never  pretend  to  give  the  tone. 
A  fine  converfation  will  no  more 
bear  a  dictator,  than  a  free  govern¬ 
ment  will. 

The  charadler  of  a  man  of  wit 
is  a  fhining  one,  that  every  man 
would  have,  if  he  could,  though 
it  is  often  attended  with  fome  in¬ 
conveniences  ;  the  dulleft  alder¬ 
man  ever  aims  at  it  ;  cracks  his 
dull  joke,  and  thinks,  or  at  lead 
Hopes,  that  it  is  wit :  but  the  de¬ 
nomination  is  always  formidable, 
and  very  often  ridiculous.  Thefe 
titular  <wits  have  commonly  much 
lefs  wit  than  petulance  and  pre- 
fumption  :  they  are  at  bed  the 
rieurs  de  leur  quartier ,  in  which 
narrow  fphere  they  are  at  once 
feared  and  admired. 

You  will  perhaps  afk  me,  and 
judly,  how,  considering  the  delu- 
iion  of  felf-love  and  vanity,  from 
which  no  man  living  is  abfolutely 
free,  how  you  fhall  know,  whe¬ 
ther  you  have  wit  or  not  ?  To 
which  the  bed  anfwer  I  can  give 
you  is,  not  to  trud  to  the  voice  of 
your  own  judgment,  for  it  will  de¬ 
ceive  you,  nor  to  your  ears,  which 
will  always  greedily  receive  flat¬ 
tery,  if  you  are  worth  being  flat¬ 
tered  ;  but  trud  only  to  your  eyes, 
and  read  in  the  countenances  of 
good  company  their  approbation 
or  diflike  of  what  you  fay.  Ob- 
ferve  carefully  too,  whether  you 
are  fought  for,  folicited,  and  in  a 
manner  preffed  into  good  com¬ 


pany.  But  even  all  this  will  not 
abfolutely  afcertain  your  wit  ; 
therefore,  do  not,  upon  this  en¬ 
couragement,  flafli  your  wit  in 
people’s  faces  a  ricochetst  in  the 
diape  of  bon  mots ,  epigrams,  fmart 
repartees. 

Appear  to  have  rather  lefs  than 
more  wit  than  you  really  have.  A 
wife  man  will  live  at  lead  as  much 
within  his  wit  as  his  income.  Con¬ 
tent  yourfelf  with  good-fenfe  and 
reafon,  which  at  the  long-run  are 
ever  fare  to  pleafe  every  body  who 
has  either;  if  wit  comes  into  the 
bargain,  welcome  it,  but  never 
invite  it.  Bear  this  truth  always 
in  your  mind,  that  you  may  be 
admired  for  your  wit,  if  you  have 
any  ;  but  that  nothing  but  good 
fenfe  and  good  qualities  can  make 
you  be  beloved  :  they  are  fubftan- 
tial  every-day’s  wear.  Wit  is  for 
le  jour  de  gala ,  where  people  go 
chiefly  to  be  dared  at. 

LETTER  IX.  * 

My  dear  little  Boy ,  Bath . 

HERE  is  a  fpecies  of  minor 
wit,  which  is  much  ufed  and 
much  more  abufed  ;  I  mean  rail¬ 
lery.  It  is  a  mod  mifchievous  and 
dangerous  weapon,  when  in  un- 
fkilful  or  clumfy  hands  ;  and  it 
is  much  fafer  to  let  it  quite  alone 
than  to  play  with  it ;  and  yet  al- 
moft  every  body  do  play  with  it, 
though  they  fee  daily  the  quarrels 
and  heart-burnings  that  it  occa« 
lions.  In  truth,  it  implies  a  fup- 
pofed  fuperiority  in  the  railleur  to 
the  raille ,  which  no  man  likes  even 
the  fufpicion  of,  in  his  own  cafe, 
though  it  may  divert  him  in  other 
people. 


An 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS. 


An  innocent  raillerie  is  often 
inoffenfively  begun,  but  very  fel- 
dom  inoffenfi  vely  ended  ;  for  that 
depends  upon  the  raiile>  who  if  he 
cannot  defend  himfeif,  will  grow 
brutal  ;  and,  if  he  can,  very  pofiibly 
his  raiileur  baffled  becomes  fo.  It 
is  a  fort  of  trial  of  wit,  in  which  no 
man  can  bear  to  have  his  inferiority 
made  appear. 

The  charadler  of  a  raiileur  is 
more  generally  feared  and  more 
heartily  hated  than  any  one.  I 
know  that  in  the  world,  the  in- 
juilice  of  a  bad  man  is  fooner  for¬ 
given,  than  the  infults  of  a  witty 
one  ;  the  former  only  hurts  one’s 
liberty  and  property,  but  the  lat¬ 
ter  hurts  and  mortifies  that  fecret 
pride  which  no  human  bread  is 
free  from.  I  will  allow  that  there 
is  a  fort  of  raillery  which  may  not 
only  be  inoffenfive,  but  even  flat’ 
tering,  as  when,  by  a  genteel  bony, 
you  accufe  people  of  thofe  imper¬ 
fections  which  they  are  mod  no- 
toriouflv  free  from,  and  confe- 
quentlv  infinuate  that  they  poffefs 
the  contrary  virtues,  You  may 
fafel y  call  Aridides  a  knave,  or 
a  very  handfome  woman  an  ugly 
one.  Take  care,  however,  that 
neither  the  man’s  character,  nor 
the  lady’s  beauty,  be  in  the  lead 
doubtful.  But  this  fort  of  raillery 
requires  a  very  light  and  Iteady 
hand  to  adminider  it.  A  little  too 
drong,  it  may  be  miitaken  into  an 
offence  ;  and  a  little  too  fmooth,  it 
may  be  thought  a  fneer,  which  is  a 
mod  odious  thing. 

There  is  another  fort,  I  will  not 
call  it  wit,  but  merriment  and  baf- 
foonery,  which  is  mimickry.  The 
mod  fuccefsful  mimick  in  the  world 
is  always  the  mod  abfurd  fellow, 
and  an  ape  is  infinitely  his  fupe- 


1 8 1 

rior.  His  profeflion  is  to  imitate 
and  ridicule  thofe  natural  defers 
and  deformities  for  which  no  man 
is  in  the  lead  accountable,  and, 
in  the  imitation  of  vvhich,  he 
makes  himfeif,  for  the  time,  as 
difagreeable  and  Shocking  as  thofe 
he  mimicks  But  I  will  fay  no 
more  of  thofe  creatures,  who  only 
amufe  the  lowed  rabble  of  man¬ 
kind. 

There  is  another  fort  of  human, 
animals,  called  Wags,  whofe  pro- 
feflion  is  to  make  the  company 
laugh  immoderately,  and  who  al¬ 
ways  fucceed,  provided  the  com¬ 
pany  conud  of  fools;  but  who  are 
equally  difappointed  in  finding  that 
they  never  can  alter  a  mufcle  in  the 
face  of  a  man  of  fcnfe.  This  is  a 
mod  contemptible  character,  and 
never  edeemed  even  by  thofe  who 
are  filly  enough  to  be  diverted  by 
them. 

Be  content  for  yourfelf  with 
found  good-fenfe,  and  good* man- 
ners,  and  let  wit  be  thrown  into 
the  bargain,  where  it  is  proper 
and  inoffenfive.  Good-fenfe  will 
make  you  be  edeemed  ;  gcod- 
manners,  beloved  ;  wit  gives  a 
luitre  to  both.  In  whatever  com¬ 
pany  you  happen  to  be,  whatever 
pleafures  you  are  engaged  in, 
though  perhaps  not  of  a  very  lau¬ 
dable  kind,  take  care  to  prelerve 
a  great  perfonal  dignity  ;  I  do  not 
in  the  lead  mean  a  pride  of  birth 
and  rank,  that  would  be  too  filly  ; 
but  I  mean  a  dignity  of  character. 
Let  your  moral  charadtcr  of  ho- 
nedy  and  honour  be  unblemifned, 
and  even  unfufpe&ed.  I  have 
known  fome  people  dignify  even 
their  vices,  full,  by  never  boafting 
of  them  }  and,  next,  by  not  prac- 
tiling  them  in  an  illiberal  and  in- 
N  3  deceat 


i 


182  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


decent  manner.  If  they  were  ad¬ 
dicted  to  women,  they  never  de¬ 
graded  and  dirtied  themfelves  in 
the  company  of  infamous  profti- 
tutes  :  if  they  loved  drinking  too 
well,  they  did  not  praftife  that 
beaftly  vice  in  beaftly  companies ; 
but  with  thofe  whofe  good-humour 
in  fome  degree  feemed  to  excufe 
It,  though  nothing  can  juftify  it. 
When  you  fee  a  drunken  man,  as 
probably  you  will  fee  many,  ftudy 
him  with  attention,  and  afk  your- 
felf  foberly,  whether  you  would, 
upon  any  account,  be  that  beaft, 
that  difgrace  to  human  reafon. 
The  Lacedemonians  very  wifely 
made  their  Haves  drunk,  to  de¬ 
ter  their  children  from  being  fo  ; 
and  with  good  eiFedl,  for  nobody 
ever  yet  heard  of  a  Lacedemonian 
drunk, 

LETTER  X. 

My  dear  little  Boy ,  Bath, 

IF  there  is  a  lawful  and  proper 
object  of  raillery,  it  fee  ms  to  be 
a  coxcomb,  as  an  ufurper  of  the 
common  rights  of  mankind  :  but 
here  fome  precautions  are  necef- 
fary.  Some  wit,  and  great  pre- 
fumption,  conftitute  a  coxcomb  ; 
lor  a  true  coxcomb  mu  ft  have 
wit.  The  moil  confummate  cox¬ 
comb  I  ever  knew,  was  a  man  of 
the  moil  wit,  but  whofe  wit,  beak¬ 
ed  with  prefumption,  made  him 
too  big  for  any  company,  where 
lie  always  ufurped  the  feat  of  em¬ 
pire,  and  crowded  out  common 
fenfe. 

'Raillery  fee  ms  to  be  a  proper 
rod  for  thofe  offenders ;  but  great 
caution  and  (kill  are  neceffary  in 
the  ufe  of  it,  or  you  may  happen 
to  catch  a  Tartar  as  they  call 
IL  «tnd  then  the  laughter  will 


be  againft  you.  The  heft  way 
with  thefe  people  is  to  let  them 
quite  alone,  and  give  them  rope 
enough. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
many,  and  perhaps  more,  who 
fuffer  from  their  timidity,  and 
?nau-uaije  horde,  which  fink  them 
infinitely  below  their  level.  Ti¬ 
midity  is  generally  taken  for  ftu- 
pidity,  which,  for  the  molt  part, 
it  is  not,  but  proceeds  from  a 
want  of  education  in  good  com¬ 
pany,  Mr.  Addifon  was  the  molt 
timid  and  aukward  man  I  ever  faw  ; 
and  no  wonder,  for  he  had  been 
wholly  cloiftered  up  in  the  cells  of 
Oxford  till  he  was  five-and-twenty 
years  old.  La  Bruyere  fays,  and 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  it, 
hht’on  ne  ‘vaut  dans  ce  monde  que  ce 
que  Von  *vsut  njaloir  ;  for,  in  this  re- 
ipedt,  mankind  fhew  great  indul¬ 
gence,  and  value  people  at  pretty 
near  the  price  they  fet  on  them¬ 
felves,  if  it  be  not  exorbitant, 

I  could  wifti  you  to  have  a  cool 
intrepid  affurance,  with  great  feem- 
ing  modefty,  never  demonte ,  and 
never  forward.  Very  awkward  ti¬ 
mid  people,  who  have  not  been 
ufed  to  keep  good  company,  are 
either  ridiculoufly  bafhful,  or  ab- 
furdly  impudent.  I  have  known 
many  a  man  impudent  from  fhame- 
facednefs,  endeavouring  to  act  a 
reafonable  affurance,  and  lafhing 
him  felf  to  what  he  imagined  to  be 


a  proper  and  eafy  behaviour.  A 
very  timid  bafhful  man  is  annihi¬ 
lated  in  good  company,  efpecially 
of  his  fuperiors  ;  he  does  not 
know  what  he  lays  or  does  ;  and 
it  is  a  ridiculous  agitation,  both 
of  body  and  mind.  Avoid  both 
extremes,  and  endeavour  to  pof- 
fefs  yourfelf  with  coolnefs  and  ftea- 
dinefs  :  fpeak  to  the  King  with  full 
“  *  '  '  u  as 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  183 


as  little  concern,  though  with  more 
refped,  as  you  would  to  your  equals. 
This  is  the  diftinguiftiing  charac¬ 
terise  of  a  gentleman,  and  a  man 
of  the  world. 

The  way  to  acquire  this  moil  ne- 
cefTary  behaviour  is,  as  I  have  told 
you  before,  to  keep  company, 
whatever  difficulty  it  may  coft  you 
at  lirft,  with  your  fuperiors  and 
with  women  of  faffiion,  inftead  of 
taking  refuge,  as  too  many  young 
people  do,  in  low  or  bad  company, 
in  order  to  avoid  the  reftraint  of 
good-breeding.  It  is,  I  confefs, 
a  very  difficult,  not  to  fay  an  im- 
poffible  thing,  for  a  young  man,  at 
his  firft  appearance  in  the  world, 
and  unufed  to  the  ways  and  man¬ 
ners  of  it,  not  to  be  difconc.erted 
and  embarraffed,  when  he  firit  en¬ 
ters  what  is  called  the  beft  com¬ 
pany.  He  fees  that  they  dare  at 
him,  and,  if  they  happen  to  laugh, 
he  is  fure  that  they  laugh  at  him. 
This  aukwardnefs  is  not  to  be 
blamed,  as  it  often  proceeds  from 
laudable  caufes,  from  a  modeit 
diffidence  of  himfelf,  and  a  con- 
fcioufnefs  of  not  yet  knowing  the 
modes  and  manners  of  good  com¬ 
pany.  But  let  him  perfevere  with 
a  becoming  modefty,  and  he  will 
find  that  all  people  of  good-nature 
and  good-breeding  will,  at  firfl, 
help  him  out,  inftead  of  laughing  at 
him  ;  and  then  a  very  little  ufage 
of  the  world,  and  an  attentive  ob- 
fervation,  will  foon  give  him  a  pro¬ 
per  knowledge  of  it. 

It  is  the  charaderiftic  of  low  and 
bad  company,  which  commonly 
confifts  of  wags  and  witlings,  to 
laugh  and  difconcert,  and,  as  they 
call  it,  bamboozle  a  young  fellow 
of  ingenuous  modefty.  You  will 
tell  me,  perhaps,  that,  to  do  all 
this,  one  muit  have  a  good  fh^re  of 


vanity:  I  grant  it;  but  the  great 
point  is,  Ne  quid  nimis  ;  for  I  fear 
Monfieur  de  la  Rod  efoucault’s 
maxim  is  too  true,  E£ue  la  <vertue 
n'irott  pas  lohis  Ji  la  nj  unite  ne  lui 
tencit  compagnie.  A  man  who  de« 
fpairs  of  pleafing  will  never  pleafe  ; 
a  man  that  is  fure  that  he  ffiall  al¬ 
ways  pleafe  wherever  he  goes,  is  a 
coxcomb  ;  but  the  man  who  hopes 
and  endeavours  to  pleafe,  will  moll 
infallibly  pleafe. 


Extracts  fro?n  a  Letter  from  Mr. 

Horne  to  John  Dunning,  Ejq; 

on  the  ConJiruBion  of  certain  Eng¬ 
lish  Particles. 

HE  author  of  this  letter  takes 
occafion,  from  an  expreffion 
in  a  precedent  quoted  at  his  trial, 
to  enter  into  a  train  of  grammati¬ 
cal  fpeculations. 

The  point  in  debate  is  thus 
opened  and  explained. 

“  A  fuppofed  omiffion,  in  the  in¬ 
formation  again  ft  Lawley,  is  pro¬ 
duced  to  juftify  a  real  omiffion,  in 
the  information  againft  me  ;  when 
indeed  there  was  no  omiffion  in  the 
precedent.  But  the  averment  faid 
to  be  omitted,  was,  not  only  fub- 
ftantially,  but  literally  made. 

“  The  exception  taken  was,  that 
it  was  not  pofitively  averred,  that 
Crooke  was  indided,  it  was  only 
laid,  that  fhe,  feiens  that  Crooke 
had  been  indided,  and  was  to  be 
tried  for  forgery,  did  fo  and  fo.’* 
—  That  is  (according  to  Mr. 
Horne’s  conftrudion)  literally th us  : 
<c  Crooke  had  been  indicted  for 
forgery (there  is  the  averment 
literally  made)  —  “  ffie  knowing 
that,  did  fo  and  fo.” 

Such,  Sir,  he  adds,  is,  in  all  cafes, 
the  unfufpeded  conftrudion  not 
only  in  our  own,  but  in  every  lan- 

N  4  guage 


1 84  A  NNU  A  L  R  E 

guage  in  the  world  ,  where  the  con¬ 
junction  that,  or  fome  equivalent 
word,  is  employed.  1  Ipeak  conh- 
cfentiy ,  becaufe  I  know,  a  priori, > nac 
3t  muft  be  fo  ;  and  1  have  iikewife 
tried  it  in  a  great  variety  of  lan- 
guag  s,  ancient  as  well  as  modern, 
Aliatic  a  weil  a*  European. 

The  word  thatt  he  thinks,  is 
therein  e  not  to  be  confldered  as  a 
conjunction,  but  as  an  art  cle,  or 
a  pronoun  :  and  to  prove  this,  he 
produces,  among  many  others,  the 
following  examples  t  [  wiih  you  to 
believe,  that  I  would  not  wilfully 
hurt  a  fly.  In  this  inflance  the 
conftrudion,  he  fays,  is  to  be  thus 
refolved  ;  I  would  not  wilfully 
hurt  a  fly,  1  with  you  to  believe 
that  ( alfer ti on) . Thieves  rife 
by  night,  that  they  may  eut  men’s 
throats. 5?  Refolution  ;  Thieves 
may  cut  men’s  throats  ;  (for)  that 
(purpofe)  they  rife  by  night. 

He  adds  :  This  method  of  re- 
fdlution,  takes  place  'in  thofe  lan¬ 
guages,  which  have  different  con¬ 
junctions  for  the  fame  purpofe : 
for  the  original  of  the  la  lb  example, 
where  ut  is  employed,  and  not  the 
Latin  neuter  article  quod,  wiil  be 
refolved  in  the  fame  manner. 

Ut  jugulent  homines,  furgunt  de  nodfle 
iatrones. 

Though  Sandtius,  who  ftruggled 
fo  hard  to  withdraw  quod  from 
among  the  conjunctions,  Hill  left 
ut  among  them  without  molefta- 
tion,  yet  is  ut  no  other  than  the 
Greek  article  ort,  adopted  for  this 
conjunctive  purpofe  by  the  Latins, 
and  by  them  originally  written  uti  : 
the  o  being  changed  into  u,  from 
that  propen hty  which  both  the  an¬ 
cient  Romans  had,  and  the  mo¬ 
dern  Italians  Hill  have,  upon  many 
pyxAfionSj  to  pronounce  even  their 


GISTER,  1778. 

own  0  like  an  u.  The  refolution 
therefore  of  the  original  will  be 
like  that  of  the  tranflation  : 

Latrones  jugulent  homines  (&)  on  furgunt 
ae  nodte. 

But  how  are  we  to  bring'  out  the 
article  that  when  two  conjunc¬ 
tions  come  together  in  this  man¬ 
ner 

ft  If  that  the  king 

Have  any  way  your  good  deferts  forgot, 

He  bids  you  name  your  griefs.55  Shakeff 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  that  if 
is  merely  a  verb,  the  imperative 
mood  of  the  Gothic  and  Anglo** 
Saxon  verbs  gtfan ;  and  in  thofe 
languages,  as  well  as  in  the  Eng- 
lifh  formerly,  this  fuppofed  con¬ 
junction  was  pronounced  and  writ¬ 
ten,  as  the  common  imperative  gif. 
Thus  in  Ben  Jonfon’s  Sad  Shep« 
herd,  it  is  written  ; 

<c  My  largeiTe 

Hath  lotted  her  to  be  your  brother’s  miff 
treffe, 

Crf  ike  can  be  reclaimed  j  gif  not,  his  prey,’5 

Accordingly  our  corrupted  if  has 
always  the  figni fixation  of  the  p re¬ 
fen  t  Englifh  imperative  give,  and 
no  other.  So  that  the  refolution 
of  the  conflrudtion,  in  the  inflance 
produced  from  Shakefpeare,  will 
be  as  before  in  the  others.  The 
king  may  have  forgotten  your  good 
deeds  :  give  that  in  any  way,  he 
bids  you  name  your  griefs, 

And  here,  as  an  additional  proof, 
we  may  obferve.  that  whenever  the 
datum,  upon  which  any  concluflon 
depends,  is  a  fentence,  the  article 
that ,  if  not  expre(Ted,  is  underflood  ; 
as,  in  the  inftance  produced  above, 
the  poet  might  h^ye  faid. 

Gif  (that)  ike  can  be  reclaimed,  &c. 

For  the  refolution  is  :  <e  She  caq 
be  reclaimed,  give  that ,  my  lar¬ 
ge  ilb 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  185 


gefle  hath  lotted  her  to  be  your 
brother’s  miftrefle:  (he  cannot  be 
reclaimed,  give  that ,  my  largeffe 
hath  lotted  her  to  be  your  brother’s 
prey  ” 

We  have  in  Englifh  another 
word,  which  (though  now  rath  r 
cbfolete)  ufed  frequently  to  fupply 
the  place  of  if.  As, 

**  An  you  had  an  eye  behind  you, 
you  ought  fee  more  detraction  at 
your  heels,  than  fortunes  before 
you.” 

No  doubt  it  will  be  afked,  in 
this,  and  in  all  limilar  inlcances, 
what  is  an  P 

I  do  not  know  that  any  perfon 
has  ever  attempted  to  explain  it, 
except  Dr.  S.  Johnfon  in  hi?  Dic¬ 
tionary.  He  fays  —  “  an  is  fo;ne- 
times,  in  old  authors,  a  contrac¬ 
tion  nfandif.  ’ —  Of  which  he  gives 
a  very  unlucky  inilance  from  Shake- 
fpeare  ;  where  b  th  an  and  //'.are 
ufed  in  the  fame  line  : 

“  He  cannot  flatter,  he  ! 

An  honeft  mind  and  plain  5  he  muft  fpeak 
truth  ! 

An  they  will  take  it  —  So.  If  not,  he’s 
plain. 

Where,  if  an  was  a  contraction  of 
and  f‘,  an  and  if  fhould  rather 
change  places. 

But  1  can  by  no  means  agree 
with  Johnfon’s  account.  A  part 
of  one  word  only,  employed  to 
Jhevv  that  another  word  -Ts  com¬ 
pounded  with  it,  would  indeed  be 
a  curious  method  of  contraction  ; 
although  even  this  account  of  it 
would  ferve  my  purpofe  ;  but  the 
truth  will  ferve  it  better  :  for  an  is 
alfo  a  verb,  and  may  very  well 
fupply  the  place  of  if:  it  be;ng 
nothing  elfe  but  the  imperaiive 
mood  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  verb 
anany  which  likewife  means  to  give 
t?r  to  grant \ 


Nor  does  an  ever  (as  Johnfon 
fuppofes)  fignify  as  if ;  nor  is  it  a 
contraction  of  them. 

I  know  indeed  that  Johnfon  pro¬ 
duces  Addifon’s  authorit  for  it, 

**  Tvly  next  pretty  conefo:  ndent, 
like  Snakt'pear’s  lion  in  Pyramus 
at  o  Thilbe,  roars  an  it  were  any 
nightingale.” 

Now  if  Addifon  had  fo  written, 
I  fhould  anfwer  roundly,  that  he 
had  written  falfe  Englifh,  But  he 
never  did  fo  write.  He  only  quoted 
it  in  mirth.  And  Johnfon,  an 
editor  of  Shakd'peare,  ought  to 
have  known  and  oblerved  it.  And 
then,  inflead  of  Addifan’s,  or  even 
Shakefpeare’s  authority  from  whom 
the  expreffion  is  borrowed,  he 
ihould  have  quoted  Bottom’s,  the 
weaver  :  whole  language  corre- 
fponds  with  the  character  Shake- 
Ipeare  has  given  him, 

“  I  will  aggravate  my  voice  fo 
(fays  Bottom)  that  I  will  roar  you. 
as  gently  as  any  fucking  dove  :  I 
will  roar  you  an  ’twere  any  night¬ 
ingale. 

Our  author,  having  thus  ac¬ 
counted  for  f  and  an ,  afferts  that 
thofe  words,  which  are  called  con¬ 
ditional  conjunctions,  are  to  be 
accounted  for  in  all  languages,  in 
the  fame  manner.  Not  that  they 
mud  all  mean  prec'fely  give  and 
granty  but  fomething  equivalent  : 
as,  be  it,  fuppofey  allow,  permit , 
Jufer y  &c. 

Hitherto  the  doCtrine  of  con¬ 
junctions  has  been  the  crux  gram- 
maticorum,  Thefe  troublefome 
words  have  caufed  them  infinite 
labour  and  perplexity.  Yet  all 
their  etymologies  have  been  vague 
and  unfatisfaClory.  Mr  Harris 
tells  us,  that  a  conjunction  is  a 
part  of  fpeech,  “  void  of  fignifica- 
tion  j”  and  he  compares  them  tp 

cement 


IS  6  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177S. 


fement  in  a  building.  Lord  Mon- 
boddo  fays,  ‘  prepohtlons,  con¬ 
junctions,  and  fuch  like  words,  are 
rather  the  pegs  and  nails  that  fallen 
the  feveral  parts  of  the  language 
together,  than  the  language  itfelf. 
Mr.  Locke  declares  himfelr  diffa- 
tisiied  with  all  the  accounts  of 
them,  that  he  had  feen.  Sandlius 
refcued  quod  particularly  from  the 
number  of  thefe  myRerious  con¬ 
junctions.  Seryius,  Scioppius,  Vof- 
iius,  Perizonius,  and  others,  have 
dilplaced  and  explained  many  other 
fuppofed  adverbs  and  conjunctions. 
Dr.  johnfon  fays,  e  the  particles 
are,  among  all  nations,  applied 
with  fo  great  a  latitude,  that  they 
are  not  eafily  reducible  under  any 
regular  fcheme  of  interpretation.” 
He  adds  :  J  have  laboured  them 
with  diligence,  I  hope  with  fuc- 
cefs:  fuch  at  lead  as  can  be  ex¬ 
pedited  in  a  talk,  which  no  man, 
however  learned  or  lagacious,  has 
yet  been  able  to  perform.— -Our  au¬ 
thor  however  has  undertaken  to 
perform  this  talk  ;  and  has  adlually 
reduced  our  principal  conjunctions 
under  a  regular  fcheme  of  inter¬ 
pretation.  As  this  then  appears 
to  be  a  matter  of  importance,  in  the 
theory  of  our  language,  we  fhall 
give  our  readers  a  fummary  view 
of  the  moll  material  remarks  in 
this  dilfertation.' 

IF  is  the  imperative  gif  of  the 
Saxon  verb  gfan ,  to  give. 

AN  is  the  imDerative  an.  of 

i  7 

anan,  to  grant.  Thefe  words  may 
be  ufed  mutually  and  indifferently 
to  fupply  each  other’s  place.  Gif 
is  to  be  found  in  all  our  old  wri¬ 
ters.  G.  Douglas  almoll  always 
tifes  gif',  once  or  twice  only  he 
has  ufed  if\  and  once  he  ufes  gevje 
,  for  gif.  Chaucer  commonly  ufes 
if  5  but  fometimes  yme,  yef \  and 


yf.  And  it  is  to  be  obferved,  that 
in  Chaucer,  and  other  old  writers, 
the  verb  to  give  fullers  the  fame 
variations  in  the  manner  of  writing 
it,  however  ufed,  whether  conjunc¬ 
tively,  or  otherwife. 

Well  ought  a  prieft  enfample  for  to  yeve. 

Prol.  to  Cant.  Tales. 

Gin  is  often  ufed  in  our  northern 
counties,  and  by  the  Scotch,  as  we 
life  if  or  an  ;  which  they  do  with 
equal  propriety,  and  as  little  corrup¬ 
tion  :  for  gin  is  no  other  than  the 
participle  given ,  gPen ,  gi'n  . 

UNLESS,  Onles ,  is  the  impe¬ 
rative  of  the  Saxon  oniefan ,  to  dif- 
mifs.  This  word  is  written  by 
Horne,  Bifhop  of  Winchefter,  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
onles ,  oneles ,  onleffe ?  onelejfe  :  By  Bi¬ 
fhop  Gardiner,  onles ,  onelejfe . — r  Lef 
the  Imperative  of  lejan,  which  has 
the^  fame  meaning  as  oniefan ,  is 
likewife  ufed  fometimes  by  old 
writers  infiead  of  iinlefs.  It  is  the 
fame  imperative  at  the  end  of  thofe 
words  which  are  called  adjectives, 
fuch  as  hopelefs ,  motionlefs ,  i.  e.  dif> 
mijs  hope ,  difmifs  motion. 

EKE  is  the  imperative  eac  of 
eacan ,  to  add. 

YET  is  the  imperative  get  or 
gyt,  of  getan  or  gytan,  to  get. 

STILL  is  the  imperative  fell  or 
fleal ,  of  fellan ,  or  feallian ,  to  put . 
Thefe  words  may  very  well  fupply 
each  others  place,  and  be  indif¬ 
ferently  ufed  for  the  fame  purpofe. 

ELSE.  This  word  formerly 
written  allis ,  alius,  alys ,  alyfe ,  elles, 
ellus ,  ellis,  els ,  is  no  other  than 
ales  or  alys ,  the  imperative  of  ale - 
fan,  or  alyfan ,  to  difmifs . 

THO’  or  THOUGH,  or  as  our 
country  folks  more  purely  pro¬ 
nounce  it,  ihaf  \  thauf,  thof  \  is  the 
imperative  thaf  or  tkafg ,  of  the 
4.  verb 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  187 


verb  tbaf.an  or  thajigan,  to  al/o<tu, 
3n  confirmation  of  this  etymology 
it  may  be  obferved,  that  anciently 
writers  often  ufed  algife,  algyff \ 
allgyffy  and  algi-ve ,  in  head  ot  al¬ 
though  :  as, 

t(  ■  —  whofe  pere  is  hard  to  fynd, 

Allg  \f  England  and  Fraunce  were  thorow 
faught.’’  Skelton. 

BuT  is  the  imperative  bet  of 
lot  an ,  to  boot ,  i.  e.  to  fuperadd,  to 
fupply,  to  fubllitute,  to  compenfate 
with,  to  remedy  with,  to  make  a- 
mends  with,  to  add.  fomething 
mere,  in  order  to  make  up  a  de¬ 
ficiency  in  fomething  elfe. 

BuT  is  the  imperative  be-utan  of 
boon  utany  to  be  out%  It  was  this 
word,  but ,  which  Mr.  Locke  had 
chiefly  in  view,  when  he  fpoke 
of  conjunctions  as  making  fome 
Hands,  turns,  limitations,  and  ex¬ 
ceptions  of  the  mind.  And  it  was 
the  corrupt  ufe  of  this  one  word  but 
in  modern  Englifh  for  two  words, 
hot  and  but ,  originally  in  the  An¬ 
glo-Saxon  very  different  in  bonifi¬ 
cation,  though,  by  repeated  abbre¬ 
viation  and  corruption,  approach¬ 
ing  in  found,  which  chiefly  mifled 
him.  G.  Douglas,  notwithliand- 
ing  he  frequently  confounds  thefe 
two  words,  and  ufes  them  impro¬ 
perly,  does  yet,  without  being  him- 
felf  aware  of  the  diflinCtion,  and 
from  the  mere  force  of  cuftomary 
fpeech,  abound  with  fo  many  in- 
fiances  and  fo  contrafted,  as  to 
awaken,  one  fhould  think,  the  molt 
inattentive  reader. 

“  Sot  thy  werke  fhall  endure  in  laude  and 
glorie, 

But  fpot  or  fait  condigne  enterne  memorie,” 

Preface. 

— “  But  gyf  the  fatis,  but  pleid, 

At  my  picture  fuffer  it  me  life  to  leid.” 

Book  iv. 


It  maybe  proper  to  obferve,  that 
G.  Douglas’s  language,  where  bot 
is  very  frequently  found,  though 
written  about  a  century  after,  mull 
yet  be  elteemed  more  ancient  than 
Chaucer’s  :  even  as  at  this  day  the 
prefent  Englilh  fpeech  in  Scotland 
is,  in  many  refpeCts,  more  ancient 
than  that  fpoken  in  England,  as 
early  as  the  reign  of  Queen  Eliza¬ 
beth.  So  Mer.  Cafaubon,  de  Vet. 
Ling.  Ang.  fays  of  his  time,  *  Sco- 
tica  lingua  Anglica  hodierna  pu- 
rior where  by  purior  he  means 
nearer  to  the  Anglo-Saxon.  So 
Hickes,  in  his  Anglo-Saxon  Gram¬ 
mar,  fays,  «  Scoti  in  multis  Saxo- 
nizantes.’ — -In  five  inftances,  which 
Mr.  Locke  has  given  us  for  five  dif¬ 
ferent  meanings  of  the  word  but , 
there  are  indeed  only  two  different 
meanings.  Nor  could  he  have 
added  any  other  fignifications  of 
this  particle,  but  what  are  to  be 
found  in  bot  and  but,  as  above  ex¬ 
plained.  Dr.  Johnfon  and  others 
have  miftaken  the  expreflion  to  booty 
for  a  fubftantive  :  it  is  indeed  the 
infinitive  of  the  fame  verb,  of 
which  the  conjunftion  is  the  im¬ 
perative. 

WITHOUT  is  wyrth-utan,  of 
weorthan  utany  to  be  out.  Buty  as 
difiinguifhed  from  bot ,  and  without, 
have  both  exactly  the  fame  mean¬ 
ing.  They  were  both  originally 
ufed  indifferently,  either  as  con. 
junctions  or  prepofitions.  But  later 
writers,  having  adopted  the  falfe 
notions  and  diftinCtions  of  lan¬ 
guage,  maintained  by  the  Greek 
and  Latin  grammarians,  have  fuc- 
ceflively  endeavoured  to  make  the 
Englifh  language  conform  more 
and. more  to  the  fame  rules.  Ac¬ 
cordingly  without,  in  approved  mo¬ 
dern  fpeech,  is  now  entirely  con¬ 
fined  to  the  office  of  a  prepofition, 

and 


m  ANNUAL  RE 

and  but  is  generally,  though  not 
always,  ufed  as  a  conjunction. 

AND  is  an  ad,  the  imperative  of 
an  an  ad,  to  give  or  grants  dare 
congeriem . 

LEST  is  the  participle  lefed ,  of 
lefan ,  to  difmifs  ;  and,  with  the  ar¬ 
ticle  that,  either  expreffed  or  un- 
derflood,  means  no  more  than  hoc 
dhniflo,  or  quo  dimijfo.  Example, 

‘  You  make  ufe  of  fuch  indirect 
and  crooked  arts  as  thefe,  to  blafl 
my  reputation,  and  to  poffefs  men’s 
minds  with  di  faffed  ion  to  my  per¬ 
son  ;  left  peradventure,  they  might 
with  feme  indifference  hear  reafon 
from  me.’  Chiliingworth,*. —  Here 
left  is  properly  ufed.  s  You  make 
ufe  of  thefe  arts  :J  why  ?  The  rea¬ 
fon  follows  ;  Lefed  that ,  i.  e.  hoc  di - 
sn iff o,  6  men  might  hear  reafon  from 
me  :  therefore  you  ufe  thefe  arts.’ 

Since,  jiththan ,  fyne ,  feand  es, 
fith-the ,  or  fines,  is  the  participle 
of  fecn ,  to  fee.  Since  is  a  very  cor¬ 
rupt  abbreviation,  confounding  to¬ 
gether  different  words,  and  differ¬ 
ent  combinations  of  words.  Where 
we  now  employ  fince,  — - fiththan, 
jyne ,  See.  according  to  their  ref'pec- 
live  fignification,  were  formerly 
uled.  In  modern  Englifh  it  is  ufed 
four  ways  ;  two,  as  &  prepofition, 
connecting,  or  rather  affecting 
words  ;  and  two,  as  a  conjunction, 
a  ffeCting  fen  tepees.  When  ufed  as 
a  prepolition,  it  has  always  the  fig- 
nificatiop,  either  of  the  pad  parti¬ 
ciple  feen ,  joined  to  thence  (that  is, 
feen  and  thence  forward)  or  elfe  it 
has  the  fignification  of  feen  only. 
When  ufed  as  a  conjunction,  it  has 
fome times  the  fignsficadon  of  the 


GISTER,  1778. 

prefen t  participle  feeing  or  feeing 
that ,  and  fometimes  the  Significa¬ 
tion  of  the  pair  participle  feen ,  or 
feen  that . 

THAT  is  the  neuter  article  that , 
There  is  fomething  fo  very  Singular 
in  the  ufe  of  this  conjunction,  as  it 
is  called,  that  one  fhould  think  if 
would  alone  have  been  fufficient  to 
lead  the  grammarians  to  a  know¬ 
ledge  of  mofl  of  the  other  con- 
jundtions,  as  well  as  of  itfeH  :  If 
that ,  an  that ,  unlejs  that ,  though 
that ,  but  that ,  without  that ,  lefl 
that ,  fince  that ,  fave  that ,  except 
that ,  &e. 

AS  is  an  article,  and  means  the 
fame  as  it,  that,  which «  In  the 
German,  where  it  Sill  evidently 
retains  Its  original  fignification  and 
ufe,  as  fo  alfo  does,  it  is  written. 
es.  Als,  in  our  old  Engliih,  is  a 
contraction  of  al ,  and  es  or  as ,  and 
this  al  (which  in  companions  ufed 
to  be  very  properly  employed  be¬ 
fore  the  firlt  es  or  as,  but  was  not 
employed  before  the  fecond)  we 
now,  in  modern  Englilh,  fupprefs, 
as  we  have  done  in  numberlefs 
other  inflances.  Thus, 

((  As  fwift  as  darts  or  feather’d  arrows  fly.”1 
In  old  Englifh  is  written, 

iiAls fwift  ganze  or  fedderit  arrowr  fieis.” 
which  means,  With  all  that  fwift  - 
nefs,  with  which ,  &c. 

Thefe  I  apprehend  are  the  only 
conjunctions  in  our  language  which 
can  caufe  any  difficulty  ;  and  it 
would  be  impertinent  in  me  to  ex¬ 
plain  fuch  as,  Be  At ,  Albeit ,  Not* 
withflanding ,  Neverthdejs ,  Set  *. 
Save,  Except,  Out  -  cept  f ,  Out - 


*  u  Set  this  my  work  full  febill  be  of  rent.”  G.  Douglas, 

■f  “  ITd  play  hun  ’gaine  a  knight  or  a  good  fquire,  of  gentleman  of  any 
other  counlie  i’  the  kingdome”  —  Outceft  (i  Kent  ;  for  there  they  landed  ail 
gentlemen.”  B.  J onion.  Tale  of  a  Tub,  :  ,\  ‘ 

tahi 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.'  189 


take* ,  to  wit ,  Becaufe,  lAc.  which 
are  evident  at  firft  fight. 

I  hope  it  will  be  acknowledged 
that  this  is  coming  to  the  point  ; 
and  is  fairer  than  fbufUing  them 
over  as  all  philofophers  and  gram¬ 
marians  have  hitherto  done;  or 
than  repeating  after  others,  that 
they  are  not  themfelves  any  part 
of  languages,  but  only  fuch  Ac- 
cejfaries ,  as  Salt  is  to  Meaty  or  Wa¬ 
ter  to  Bread ;  or  that  they  are  the 
mere  Edging ,  or  Sauce  of  lan¬ 
guage  ;  or  that  they  are  like  the 
Handles  to  Cups ,  or  the  Plumes  to 
Helmets y  or  the  Binding  to  Books , 
or  Harnefs  for  Horfes  ;  or  that  they 
are  Pegs,  and  Nails ,  and  Nerves , 
and  ‘Joints,  and  Ligaments ,  and 
Lime  and  Mortar ,  and  fo  forth. 

In  which  kind  of  pretty  iimilles 
philofophers  and  grammarians  feem 
to  have  vied  with  one  another  ; 
and  have  often  endeavoured  to 
amufe  their  readers  and  cover  their 
own  ignorance,  by  very  learnedly 
difputingthe  propriety  of  the  fimi- 
lie  inftead  of  explaining  the  na¬ 
ture  of  the  conjun&ion. 

I  mull  acknowledge  that  I  have 
not  any  authorities  for  the  deriva¬ 
tions  which  I  have  given  of  thefe 
words ;  and  that  all  former  etymo¬ 
logies  are  againlt  me.  But  I  am 
perfuaded  that  all  future  etymolo¬ 
gies  (and  perhaps  fome  philofo¬ 
phers)  will  acknowledge  their  obli¬ 
gation  to  me  :  for  thefe  trouble¬ 
some  conjunctions,  which  have 
hitherto  caufed  them  fo  much 
miftaken  and  unfatisfa&ory  labour, 
fiiall  fave  them  many  an  error 
and  many  a  weary  ftep  in  future. 


EPITAPHS. 

An  Infcription  taken  from  the  Mo - 
nument  ere  Bed  in  Bujhley-Church, 
Worcejlerjbire ,  faid  to  be  written 
by  Mr.  Burke. 

To  the  memory  of 
WILLIAM  DOWDESWELL, 
Reprefentative  in  parliament  for  the  coun¬ 
ty  of  Worcefler, 

Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in  the  years 
1775  and  1776,  and  a  member  of  the 
King’s  privy-council ; 

A  fenator  for  twenty  years, 

A  minifter  for  one, 

A  virtuous  citizen  for  his  whole  life. 

A  man  of  unfhaken  conftancy,  inflexible 
integrity,  unremitted  induftry. 

His  mind  was  generous,  open,  flncere. 
His  manners  plain,  Ample,  and  noble  ; 
Rejecting  ali  forts  of  duplicity  and  difguife9 
as  ufelefs  to  his  defigns,  and  odious 
to  his  nature. 

His  underftanding 

Was  comprehenfive,  ftcady,  vigorous, 
Made  for  the  practical  bufinefs  of  the  State. 
In  debate  he  was  clear,  natural,  and  con¬ 
vincing. 

His  knowledge,  in  ali  things  which  con¬ 
cerned  his  duty,  profound. 

He  underftood,  beyond  any  man  of  his 
time,  the  revenues  of  his  country  ; 
Which  he  preferred  to  every  thing— 
except  its  liberties. 

He  was  a  perfeft  rnafter  of  the  law  of  par¬ 
liament, 

And  attached  to  its  privileges  until  they 
were  fet  up  againft  the  rights  of  the 
people. 

All  the  proceedings 

Which  have  weakened  government,  en¬ 
dangered  freedom,  and  diffracted  the 
Britifh  empire,  were  by  him 
flrenuoufly  oppofed  ; 

And  his  laft  efforts, 

Under  which  his  health  funk. 

Were  to  preferve  his  country  from  a  civil 
war. 

Which  being  unable  to  prevent,  he  had 
not  the  misfortune  to  lee. 


He 

*  1  And  alfo  I  refygne  al  my  knightly  dignitie,  magefty  and  crowne,  wyth 
al  the  lordes  hyppes,  powre,  and  privileges  to  the  forefayd  kingely  dignitie  and 
crown  belonging,  and  al  other  lordlhippes  and  poffefyons  to  me  in  any  maner 
of  wyfe  pertaynynge,  what  name  and  condicion  thei  be  of,  out-take  the  lands 
and  polfdfions  for  me  and  mine  obyte  purchafed  and  broughte.’ 

Inftrument  of  refignation  of  K.  Richard  II.  in  Fabian’s  Chronicle, 


I9o  ANNUAL  REGISTER 


He  was  not  more  refpe&able  on  the  public 

fcene, 

Than  amiable  in  private  life, 
Imperfed  in  the  greateft  affairs, 

He  never  loft  the  ancient,  native,  genuine 
Engi'ilh  character  of  a  Country  Gentle¬ 
man, 

Difdaining  and  neglecting  no  office  in  life. 
He  was  an  antient  municipal  magiftrate, 
With  great  care  and  clear  judgment 
Adminiftering  juftice,  maintaining  the 
police,  relieving  the  dtftreffes,  and 
regulating  the  manners  of  the 
people  in  his  neighbour¬ 
hood. 

An  hufband  and  father, 

The  kindeft,  gentleft,  moft  indulgent. 
He  was  every  thing  in  his  family  except 
what  he  gave  up  to  his  country. 

His  widow,  who  labours  with  life  in  or¬ 
der  to  form  the  minds  of  his  eleven 
children  to  the  refemblance  of  their  fa¬ 
ther,  erects  this  monument. 

, "Epitaph  on  the  late  Mr.  Mar kl and, 
in  the  Church  of  Dorking  in  Sur¬ 
rey,  By  Dr,  Wm.  Hebberden, 

Jeremiah  M  a  r  k  l  a  n  d,  A.  M. 

"Was  born  the  29th  of  October,  1693  ; 
Educated  in  the  fchool  of  Chrift’s  Hof- 
pital,  London ; 

And  elected  fellow  of  St.  Peter’s  College, 
Cambridge. 

Unambitious  of  the  rewards  and  honours 
which  his  abilities  and  application  might 
have  obtained  for  him  in  the  learned  pro- 
feffions,  he  chofe  to  pafs  his  life  in  a  libe¬ 
ral  retirement.  His  very  accurate  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages 
was  employed  in  corredting  and  explain¬ 
ing  the  belt  ancient  authors,  and  more 
particularly  in  illuftrating  the  facred  fcrip- 
tures.  To  thefe  rational  purfuits  he  fa- 
erificed  every  wordly  view;  contented 
with  the  inward  pleafure  refulting  from 
fuch  ftudies,  and  from  the  public  and 
private  affiftance  which  they  enabled  him 
to  communicate  to  others.  But,  above 
all,  his  uncommon  learning  confirmed  in 
the  higheft  degree  his  hopes  of  a  happier 
life  hereafter. 

He  died  at  Milton,  in  this  parilh,  the 
7th  day  of  July,  1776. 


I77$h 

On  the  late  Mr.  Bowyer,  Printer. 

By  E.  C. 

Memoriae  Sacrum 
WILHELMI  BOWYER, 

Typographorum  poft  Stephanos  et  Com- 
melinos  Longe  dodtifiimi : 

Linguarum  Latins,  Graces,  et  He- 
braicae  Peritiffimi : 

Adeo  ut  cognoviffe  videatur 
Naturae  atque  Orbis  alphabetum. 

Quot  et  quanta  Opera 
Ab  illius  Prelo 

Splendide,  nitide,  et,  quod  majus  eft. 
Fide  et  integritate  fumma, 
Tanquam  ex  equo  Trojano 
Meri  Principes  exierint ; 

Annales  Typographici  et  nunc  et  olim 
teftati  funt : 

Et  praecipue  quod  Afta  Diurna 
Superioris  Cameras 
Britannici  Parliament! 

Suo  Prelo,  fuse  Fidei, 

Honorifice  commifla  fuerant, 

Haec  Typographo  debentur  : 

Sed  quod  fe  temper  geffit, 

Ut  Virum  decuit  honeftiffimum, 
Amiciffimum,  et  pium, 

In  fui  ipfiu/S  et  familiar  decus, 
Majorem  laudem  cedet. 

Tanti  Typographi  et  Hominis 

Memorise 

Mcerens  inferipfit  Saxura 
Olim  Familiaris, 

Et  nunc  Amicus, 

Obilt . . 

Annum  agens  .....  0 
YErae  Chriftianae  177  ? 

On  the  late  Dr.  Taylor*  By  E, 

Plorate, 

Linguarum,  Artium,  Scientiarum^ 

Vos  O  dodtifiimi  Cultores  ! 
Quotquot  huic  Marmori  funereo 
Aliquando  accefferitis, 

Defiderio  quaerentes  lacrumabilf 

Quale  quantumque  Corpori  caduc® 

Hie  fiat  fuperftes  Nomen  t 
Quippe  hie  jacet  Hellas  propria. 

Hie  Lepos  Atticus, 

Hie  Dorices  ^iQvpHrfAct, 

Hie  fuave  Mel  Ionicum. 
Scriptores  Graeciae  veteris  et  Latii 
Numerofos, 

Jus  Civile,  Urbanum,  Municipale, 
Leges,  Ritus,  Cseremonias,  Mores, 

Recoji* 


MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS.  195 


Reconditifiimae  Antiquitatis, 

Quis  illi  Par  fie  unquam  expedivlt  ? 

Te  fublato  !  mancus,  debilis  Temper  jacet, 
Hie  tuu<  Demofthenes  <arcuanvs, 
Iinperfedta  reftant  tcI  ^ETchinis  c-!D?6[A,iVct 
Solus  integer  et  fuperfi.es  Lyfias. 

Haec  folumm<do  qui  legerit 
Nemo  non  poflit  non  cxclamare, 

Hie  fitus  eft 

Johannes  Taylorus  Sa'opienfis, 
JEcclefia?  Lincolnienfis  Cancellarius, 
Sandti  Pauli  Canonicus. 

Obiit  annum  agens 
Sexagelimum  tert'um, 

40  Aprilis,  1776. 

On  the  late  Dr.  Goldfmith, 

By  Dr .  S.  John  Ton. 

Olivarii  Goldsmith, 

Poetae,  Phyfici,  Hiftorici, 

Qui  nullum  fere  feribendi  genus 
Non  teti  git. 

Nullum  quod  tetigit  non  ornavit  j 
Sive  rifus  effent  movendi, 

Sive  lacrimae, 

Affe<ftuum  potens,  at  lenis,  dominator  j 
Ingenio  fublimis,  vividus,  verfatilis, 
Oratione  grandis,  nitidus,  veneftus  j 
Hoc  monumento  memoriam  coluit 
Sodalium  amor, 

Amicorum  fides. 

Leftorum  veneratio. 

*  *  *  in  Hibernia  natus, 

Eblanae  literis  inftitutus. 

Londini  obiit  mdcclxxiv. 


EPITAPH 

By  Dr.  Lowth,  the  prefent  Bijhop  of 
Eondon,  inferibed  on  a  Monument 
to  the  Memory  of  hi:,  Daughter ,  in 
the  Church  of  Cudefden>  in  Ox¬ 
ford/hire. 

CARA,  vale,  ingenio  praeftans,  pie- 
tate,  pudoie, 

Et  plufquam  natae  nomine  cara,  vale  : 
Care  Maria,  vale  !  at  veniet  felicius  aevum, 
Quando  iterum  tecum,  fim  modo  dig- 
nus,  ero. 

Cara  redi,  laeta  turn  dicam  voce,  paternos 
Eja  age  in  amplexus,  cara  Maria,  redi, 


Fleetwood  Shepheard’s  Epitaph , 
c written  by  himj elf ,  in  my  Lord 
Dorfet’r  Common  Prayer-Book ,  at 
Copt-Iiall. 

O,  vos  qui  de  falute  veftra  fecuri  eftis. 
Orate  pro  anima  miferrimi  peccatoris 
Fleetwood  Shepheard, 
Etiamnum  viventis  et  ubicunque  eft  pec- 

cantis, 

Qui  fide  exigua  et  tamen  fpe  impu- 
dentiiYima  optat  et  expedlat, 

Qnam  non  meruit, 

Fehcem  refurredfionem. 

Anno  Religionis  et  libertatis  reftitutae  tertio, 
Rerum  potientibus 

Fortiflimo  Willielmo  et  formofifiima 
Maria, 

By  another  Hand. 

Sta.  Viator  : 

Sive  tu  Veneri  feu  Baccbo  vixeris  idoneus, 
Et  fi  quando  a  fcortis  et  poculis  vacat, 
Reminifcere  defundti  in  Venere  et  Baccho 
fratris 

Fleetwood  Shepheard, 

Qui  vitiis  et  (quod  in  ipfo  vitiofifiimum  erat) 
Ingenio  pie  renunciavit, 

Apolline  jam  nuljo,  Venere  nulla, 

Et  (quod  magis  dolendum)  Baccho  nullo. 
Cui  nihil  non  in  vultu  erubefeit  praeter 
frontem, 

Nec  ulla  meretrix  difplicuit  praeter 
Babylonicam, 

Fortitudine  et  fobrietate  pari  $ 
Quippe  qui  nulii  hofti  bellum  unquam  in- 
dixerit, 

Si  excipias  fitim  ; 

Qui  Comiti  Dortfetenfi  a  rifu, 
Poetarum  Maecenati  a  dadlylis  et  fpondeis, 
Et  cubiculario  regio  a  fandlioribus  Bibliis, 
Nihil  unquam  facete  dixit  quod  faivo  pu- 
dore,  nec  libere  quod  falva  reli- 
gione  dici  potuit. 

Promifiorum  ufque  et  ufque  profufus, 
Montes  aureos  poiliceturj 
At  ubi  bonae  fidei  hominem  fperabis 
Poetam  3  fed  fola  ilia  vice  verum  induit 
Anno  paupertatis  publicae 
Et  (fi  paupertati  Poefis  Temper  adhaereat) 
Anno  publicae  Poefeos  reftauratae  tertio. 
Cum  de  bicipite  noftro  Parnaffo  certarent 
Hinc  bifrons  Drydenus, 

Inde  bicornis  Shadwellus, 

Quorum  hie  de  fadfo,  ille  de  jure, 
Archipoeta  cluit. 

POETRY, 


£  m  1 


ODE  for  the  NEW-YEAR, 

By  W.  Whitehead.  E/q\  P . 

WHEN  rival  nations,  great  in  arms5 
Great  in  power,  in  glory  great, 

Fill  the  world  with  war’s  alarms, 

And  breathe  a  temporary  hate. 

The  hodile  dorms  but  rage  awhile^ 

And  the  tir’d  conted  ends ; 

But  ah  !  how  hard  to  reconcile 
The  foes  who  once  were  friends ! 

Each  hafty  word,  each  look  unkind. 

Each  didant  hint,  that  feems  to  mean 
A  fomething  lurking  in  the  mind 
Which  aimed  longs  to  lurk  unfeen  ; 

Each  fhadow  of  a  lhade  offends 

Th’  embitter’d  foes  who  once  were  friends 

That  Power  alone  who  fram’d  the  foul, 

And  bade  the  fprings  of  paffion  play. 

Can  all  the  jarring  firings  controul. 

And  form  on  difcord  concord’s  fway. 

’Tis  he  alone,  whofe  breath  of  love 
Did  o’er  the  world  of  waters  move, 

Whofe  touch  the  mountains  bends ; 

Whofe  word  from  darknefs  call’d  forth  light* 
’Tis  he  alone  can  re- unite 

The  foes  who  once  were  friends. 

To  him,  O  Britain  !  bow  the  knee  3 
His  awful,  his  auguft  decree. 

Ye  rebel  tribes  adore  l 
Forgive  at  once,  and  be  forgiven* 

Ope  in  each  bread  a  little  heaven* 

And  difcord  is  no  more. 


POETRY. 


*93 


ODE  for  His  Majesty’.;  Birth -Hay, 

ARM’D  with  her  native  force,  behold 
How  proudly  thro’  each  martial  plain 
Britannia  (talks  !  *Twas  thus,  of  old. 

My  warlike  fons,  a  gallant  train, 

Call’d  forth  their  genuine  (trength,  and  fpread 

Their  banners  o’er  the  tented  mead  ; 

yTwas'thus  they  taught  perfidious  France  to  yield— « 

— (She  cries) — and  lhews  the  lilies  on  her  (hield. 

Yes,  Goddefs,  yes !  ’twas  thus  of  old 
(The  Mufe  replies)  thy  Barons  bold 
Let  forth  their  native  troops,  and  fpread 
Their  banners  o’er  the  tented  mead. 

But  nobler  now  the  zeal  that  warms 

Each  patriot  bread  !  For  freedom’s  reign 
Has  burft  the  Norman’s  feudal  chain. 

And  gives  new  force  to  glory’s  charms. 

No  vaflal  bands 

Rife  at  a  tyrant  Lord’s  commands : 

’Tis  for  themfelves,  with  honed  rage, 

The  voluntary  youths  engage ;  1 

To  guard  their  facred  homes  they  fight. 

And  in  their  own  affert  the  public  right. 

Bound  by  choice,  and  choice  alone. 

Their  leaders  and  their  laws  are  both  their  own  j 
Laws  obey’d,  becaufe  approv’d. 

And  chiefs  that  rule,  becaufe  belov’d. 

?Tis  hence  that  flafh  of  virtuous  pride 
(Which  Britain’s  fons  difdain  to  hide) 

Glows  on  their  cheeks,  and  thro*  their  eyes. 

In  adtive  fire,  the  foe  defies. 

Tis  hence,  at  home,  they  claim,  and  find, 

Th’  undoubted  rights  of  human  kind; 

And,  whild  they  own  a  juft  controul. 

But  yield  a  part,  to  guard  the  whole, 

’Tis  hence  they  fpurn  a  fervile  chain. 

While  tyrant  man’s  defpotic  reign 
Enflaves  the  peopled  earth. 

And  hence,  with  equal  zeal,  obey 
A  Father-King,  and  hail  the  day 
Which  gave  fuch  Monarch  birth. 

Vol.  XXI.  O  Thy 


i94  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 

The  Contest  of  the  Seasons  ;  or,  Winter  triumphant* 

By  J.  It.  Efq\ 

SPRIN  G,  Summer,  and  Autumn,  had  once  a  difpute. 

Which  feafon  among  them  was  moil  in  repute. 

Spring  hragg’d  of  her  nightingales  finging  all  night. 

And  her  lambkins  that  fkip’d  about,  foon  as  ’twas  light. 

Old  Summer  .grew  warm,  and  laid,  ’twas  enough, 

That  too  oft*  he  had  heard  fucb  common-place  fluff: 

That  to  Him  the  bright  fun,  all  in  fplendor  arifing. 

Was  an  objedl  by  far  more  fublime  and  furpriling. 

All  your  pieafure?,  quoth  Autumn,  are  nothing  to  mine  ; 

My  fruits  are  ambrofia,  and  ne&ar  my  wine. 

’Twas  thus  that  thefe  three  were  by  turns  holding  forth, 

When  rough  Winter  thus  roar’d  from  the  bleak  frofly  North” 

Not  one  of  you  think  Winter  merits  reward, 

Or  that  Winter  A mufements  are  worthy  regard. 

You,  Spring,  brag  of  nightingales  giving  delight, 

Han’t  I  fiddlers  like  them  that  can  warble  all  night  I 
You  talk  too,  of  lambkins  that  prettily  Help  it. 

Don’t  my  miffes  at  Almack’s  as  merrily  trip  it  ? 

Then,  good  Summer,  your  fun  never  (bines'  but  he  fcorches  $ 

’Tis  not  fo  with  my  chandeliers,  flambeaux,  and  torches  : 

Nay,  they’re  better  than  funfhine,  as  fome  fages  fay, 

For  they  light  us  by  night  as  well  as  by  day. 

For  you.  Autumn,  your  time  on  high  flavours  you  waft®, 

As  if  you  alone  monopolis’d  take. 

Alas  !  in  a  ribband  of  mine,  or  a  feather. 

There’s  more  tafte,  than  in  all  your  fine  fruits  put  together. 

Add  to  this,  I’ve  ridottos,  plays,  operas,  drums. 

And  affemblies  quite  private,  where  all  the  world  comes  ; 

I’ve  fine  ladies  that  bring  me  the  ben  ton  from  France, 

And  gentlemen  grown,  that  are  learning  to  dance. 

All  Time  with  the  gay,  but  the  Winter,  is  loft. 

As  a  Dutchman  is  never  alive,  but  in  froll : 

Befides,  my  dear  Seafons,  I’d  have  you  remember. 

We’re  now  got  as  far  as  the  month  of  December  ; 

That  you.  Spring  and  Summer,  are  both  run  away  ; 

That  you,  Autumn,  won’t  venture  much  longer  to  flay. 

You  can’t  then  but  own,  if  you  hearken  to  reafon. 

No  amufements  but  mine  are  at  prefent  in  feafon* 

D$c«  4,  1 778*. 


EPILOGUE 


POETRY. 


>55 


EPILOGUE  to  the  Tragedy  of  Alfred. 

Written  by  Mr,  Garrick,  and  J'poken  by  Mrs .  BaRRT* 

OUR  bards  of  late  fo  tragic  in  their  calling, 

Have  fcarce  preferv’d  one  heroine  from  falling  : 

Whether  the  dame  be  widow,  maid,  or  wife. 

She  feldom  from  their  hands  efcapes  with  life  : 

If  this  green  cloth  could  fpeak,  would  it  not  tell^ 

Upon  its  well  worn  nap  how  oft  I  fell  ? 

To  death  in  various  forms  deliver’d  up. 

Steel  kills  me  one  night,  and  the  next  the  cup  : 

The  tragic  procefs  is  as  (hort  as  certain  ; 

With  *  this, — or  f  this,  I  drop— then  drops  the  curtain  5 
No  faint  can  lead  a  better  life  than  Iv 
For  half  is  fpent  in  ftudying  how  to  die  ; 

The  learn’d  difpute,  how  tragedies  (houid  end ; 

O,  happily  fay  fome — Some  death  defend  : 

Mild  criticks  wifh  good  fortune  to  the  good  ; 

While  others,  hot-brain’d,  roar  for  blood!  blood  !  blood  ! 

The  fair,  tho’  nervous,  tragic  to  the  foul. 

Delight  in  daggers  and  the  poifon’d  bowl : 

“  I  would  not  give  a  black-pin  for  a  play, 

Unlefs  in  tendernefs  I  melt  away  : 

From  pangs  and  death  no  lovers  would  I  fave, 

They  fhould  be  wretched,  and  defpair  and  rave; 

And  ne’er  together  lie— but  in  the  grave  !” 

The  brave  rough  foldiera  loft  heart  difcovers, 

He  fwears  and  weeps  at  once,  when  dead  the  lovers  : 

As  down  his  cheeks  runs  trickling  nature’s  tide, 

“  Damn  it — T  vvilh  thofe  young  ones  had  not  dy’d 
Tho’  from  his  eyes,  the  drop  of  pity  falls. 

He  fights  like  Caefar,  when  his  country  calls: 

In  fpite  of  critic  laws  our  bard  takes  part. 

And  joins  in  concert  with  the  foldier’s  heart  s 
O  let  your  feelings  with  this  party  fide. 

For  once  forgive  me  that  I  have  not  dy’d  ; 

Too  hard  that  fate  which  kills  a  virgin  bride  5 

*  She  makes  the  motion  of  ftabbing* 

L  And  hereof  drinking  poifon. 


O  2  PRO* 


1 


1 96  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177S. 


PROLOGUE  to  the  Battle  of  Hastings, 

1  \ 

Written  by  Richard  Cumberland,  EJq. 

Spoken  by  Mr.  Henderson, 

/-p O  Holy  land  In  fuperftition’s  day, 
j[  When  bare-foot  pilgrims  trod  their  weary  way* 

By  mother  church’s  unremitting  law, 

Scourg’d  into  grace,  with  fhoulders  red  and  raw  ; 

Kneeling  demure  before  the  facred  fhrine. 

On  the  hard  flint  they  beg’d  the  boon  divine,; 

Pardon  for  what  offending  flefn  had  done, 

And  pity  fdr  the  long,  long  courfe  they’d  run  ; 

Fines,  pains,  and  penalties,  fecurely  paft, 

Slow*  pac’d  forgivenefs  met  their  prayer  at  laft  ; 

Full  absolution  from  conceding  Rome, 

Canceled  all  fin,  paft,  prefent,  and  to  come. 

Your  poet  thus  profanely  led  aflde 
To  range  o’er  tragic  land  without  a  guide. 

To  pick,  perhaps,  with  no  invidious  aim, 

A  few  cafi  fallings  from  the  tree  of  fame  : 

Damn’d,  tho’  untry’d,  by  the  defpotic  rule 
Of  the  ftern  do&or’s  in  detradlion’s  fchool ; 

Lafh’d  down  each  column  of  a  public  page. 

And  driv'n  o’er  burning  plough-fhares  to  the  flage® 

Be-rhim’d,  be-ridicul’d  with  doggrel  wit. 

Sues  out  a  pardon  from  his  pope— the  Pit . 

Penfive  he  ftands  in  penitential  weeds. 

With  a  huge  rofary  of  untold  beads ; 

Sentenc’d  for  paft  offences  to  rehearfe 
j}<ve  Apollo's  to  the  god  of  verfe  ; 

And  fure  there’s  no  one  but  an  author  knows 
The  penance  which  an  author  undergoes. 

If  then  your  worships  a  few  ftripes  award. 

Let  not  your  beadles  lay  them  on  too  hard  ; 

For  in  the  world  there’s  not  a  thing  fo  thin* 

So  full  of  feeling,  as  your  poet’s  (kin  ; 

What  if  perchance  he  fnatch’d  a  playful  kifs 
From  that  free-hearted  romp,  the  comic  Mifs ; 

That  frolick’s  paft,  he’s  turned  to  years  of  grace. 

And  a  young  finner  now  fupplies  his  place. 

Sure  you’ll  not  grudge  a  little  fober  chat 
With  this  demure  old  tabby  tragic  cat ; 

No  charge  lies  here  of  converfation  crim: 

He  hopes  you’ll  think  her  fame  no  worfe  for  him, 

r  '  ■  .  P  R  CL 


POETRY.  197 


PROLOGUE  to  the  New  Comedy  of  the  Suicide, 

By  the  Author. 

Spoken  by  Mr.  Palmer. 

^  |  MS  now  the  reigning  tafte  with  belle  and  beau, 

X  Their  art  and  fkill  in  coachmanship  to  Ihew ; 
Nobles  contend  who  throws  a  whip  the  beft  ; 

JFrom  head  to  foot  like  hackney-coachmen  drefs’d : 
Duchefs  and  Peerefs  too  difcard  their  fear. 

Ponies  in  front,  my  Lady  in  the  rear. 

A  female  phaeton  all  danger  mocks, 

Half-coat,  half-petticoat.  She  mounts  the  box ; 

Wrapt  in  a  dully  whirlwind  fcours  the  plains, 

And  cutting— jehu  !— whiftling— *holds  the  reins. 
Happy,  thrice  happy,  Britain,  is  thy  Hate, 

In  the  year  feventeen  hundred  feventy  eight. 

When  each  fex  drives  at  fuch  a  furious  rate. 

The  modilh  artift,  playwright,  or  coach-maker. 

In  Grub-lireet  ftarv’d,  or  thriving  in  Long- Acre  ; 

To  fuit  the  times,  and  tally  with  the  mode, 

Mull  travel  in  the  beaten  turnpike-road  ; 

Wherefore  our  crane-neck’d  manager  to-day 
Upon  four  afts  attempts  to  run  his  play  : 

A  fifth  he  fears  you’ll  deem  the  bard’s  reproach, 

A  mere  fifth  wheel  that  would  but  Hop  the  coach. 

With  two-aft  pieces  what  machines  agree  ? 

Buggies,  tim-whilkies,  or  fqueez’d  evis~a-'vis% 

Where  two  fit  face  to  face,  and  knee  to  knee. 

What  is  a  piece  in  one  Ihort  aft  comprefs’d  ? 

A  wheel-barrow,  or  fulky  at  the  beft. 

A  fcale  fo  fmall,  the  bard  would  fuffer  for’t ; 

You’d  fay  his  farce  was  like  himfelf— too  Ihort  5 
Yet  anxious  with  your  fmiles  his  work  to  crown. 

In  many  a  varied  lhape  he  courts  the  town. 

Sometimes  he  drives — if  brother  bards  implore; 
Sometimes  he  in  a  prologue  trots  before, 

Or  in  an  epilogue  gets  up  behind— 

Happy  in  all,  fo  you  appear  but  kind. 

His  vehicle  to-day  may  none  reproach. 

Nor  take  it  for  a  hearle,  or  mourning  coach: 

?Tis  true,  a  gloomy  outlide  he  has  wrought. 

That  rather  threatens  than  doth  promife  aught; 

Yet  from  black  fun’ral,  like  his  brother  Bayesa 
A  nuptial  banquet  he  intends  to  raife, 

O  3 


We 


193  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 

We  do  but  ]t$.~~pcifon  in  j eft — no  more— 

And  thus  one  Mercer  to  the  world  reftore. 

But  if  a  well-tim’d  jefl  fhould  chance  to  fave 
One  mercer  from  perdition  and  the  grave. 

All  Ludgate-Hill  be  judge,  if ’twere  not  hard, 

Felo  de  fe  fhould  you  bring  in  the  bard. 

EPILOGUE  to  the  Same* 

Written  hy  Mr,  Garrick. 

Spoken  ly  Mi/s  Barren. 

THE  critics  fay,  and  conffantly  repeat, 

That  woman  afling  man  ’s  a  filly  cheat. 

That  ev’n  upon  the  flage  it  fhould  not  pafs : 

To  which  I  fay— a  critic  is  an  afs. 

As  man,  true  man  we  could  not  well  deceive. 

But  we,  like  modifh  things,  may  make  believe. 

Would  it  be  thought  I  gave  myfelf  great  airs. 

To  put  my  manhood  on  a  foot  with  theirs  ? 

Speak,  you  that  are  men,  is  my  pride  too  great 
To  think  you’d  rather  have  with  me— a  tete-d-tete ? 

In  this  our  play  what  dangers  have  I  run  ! 

What  hair-breadth  Tcapes !  and  yet  the  prize  have  won* 
Is  it  a  prize  ?  He  may  prove  crofs,  or  jealous, 

In  marriage-lotteries,  the  knowing  tell  us. 

Among  our  modern  youths  much  danger  lies. 

There  are  a  hundred  blanks  for  one  poor  prize. 

Was  I  not  bold,  ye  fair,  to  undertake 
To  tame  that  wildefl  animal— a  rake  1 
To  lead  a  tyger  in  a  filken  firing, 

Hufh  the  loud  fiorm,  and  clip  the  whirlwind’s  wing! 
My  pride  was  piqued,  all  dangers  I  would  thro’ : 

To  have  her  way  what  would  not  woman  do  ? 

The  papers  fwarm  each  day  with  patent  puffers 
For  fmoaky  chimnies— powders— moufe-traps— fnuffers 
And  I  could  fame  as  well  as  fortune  raife. 

To  cure  by  patent,  la  folie  Angloife . 

Fm  fure  you  all  my  nollrum  will  approve. 

By  Nature’s  guidance  let  your  paifions  move, 

Drive  out  that  demon  Gaming,  by  the  angel  Love. 

But,  ladies,  if  you  wifh  to  know  my  plan. 

By  ffratagem,  not  force,  attack  your  man. 

/  .By  open  war  the  danger  is  increas’d  ; 

Ufe  gentle  means  to  foothe  the  favage  beaft. 

If  when  his  blood  boils  o’er,  your’s  bubbles  (ooa 
Then  all  is  loft,  and  there’s  the  devil  to  do. 


POETRY. 


199 


Piff,  puff,  blown  up  at  once  the  lover’s  part. 

He  fnaps  his  chain,— -and  madam — breaks  her  heart — 
Hymen  puts  out  his  torch,  and  Cupid  blunts  his  dart. 
Thus  ends  the  farce,  or  tragedy  of  love  ; 

But,  ladies,  if  your  fparks  are  given  to  rove. 

From  my  experience  take  one  general  rule— 

Cool  as  he  warms,  and  love  will  never  cool 
If  fmoak  prevails,  and  the  choak’d  dame  is  dying, 

Then  gently  fan  it  with  fome  little  fighing  ; 

Then  drop  into  the  flame  a  tear  or  two, 

And,  blazing  up  like  oil,  ’twill  burn  him  thro’ ; 

Then  add  kind  looks,  foft  words,  fmeet  fmiles — no  pout* 
And  take  my  word  the  flame  will  ne’er  go  out  : 

Thefe,  with  good  humour  mix’d,  the  balm  of  life. 

Will  be  the  bell:  receipt  for  maid  or  wife. 

PROLOGUE  to  Bonduca. 

I 

Written  hy  David  Garrick,  E/q, 

TO  modern  Britons  let  the  old  appear 

This  night  to  roufe  ’em  for  this  anxious  years 
To  raife  that  fpirit,  which  of  yore,  when  rais’d. 

Made  even  Romans  tremble  while  they  prais’d  : 

To  roufe  that  fpirit,  which  thro’  every  age 

Has  wak’d  the  lyre,  and  warm’d  th’  hiflorian’s  page  ; 

That  dauntlefs  fpirit,  which  on  Creffy’s  Plain, 

Rufh’d  from  the  heart,  through  every  Britifli  vein  ; 
Nerv’d  ev’ry  arm  the  numerous  hoil  to  dare, 

Whilfl  Edward's  valour  {hone  the  guiding  ftar, 

Whofe  beams  difpers’d  the  darknefs  of  defpair. 

Whate’er  the  craft,  or  number  of  the  foes. 

Ever  from  danger  Britain’s  glory  rofe; 

To  the  mind’s  eye  let  the  fifth  Harry  rife. 

And  in  that  vifion  boafting  France  defpife. 

Then  turn  to  later  deeds  your  fires  have  wrought. 

When  Anna  rul’d,  and  mighty  Marlb’rough  fought. 

Shall  Chatham  die,  and  be  forgot  ? — Oh  \  no. 

Warm  from  its  fource  let  grateful  forrow  flow  ; 

His  matchlefs  ardor  fir’d  each  fear-ftruck  mind. 

His  genius  foar’d,  when  Briton’s  droop’d  and  pin’d  ; 
Whilft  each  State  Atlas  funk  beneath  the  load, 

His  heart,  unfhook,  with  patriot  virtue  glow’d  ; 

Like  Hercules,  he  freed  ’em  from  the  weight. 

And  on  his  Ihoulders  fix’d  the  tottering  ftate ; 

His  (Length  the  monfiers  of  the  land  defy’d. 

To  raife  his  country’s  glory  was  his  pride, 

And  for  his  fervice,  as  he  liv’d,  he  dy’d, 

O  4 


O  S  for 


300 


©'Vx 


ANNUAL  REGIS 


O  !  for  his  powers,  thofe  feelings  to  impart. 

Which  rous’d  to  adion  every  drooping  heart. 

Now,  while  the  angry  trumpet  founds  alarms, 

And  all  the  nation  cries  to  arms,  to  arms  ! 

Then  would  his  native  ftrength  each  Briton  know. 
And  fcorn  the  threats  of  an  invading  foe  : 
Hatching,  and  feeding  every  civil  broil, 

France  looks  with  envy  on  our  happy  foil  ; 

When  mifchiePs  on  the  wing,  fhe  cries  for  war, 
Infults  diftrefs,  and  braves  her  conqueror. 

But  Shakefpeare  fung— -and  well  this  land  he  knew, 
O !  hear-his  voice — chat  nought  fhall  make  us  rue. 
If  England  to  itfelf  do  reft  but  true. 


PROLOGUE  to  the  new  Comedy  of  The  Father; 

Written  hy  Mr .  Garrxcic,  and fpoken  by  Mr.  King, 

WHEN  from  the  world  departs  a  fon  of  fame. 

His  d'eeds  or  works  embalm  his  precious  name* 
Yet  not  content,  the  public  call  for  art, 

To  refcue  from  the  tomb  his  mortal  part: 

Demand  the  painter’s  and  the  fculptor’s  hand. 

To  fpread  his  mimic  form  throughout  the  land  $ 

A  form,  perhaps,  which,  living,  was  neglefted. 

And  when  it  could  not  feel  refpeft,  refpefted* 

This  night  no  buft  or  picture  claims  your  praife. 

Our  claim’s  fuperior,  we  his  fpirit  raife  : 

From  time’s  dark  ftorehoufe,  bring  a  long-loft  play. 

And  drag  it  from  oblivion  into  day. 

But  who  the  author?  Need  I  name  the  wit? 

Whom  nature  prompted  as  his  genius  writ  : 

Truth  fmil’d  on  Fancy  for  each  well- wrought  ftory, 
Where  ckaratters  live,  aft,  and  Hand  before  ye  : 

Suppofe  thefe  charafters  various  as  they  are, 

The  knave,  the  fool,  the  worthy,  wife,  and  fair, 

For  and  againft  the  author  pleading  at  your  bar. 

Firft  pleads  Tom  Jones-—  grateful  his  heart  and  warm  ; 
Brave,  gen’rous  Britons— i hield  this  play  from  harm: 

My  beft  friend  wrote  it  ;  ihould  it  not  fucceed, 

Tho*  with  my  Sophy  bleft — -my  heart  will  bleed— — ■ 
Then  from  his  face  he  wipes  the  manly  tear  ; 

Courage,  my  mafter,  Partridge  cries,  don’t  fear ; 

Should  envy’s  ferpents  hifs,  or  malice  frown, 

Tho’  I’m  a  coward,  zounds  l  I’ll  knock  ’em  down  ; 
Next,  fweet  Sophia  comes— fhe  cannot  fpeak- — — 

Her  wilhes  for  the  play  o’erfpread  her  cheek  1 


la 


2Q 1 


P  O  E  T  R  Y. 

In  av’ry  look  her  fentiments  you  read  ; 

And  more  than  eloquence  her  blufhes  plead. 

"Now  Blifil  bows — with  fmiles  his  falfe  heart  gilding. 

He  was  my  foe — I  beg  you’ll  damn  this  Fielding  ; 
Right,  Thvoackum  roars — no  mercy.  Sirs,  I  pray, 

— Scourge  the  dead  author  thro’  his  orphan  play. 

What  words  !  —  (cries  Parfon  Adams)  fie,  fie,  dil'own  'em; 
Good  Lord  1 — de  mortuis  nil  nift  bonum  : 
if  fuch  are  Chrifiian  teachers,  who’ll  revere  ’em  — 
And  thus  they  preach,  the  devil  alone  Ihould  hear  ’em* 
Now  Slipjlop  enters— th o’  this  fcriv'ning  vagrant, 
sSalted  my  virtue,  which  was  ever  flagrant ; 

Yet,  like  black  ’ Thello ,  I’d  bear  fcorns  and  whips. 

Slip  into  poverty  to  the  very  hips, 

T’  exult  this  play — may  it  decreafe  in  favour  ; 

And  be  its  fame  immoraliA  d  for  ever  ! 
i Squire  Weflern ,  reeling,  with  Odiober  mellow. 

Tall’  yo  !— Boys  !— Yoax — Critics  !  hunt  the  fellow* 
Damn  ’em,  thefe  wits  are  varmint  not  worth  breeding. 
What  good  e’er  came  of  writing  and  of  reading? 

Next  comes,  brimful  of  fpite  and  politics,  ■-* 

His  Sifter  Weftern * — and  thus  deeply  fpeaks  : 

Wits  are  arm’d  pow’rs — like  France  attack  the  foe  3 
Negotiate  ’till  they  deep — then  ftrike  the  blow  ! 

Alive  or  t  by  laft,  pleads  to  your  nobleft  paffions - 

Ye  gen’rous  leaders  of  the  tafte  and  falhions  3 
Departed  genius  left  his  orphan  play, 

To  your  kind  care— what  the  dead  wills  obey  : 

O  then  refpedl  the  Father’s  fond  bequeft, 

And  make  his  widow  fmile,  his  fpirit  reft. 

EPILOGUE  to  the  fame. 

Jfritten  by  Mr.  Garrick,  and ' fpoken  by  Mifs  Youn«. 

PROLOGUES  and  Epilogues — to  fpeak  the  phrafe 
Which  fuits  the  warlike  fpirit  of  thefe  days — - 
Are  cannon  charg’d,  or  fhould  be  charg’d  with  wit. 
Which,  pointed  well,  each  rifing  folly  hit. 

By  a  late  General  who  commanded  here. 

And  fought  our  bloodlefs  battles  many  a  year  ! 

’Mongft  other  favours  were  conferr’d  on  me. 

He  made  me  Captain  of  artillery  ! _ — 

At  various  follies  many  guns  I  fir’d. 

Hit  ’em  point  blank,  and  thought  the  foe  retir’d. _ 

But  vainly  thought— for  to  my  great  furprize, 

'if  hey  now  are  rank  and  file  before  my  eyes  1 


Nay 


202  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i77b. 

Nay  to  retreat  may  even  me  oblige 
The  works  of  folly  Hand  the  longeft  liege  ! 

With  what  brilk  firing,  and  what  thunder-claps. 

Did  I  attack  thofe  high-built  caftles—- caps ! 

But  tow’ring  ftill,  they  fwell  in  lofty  Hate, 

Nor  ftrike  one  ribband  to  capitulate  ;  — 

Whilft  beaux  behind,  thus  peeping,  and  thus  bent* 

Are  the  befieg’d,  behind  the  battlement : 

But  yOu  are  conquerors,  ladies,  have  no  dread. 
Henceforth  in  peace  enjoy  the  Cloud-cap' d head  ! 

We  fcorn  to  ape  the  French ,  their  tricks  give  o’er. 

Nor  at  your  rigging  fire  one  cannon  more  ! 

And  now,  ye  Bucks ,  and  Bucklings  of  the  age, 

Tho’  caps  are  clear,  your  hats  fhall  feel  my  rage; 

The  high-cock’d,  half-cock’d,  Quaker,  and  the  floaclr,. 
Have  at  ye  all! — I’ll  hit  youj  tho*  ye  crouch. 

We  read  in  hiftory— one  William  Tell , 

An  honeft  Snvifs,  with  arrows  fhot  fo  well. 

On  his  fon’s  head,  he  aim’d  with  fo  much  care. 

He’d  hit  an  apple,  and  not  touch  one  hair: 

So  I  with  fuch  like  lkill,  but  much  lefs  pain. 

Will  ftrike  your  hats  off,  and  not  touch  your  brain  : 

To  curfe  our  head  drefs  l  an’t  you  pretty  fellows ! 

Pray  who  can  fee  thro’  your  broad-brim’d  umbrellas  ? 
That  pent  houfe  worn  by  Him  Sir  Dainty  Dandle  / 

Seems  to  extinguifh  a  poor  farthing  candle — 

We  look  his  body  thro’ — But  what  fair  file 
Thro’  the  broad  cloud  that’s  round  his  head  can  fee  ? 
Time  was,  when  Britons  to  the  boxes  came, 

Quite  fpruce,  and  Chapeau  has  !  addrefs’d  each  dame. 
Now  in  flapp’d  hats  and  dirty  boots  they  come. 

Look  knowing  thus— to  every  female  dumb  ; 

But  roar  out*— Hey,  Jack  !  fo.  Will!  you  there,  Tom? 
Both  fides  have  errors,  that  there’s  no  concealing  ; 

We’d  low’r  our  heads,  had  but  men’s  hearts  fome  feeling* 
Valence ,  my  fpark,  played  off  his  modifh  airs. 

But  nature  gave  his  wit  to  cope  with  theirs  ; 

Our  fex  have  fome  fmali  faults  won’t  bear  defending, 

And  tho’  near  perfeft,  want  a  little  mending ; 

Let  Love  ftep  forth,  and  claim  from  both  allegiance,, 

$nd  bring  back  caps  and  hats  to  due  obedience. 


PROLOGUE 


POETRY. 


203 


PROLOGUE  and  EPILOGUE  to  the  New  Comedy  of  the  Slee»- 

Walker. 

.,1  , 

(Franflated  from  the  French.) 

Performed  at  the  Seat  of  Lord  Craven,  near  Newbury,  in  Berkfhire, 

4 

The  Prologue  and  Epilogue  are  the  Production  of  Lady  Craven. 

P  R  O  L.  O  G  U  E. 

FROM  the  Green-room  I’ve  juft  efcap’d  to  tell 
What  fad  confufion  and  what  tremors  dwell. 

On  each  young  A&or’s  face  ;  by  turns  appear 
Gleams  of  fweet  hope,  and  pangs  of  anxious  fear. 

I  come  your  pity  and  applaufe  t’  intreat, 

And  lay  our  weak  endeavours  at  your  feet. 

We  ne’er  were  taught  to  rant,  to  weep,  to  flare  ; 

Or  tread  poetic  ground,  with  comic  air  ; 

So,  if  we  deviate  from  dramatic  rule. 

Good  folks,  remember,  we  were  ne’er  at  fchool. 

*  •  t  • 

One  A£tor,  trembling,  bites  his  nails  and  fwears 
He  ne’er  can  get  the  better  of  his  fears ; 

Another  wipes  his  brow  in  mighty  futs. 

And,  like  a  tea-pot,  (lands  exactly  thus : 

Each  to  their  different  parts  make  fome  objection. 

All  cling  to  me,  for  knowledge  or  prote&ion. 

To  me  they  truft,  whofe  knowledge  is  fo  frnall  ; 

To  me,  the  greateft  coward  of  them  all. 

Laft  night,  indeed,  as  thro’  old  Chaucer’s  grove. 

In  folitary  mood,  I  chanc’d  to  rove  ; 

A  reverend  form  addrefs’d  my  lift’ning  ear, 

And  thus  advis’d  me  to  fupprefs  each  fear  : 

*  Welcome,  thrice  welcome,  to  this  beauteous  fpot. 

Fam’d  Doningtou  !  this  once  my  happy  lot; 

Chaucer,  by  name  ;  I  firft  attun’d  the  lyre. 

And  gave  to  Britifh  founds  poetic  fire  : 

The  praife  of  Berkfhire,  erft  the  woods  among, 

Infpir’d  my  lays,  and  cheer’d  my  tuneful  long  ; 

Berkfhire,  whofe  fcenes  might  roufe  a  Poet’s  thought, 

Berkfhire,  with  every  pleafing  beauty  fraught, 

Demands  thy  fofthing  hand,  thy  daily  pray ’r. 

And  let  the  poor  and  aged  be  thy  care  ; 

Employ  thy  genius,  and  command  each  friend. 

Turn  Mirth  and  pleafure  to  fome  pious  end.* 

He  ceas’d,  the  Poet’s  fhade  diflblv’d  in  air, 

Jfis  fage  advice  is  deeply  written  here ; 

»  1  joy- 


eo4  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177S, 

I  joyfully  obey«~and  this  night’s  gain 
Is  to  relieve  the  voice  of  want  or  pain  ; 

Our  Play  alone  is  adled  with  this  view. 

Our  Players  happy  if  approv’d  by  you. 

Your  gracious  fmiles  will  juftify  the  parts, 

Which,  as  they  pleafe  the  mind,  revive  the  hearts* 

EPIOLGUE. 

IS  all  our  audience  quite  awake,  I  wonder  £ 

Methinks  I  fee  one  in  that  corner  yonder 
That  droops  his  head  ;  alas  !  as  if  to  fay. 

This  is,  I  vow,  a  foporific  play. 

J  thought  ’twould  be  fo  :  our  young  Tranfiator 
Call’d  me  a  crofs  old  grumbling  woman-hater. 

Becaufe  I  faid,  dear  Ma’am,  ’twill  never  do,  1 

Your  plot,  your  deeper,  why  ’tis  very  true,  > 

Together  with  the  Adors,  all  are  new,  J 

But  then  new  things  but  feldom  lit  with  eafe; 

Stop  here,  die  faid,  why  I  am  fure  to  pleafe : 

Then  gave  me  fuch  a  look  from  her  black  eyes. 

As  might  infpire  a  ftatue  with  furprife. 

Tell  them,  faid  die,  then  tofs’d  her  little  head. 

We’re  dreamers  all,  both  in  and  out  of  bed. 

Look  at  our  modern  beau,  who  deeps  till  noon. 

Then  yawns  all  day,  as  if  got  up  too  foon. 

The  fwain,  who  dreams  of  lilies  and  of  rofes. 

Pines  for  thofe  fweets  o’er  which  a  hufband  dofes ; 

The  love-fick  maid  is  furely  in  a  dream. 

Whene’er  male  conftancy’s  her  fav’rite  theme. 

See  Politicians,  deep!  tremendous  number ! 

O’er  half-form’d  projeds,  how  demure  they  dumber! 

To  form,  reform,  rejed,  chufe,  mend  and  make, 

Thefe  are  the  dreams  of  good  men  broad  awake. 

Behold,  our  Minifters  who  make  a  fufs. 

When  knotty  points,  adembled,  they  difcufs  ; 

Who  talk  of  peace,  of  taxes,  and  ftarvation,  \ 

They  only  dream  they  can  retrieve  the  nation. 

One  out  of  ten  of  each  protefting  Peer 

Dreams,  faintly  dreams,  he’s  what  he  wou’d  appear. 

Phyfieians  dream  ill  health  they  can  controul. 

And  Quacks  divine  that  they  can  fave  the  foul. 

I  dream,  my  neighbours,  as  myfelf  I  love, 

I  dream,  this  night’s  performance  they  approve  | 

Tell  them  this  dream  appears  to  me  fo  clever. 

That,  if  it  is  not  true,  — — -  I’ll  deep  for  ever* 


VERSES 


POETRY. 


20  5 

VERSES  by  the  late  Earl  of  Chatham,  to  David  Garrick* 
Efq .  when  on  a  Vi  ft  fome  Tears  ago  at  Mount  Edgecomb, 

t  , 

f 

LEAVE,  Garrick,  the  rich  landfcape,  proudly  gay. 

Docks,  forts,  and  navies  bright’ning  all  the  bay; 

To  my  plain  roof  repair,  primaeval  feat! 

Yet  there  no  wonders  your  quick  eyes  can  meet. 

Save  fhould  you  deem  it  wonderful  to  find 
Ambition  cur’d,  and  an  unpaflion’d  mind  ; 

A  Statefman  without  pow’r,  and  without  gall. 

Hating  no  Courtiers,  happier  than  them  all ; 

Bow’d  to  no  yoke,  nor  crouching  for  applaufe, 

Vot’ry  alone  to  freedom  and  the  laws  ; 

Herds,  flocks,  and  fmiling  Ceres  deck  our  plain. 

And,  interfpers’d,  an  heart-enlivening  train 
Of  lportive  children  frolic  o’er  the  green  ; 

Mean  time  pure  love  looks  on  and  confecrates  the  fcene6 
Come  then,  immortal  fpirit  of  the  Stage, 

Great  Nature’s  proxy,  glafs  of  ev’ry  age  ; 

Come  take  the  Ample  life  of  Patriarchs  old. 

Who,  rich  in  rural  peace,  ne’er  thought  of  pomp  or  gold. 


Mr.  Garrick’s  Answer, 

WHEN  Peleus’  fon,  untaught  to  yield. 

Wrathful  forfook  the  hoftile  field  $ 

His  bread  fiill  warm  with  heav’nly  fire. 

He  tun’d  the  lay,  and  fwept  the  lyre. 

So  Chatham,  whofe  exalted  foul 
Pervaded  and  infpir’d  the  whole  ; 

Where,  far  by  martial  glory  led, 

Britain  her  fails  and  banners  fpread. 

Retires,  (tho’  Wifdom’s  God  difluades) 

And  feeks  repofe  in  rural  fhades. 

Yet  thither  comes  the  God  confefs’d  ; 

Celeftial  form  !  a  well  known  gueft. 

1 

Nor  flow  he  moves  with  folemn  air. 

Nor  on  his  brow  hangs  penfive  care ; 

Nor  in  his  hand  th’  hiftoric  page 
Gives  leflons  to  experienc’d  age. 

As  when  in  vengeful  ire  he  rofe. 

And  plann’d  the  fate  of  Britain’s  foes ; 

While  the  wing’d  hours  obedient  Hand, 

And  inftant  fpeed  the  dread  command. 

Chearful 

) 


£06 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 

Chearful  he  came,  all  blithe  and  gay 
Fair  blooming  like  the  Ton  of  May  ; 

Adown  his  radiant  fhoulder  hung 
A  harp,  by  all  the  Mufes  krung ; 

Smiling  he  to  his  friend  refign’d 
This  Toother  of  the  human  mind. 


^POETICAL  EPISTLE  to  Dr.  Goldsmith;  ort  the  Sup¬ 
plement  to  his  Retaliation,  a  Poems 

DOCTOR  !  according  to  our  wifhes. 

You’ve  charadler’d  us  all  In  dijhes , 

Serv’d  up  a  fentimental  treat 
Of  various  emblematical  meat : 

And  now  it’s  time,  I  trail,  you’ll  think 
Your  company  fhould  have  feme  drink ; 

Else,  take  my  word  for  It,  at  lead 
Your  Irijh  friends  won’t  like  your  leak. 

Ring  then,  and  fee  that  there  is  plac’d 
To  each  according  to  his  take. 

O 

'  To  Douglas ,  fraught  with  learned  dock 
Of  critic  lore,  give  ancient  Hock  ; 

Let  it  be  genuine,  bright,  and  fine, 

Pure  unadulterated  wine  ; 

For  if  there’s  fault  in  take,  or  odour. 

He’ll  fearch  it,  as  he  fearch’d  out  Lauder \ 

To  John/on.  philofophic  fage. 

The  moral  Mentor  of  the  age, 

Religion’s  friend,  with  foul  fincere. 

With  melting  heart,  but  look  aukere. 

Give  liquor  of  an  honek  fort, 

And  crown  his  cup  with  prickly  Port  / 

Now  fill  the  glafs  with  gay  Champagne „ 

And  frifk  it  in  a  livelier  krain  ; 

Quick  !  Quick  l  the  fparkling  nedlar  quafF, 

Drink  it,  dear  Garrick  !  —drink,  and  laugh 
Pour  forth  £0  Reynolds ,  without  kint. 

Rich  Burgundy,  of  ruby  tint  ; 

If  e’er  his  colours  chance  to  fade. 

This  brilliant  hue  fhall  come  in  aid. 

With  ruddy  lights  refrefh  the  faces. 

And  warm  the  bofoms  of  the  Graces  ! 

To  Burke  a  pure  libation  bring, 

Frefh-drawn  from  clear  Cajlalian  fpring  ; 

With  civic  oak  the  goblet  bind. 

Fit  emblem  of  hie  patriot  mind  $  % 


Lei 


£07 


POETRY. 

Let  Clio,  as  his  tafter,  Tip, 

And  Hermes  hand  it  to  his  lip. 

Fill  out  my  friend,  the  D***  of  D***j , 

A  bumper  of  conventual  Sherry  ! 

Give  Ridge  and  Hicky ,  generous  fouls  ! 

Of  whijky  punch  convivial  bowls  ; 

But  let  the  kindred  Burkes  regale 
With  potent  draughts  of  Wicklow  Ale  ; 

To  C****k  next,  in  order  turn  you. 

And  grace  him  with  the  vines  of  Ferney  f 
Now,  Doctor,  thou’rt  an  honell  dicker. 

So  take  your  glafs,  and  chufe  your  liquor  ; 

Will’t  have  it  deep’d  in  Alpine  fnows. 

Or  damaik’d  at  Silenus ’  note: 

With  Wakefield's  Vicar  ftp  your  tea. 

Or  to  Thalia  drink  with  me  ? 

And,  Do&or,  I  would  have  you  know  if, 

An  honed,  I,  tho’  humble  poet  : 

I  fcorn  the  fneaker  like  a  toad. 

Who  drives  his  cart  the  Dover  road  ; 

There,  traitor  to  his  country’s  trade. 

Smuggles  vile  fcraps  of  French  brocade  .* 

Hence  with  all  fuch  !  for  you  and  I 
By  Englijh  wares  will  live,  and  die. 

Come,  draw  your  chair,  and  dir  the  fire ; 

Here,  boy  !— a  pot  of  Thrale's  Entire  ! 

VERSES  by  Sir  John  Denham  (not  printed  in  his  Works),  in* 
ficribed  to  the  Hon.  Edward  Howard,  on  •*  The  British  Princes  ;19 
a  Performance  which  drew  ironical  Commendations  from  Butler,  Dry  den* 
and  the  mojl  eminent  of  their  Contemporaries , 

WHAT  mighty  gale  hath  rais’d  a  flight  fo  firong  ? 

So  high  above  all  vulgar  eyes  ?  fo  long  } 

One  Angle  rapture  fcarce  itfelf  confines 
Within  the  limits  of  four  thoufand  lines; 

And  yet  I  hope  to  fee  this  noble  heat 
Continue,  till  it  makes  the  piece  compleat. 

That  to  the  latter  age  it  may  defcend, 

And  to  the  end  of  time  its  beams  extend. 

When  poefy  joins  profit  with  delight. 

Her  images  (hould  be  mod  exquifite. 

Since  man  to  that  perfedion  cannot  rife. 

Of  always  virtuous,  fortunate,  and  wife; 

Therefore  the  patterns  man  (hould  imitate 
Above  the  life  our  makers  (hould  create. 

Herein,  if  we  confult  with  Greece  and  Rome, 

Greece  (as  in  war)  by  Rome  was  overcome; 


Though 


I 


so8  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1??8. 

Though  mighty  raptures  we  in  Homer  find. 

Yet,  like  himfelf,  his  chara&ers  were  blind. 

Virgil’s  fublimed  eyes  not  only  gaz’d. 

But  his  fublimed  thoughts  to  Heaven  were  rais’d. 

Who  reads  the  honours  which  he  paid  the  gods. 

Would  think  he  had  beheld  their  bleft  abodes  ; 

And,  that  his  hero  might  accomplilh’d  be. 

From  divine  blood  he  draws  his  pedigree. 

From  that  great  judge  your  judgment  takes  its  lavva 
And  by  the  bed  original  does  draw 
Bonduca’s  honour,  with  thofe  heroes  time 
Had  in  oblivion  wrapt,  his  faucy  crime ; 

To  them  and  to  y*our  nation  you  are  juft; 

In  railing  up  their  glories  from  the  duft  ; 

And  to  Old  England  you  that  right  have  done. 

To  fhew,  no  ftory  nobler  than  her  own. 


Whe-  folio-wing  Extradls  are  made  from  a  Poem,  whofe  Merit  is  already  ic» 
uni  v  erf  ally  acknowledged  to  require,  our  Tejlimony.  We  are ,  however* 
happy  in  this  opportunity  of  acquainting  the  Publick ,  that  the  Author ,  we 
are  told ,  defgns  to  prcjecute  his  Plan  in  two  other  Poetical  Epiflles ,  ad~ 
drefj'ed  to  the  Bifhop  of  London  and  to  Mr ,  Gibbon,  on  the  Suhjedls  of 
Poetry  and  Hiflory* 

At^HINK  not,  my  friend,  with  fupercilious  air, 

Jh  I  rank  the  portrait  as  beneath  thy  care. 

Bleft  be  the  pencil  !  which  from  death  can  fave 
The  femblance  of  the  virtuous,  wife,  and  brave  ; 

That  youth  and  emulation  ftill  may  gaze. 

On  thofe  infpiring  forms  of  ancient  days. 

And,  from  the  force  of  bright  example  bold, 

Rival  their  worth,  and  be  what  they  behold.*9 
Bleft  be  the  pencil  !  whofe  confoiing  pow’r. 

Soothing  foft  friendfhip  in  her  peniive  hour, 

Difpels  the  cloud,  with  melancholy  fraught. 

That  abfence  throws  upon  her  tender  thought. 

Bleft  be  the  pencil  i  whofe  enchantment  gives 
To  wounded  Love  the  food  on  which  he  lives. 

Rich  in  this  gift  tho’  cruel  ocean  bear 
The  youth  to  exile  from  his  faithful  fair. 

He  in  fond  dreams  hangs  o’er  her  glowing  cheek. 

Still  owns  her  prefent,  and  ftill  hears  her  fpeak  *. 

Gh  !  Love,  it  was  thy  glory  to  impart 
Its  infant  being  to  this  fweeteft  art! 

Infpir’d  by  thee,  the  foft  Corinthian  maid. 

Tier  graceful  lover’s  fleeping  form  pourtray’d : 

Her  boding  heart  his  near  departure  knew. 

Yet  long’d,  to  keep  his  image  in  her  view0 


Pleas’d 


POETRY. 


209 


Pleas’d  fhe  beheld  the  Heady  fhadow  fall. 

By  the  clear  lamp  upon  the  even  wall. 

The  line  Hie  trac’d,  with  fond  precilion  true. 

And,  drawing,  doated  on  the  form  fhe  drew: 

Nor,  as  fhe  glow’d  with  no  forbidden  fire, 
Conceal’d  the  fimple  pifture  from  her  fire; 

His  kindred  fancy,  Hill  to  nature  juft. 

Copied  her  line,  and  form’d  the  mimic  buft. 

Thus  from  thy  infpiration.  Love,  we  trace 
The  modell’d  image,  and  the  pencil’d  face  ! 

When  Britain  triumph’d,  thro’  her  wide  domain. 
O’er  France,  fupported  by  imperious  Spain, 

And,  fated  with  her  laurels’  large  increafe. 

Began  to  cultivate  the  plants  of  Peace; 

Fixt  by  kind  Majefty’s  protedling  hand. 

Painting,  no  more  an  alien  in  our  land, 

Firft  fmil’d  to  fee,  on  this  propitious  ground. 

Her  temples  open’d,  and  her  altars  crown’d  : 

And  Grace,  the  firft  attendant  of  her  train. 

She,  whom  Apelles  wooed,  nor  wooed  in  vain. 

To  Reynolds  gives  her  undulating  line. 

And  Judgment  doats  upon  his  chafte  defign. 

Tho’  Envy  whifpers  in  the  ear  of  Spleen, 

What  thoughts  are  borrow’d  in  his  perfect  fcene. 
And  with  glee  marks  them  on  her  canker’d  fcroll. 
Malicious  fiend  !  ’twas  thus  that  Virgil  Hole, 

To  the  bright  image  gave  a  brighter  glofs. 

Or  turn’d  to  pureft  gold  the  foreign  drofs. 
Excelling  artift  1  long  delight  the  eye  ! 

Teach  but  thy  transient  tints  no  more  to  fly* 

Britain  (hall  then  her  own  Apelles  fee. 

And  all  the  Grecian  fhall  revive  in  thee. 

Thy  manly  fpirit  glories  to  impart 
The  leading  principles  of  lib’ral  art; 

To  youthful  genius  points  what  courfe  to  run. 
What  lights  to  follow,  and  what  rocks  to  fhun  : 

So  Orpheus  taught  by  Learning’s  heavenly  fway 
To  daring  Argonauts  their  doubtful  way, 

A.nd  mark’d,  to  guide  them  in  their  bold  career, 
Th*  unerring  glories  of  the  ftarry  fphere. 

Thy  hand  enforces  what  thy  precept  taught. 

And  gives  new  leffons  of  exalted  thought. 

Thy  nervous  pencil  on  the  canvafs  throws 
The  tragic  ftory  of  fublimeft  woes : 

The  wretched  fons,  whom  Grief  and  Famine  tear. 
The  parent  petrified  with  blank  defpair. 

Thy  Ugolino  gives  the  heart  to  thrill, 

Writh  Pity’s  tender  throbs,  and  Horror’s  icy  chilL 
Yol.  XXI.  P 


S  E  N* 


210 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 


sentimental  poetry. 

From  the  Wreath  of  Fashion. 

FIRST,  for  true  grounds  of  fentimental  lore. 

The  fcenes  of  modern  comedy  explore  ; 

'Dramatic  Homilies  !  devout  and  fage, 

Stor’d  with  wife  maxims,  te  both  for  ufe  and  aged0 
Maxims,  that  fcorning  their  old  homely  drefs. 

Shift  from  plain  proverbs  to  fpruce  fentences. 

Rut  chief,  let  Cumberland  thy  mufe  direCl : 

High  priefl  of  all  the  tragic-comic  fed ! 

Mid  darts  and  flames  his  lover  cooly  waits ; 

Calm  as  a  hero,  cas’d  in  Hartley* s  plates ; 

5Till  damp’d,  and  chill’d,  by  fentimental  fighs. 

Each  frilled  pafllon  in  a  vapour  dies. 

%  %  ^  *  %  %  *  %  %  *  %  %  *  % 

On  a  fpruce  pedeftal  of  VFedgwood  nvarey 
Where  motley  forms,  and  tawdry  emblems  glare. 

Rehold  f he  confecrates  to  cold  applaufe, 

A  petrifaction,  work’d  into  a  *vafe  : 

The  vafe  of  fendment !— to  this  impart 
Thy  kindred  coldnefs,  and  congenial  art. 

Here,  (as  in  humbler  fcenes,  from  cards  and  gouty 
Millar  convenes  her  literary  rout) 

With  votive  fong,  and  tributary  verfe, 

Fafhion’s  gay  train  her  gentle  rites  rehearfe. 

‘What  foft  poetic  incenfe  breathes  around  ! 

What  foothing  hymns  from  Adulation  found  ! 

Here,  placid  Carlifle  breathes  his  gentle  line. 

Or  haply,  gen’rous  Hare,  re-echoes  thine : 

Soft  flows  the  lay  ;  as  when,  with  tears,  he  paid 
The  laft  fad  honours  to  his- — fpamel’s  lhade  \ 

And  lo  !  he  grafps  the  badge  of  wit,  a  wand  ; 

He  waves  it  thrice,  and  Storer  is  at  hand  ; 

Pamifh’d  as  penance,  as  devotion  pale. 

Plaintive,  and  pert,  he  murmurs  a  love-tale. 

Fii%patrick* s  mufe  waits  for  fome  lucky  hit ; 

For,  Hill  the  Have  of  chance,  he  throws  at  wit. 

While  T 1 ownfiiend  his  pathetic  bow  difplays. 

And  princely  Boothby  filent  homage  pays. 

With  chirps  of  wit,  and  mutilated  lays, 

See  Falmerjlon  fineer  his  Bout's  Rhimees, 

Favorite  of  ev’ry  mufe,  eled;  of  Phcebus, 

'To  firing  charades,  or  fabricate  a  rebus. 

Bereft 


POETRY.- 

Bereft  of  fuch  a  guide,  old  Ocean,  mourn 
Thy  fading  glories*  and  thy  laurels  torn!  * 

’Twas  Palmerfton  repell’d  each  hoftile  wrong. 

Like  Ariel,  wrecking  navies  with — a  fong; 

But  fee,  by  pitying  fate  his  lofs  fupplied  ; 

For  Mulgrave  joins  where  fenfe  and  Sandwich  guide# 
Mu! grave  !  whofe  mufe  nor  winds  nor  waves  controul^ 
Could  bravely  pen  Acroftics — on  the  Pole , 

Warm  with  poetic  fire  the  northen  air. 

And  foothe  with  tuneful  raptures —the  great  Bear% 

Join  but  his  poetry  to  Eurgoyne’s  profe. 

Armies  fiial \  fall  afieep,  and  Pyrates  doze. 

So  when  the  rebel-winds  on  Neptune  fell. 

They  funk  to  red,  at  found  of  Triton’s  fhell. 


if  I: 


* 


* 


=* 


* 


* 


# 


Others,  refolv’d  more  ample  fame  to  boaft. 
Plant  their  own  laurels  in  the  Morning  Poft . 

Soft  Evening  dews  refrefii  the  tender  green : 
Pafs  but  a  month,  it  fwells  each  Magazine  ; 
’Till  the  luxuriant  boughs  fo  wildly  (hoot. 

The  Annual  Regijier  tranfplants  the  root — 

But  thefe  are  fpurious  honours,  not  the  true. 
Who  fhall  obtain  The  Wreath  of  Fajhion*—wh.o  l 


A  Description  of  Tyme= 
From  Harington’s  Remains* 

UPON  the  hill  Olympiade, 

Where  Hercules  begonne, 

Firft  myghtie  theetrefs  to  be  made, 

Wheare  noble  deeds  weare  done, 

Depayntede  theare  with  pencil  fine. 

At  lardge  aboute  the  fame 
There  faw  I  ftande  hymfelf  Syr  Tymb, 

And  at  his  back  Dame  Fame. 


In  charret  fhynynge  fonnyfhe  bright 
Thys  fyre  fat  on  throne, 

Ydrawne  with  wylde  harte  frelh  and  whyglit* 

Well  leeminge  they  had  flowne. 

*  Upon  Lord  Palmerfton’s  appointment  to  the  treafury,  Lord  Mul grave  fuC 
aeeded  to  his  place  at  the  Admiralty  board.— .««  Mira  canam  j  8qI  eccubuit, 
nulla  fecuta  eJ\P\ 


no* 

On 


P  a 


ANNUAL'  REGISTER, 

On  whyche  thys  winged  gode  he  went 
The  whole  worlde  for  to  veiwe. 

Each  creature  how  his  tyme  had  fpente, 

A  note  to  take  anewe. 

And  with  him,  as  I  faid  before. 

He  browght  tryumphante  Fame, 

For  to  rewarde  Renowne  the  more 
Whofo  defervede  the  fame. 

Thushaftinge  over  holte  and  hyll, 

Firfte  gan  he  them  beholde 
That  toyl  and  travaile  ever  ftyll ; 

To  whom  Syr  Tyme  thus  told  % 

In  fweate  of  browes,  you  fymple  men, 

Whyle  lyfe  in  you  remaynes. 

Hade  on,  and  your  rewarde  be,  then. 

Your  travail  for  your  pains. 

In  princely  pallace  prowdlie  pyght, 

Syr  Tyme  a  whyle  gan  hay  ; 

For  theare  Dame  Fame  would  view  aright. 
How  each  one  fpent  the  day. 

Theare  fownde  they  preft  a  noble  bande. 

In  armour  bright  and  brave ; 

On  llartlynge  fteedes  with  Haves  in  hand. 
Nought  elfe  but  tyme  they  crave. 

In  luftie  lyftes  at  lardge  they  lay 
On  bold  rebatant  blowes^ 

The  Knyght  on  courfer  Jgyns  to  fwaye, 

And  to  the  grownde  he  goes. 

Hym  to  receave,  then  cometh  fafie 
Another,  to  Wynne  prayfe; 

Amonge  the  worthies  to  be  placed. 

He  ftryves  at  all  aiTayes. 

To  Whom  Dame  Fame,  with  fmyling  grace. 

Gave  thanckes  unto  them  then  ; 

And  in  their  fyght,  before  each  face. 

Their  prayfes  did  ihee  pen. 

Then  faid  Syr  Tyme,  beholde  herebye, 

A  nombre  infinite 
Of  idle  ones,  lo  !  wheare  they  lye., 

Lyving  in  foule  delyght. 


POETRY.  ais 

Cut  off  their  tyme.  Fame  cryed  then 
Who  fo  confume  their  dayes ; 

Suche  flothfull  race  of  fluggilh  men 
Nought  worthie  are  of  prayfe. 

Then  glyded  forth  thys  great  god  Tyme, 

Till  he  approchede  neare 

A  multitude  of  men  divyne, 

’Twas  heaven  fuche  to  heare. 

For,  of  each  fcience  callede  feaven5 
A  nombre  there  were  mett, 

Wyth  faces  fixed  up  to  heav’n, 

Whofe  hartes  wear  firmlie  fett. 

In  fiudle  onlie  tyme  to  fpende. 

Knowledge  aye  to  encreafe  ; 

No  envious  cares  gan  them  offende, 

Ne  fought  they  worldlie  prayfe. 

Among  which  bleffyde  people  good, 

Wyth  heavenlie  harp  in  hande ; 

Sweet  Orpheus,  lo  !  that  glee  man  flood, 

Trew  mufycke  thear  he  fckan’d. 

In  tyme  and  tune  with  notes  aye  new,, 

Jehova’s  prayfe  he  fange ; 

So  did  the  relte  with  reafon  due, 

Whearof  the  whole  earth  range. 

Of  tyme  well-fpent,  faid  Syr  Tyme  then. 

To  ev’ry  one  by  name, 

Receave  you  fhall,  you  mortal  men. 

For  this — immortal  Fame. 

/  / 

Then  flrecht  he  out  his  golden  plumes 
Forthwith  to  take  his  flight ; 

Both  wynd  and  weather  he  confumes. 

And  foon  fades  out  of  fight. 

Where  I,  and  manie  a  mazede  man, 

Remayneth  ftyll  in  place. 

To  fee  hereafter,  yf  we  can. 

And  veiwe  Tyme’s  golden  face. 


*  3 


A  SON. 


41+  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778, 

A  SONNET  made  on  Isabella  Markhame,  when  I firfie  thought 
her  fay  er  as  Jhe  food  at  the  Princefs's  Windows  irt  goodly  e  ait  tyre  y  and 
ialkede  to  dyneers  in  the  Court -Yard . 

7 

From  a  MS.  of  John  Harington,  dated  1564. 

WHENCE  comes  my  love,  O  hearte,  difdofe* 

’Twas  from  cheeks  that  fhamed  the  rofe  | 

From  lips  that  fpoyle  the  rubies  prayfe ; 

From  eyes  that  mock  the  diamond’s  blaze. 

Whence  comes  my  woe,  as  freely  owne, 

Ah  me  !  ’twas  from  a  hearte  lyke  hone. 

The  blulbynge  cheek  fpeakes  modeft  mynde. 

The  lipps  befitting  wordes  mofte  kynde ; 

The  eye  does  tempte  to  love’s  defyre. 

And  feems  to  fay,  ’tis  Cupid’s  flrej 
Yet  all  fo  faire,  but  fpeake  my  moane, 

Syth  noughte  dothe  faye  the  hearte  of  hone. 

Why  thus,  iny  love,  fo  kynde  befpeake. 

Sweet  lyppe,  fweet  eye,  fweet  bluihynge  cheeky 
Yet  not  a  hearte  to  fave  my  paine, 

O  Venus,  take  thy  giftes  again  5 
Make  not  fo  faire  to  caufe  our  moane. 

Or  make  a  hearte  that’s  lyke  our  owne. 


The  VIOLET. 

By  Theophilus  Swift,  Ffq. 

H  E  E,  Flora’s  firh  and  favourite  child, 
1  By  Zephyr  nurfl  on  green- bank  wild. 
And  chear’d  by  vernal  (flowers !— -> 

Thy  fragrant  beauties  let  me  ling. 

Cerulean  harbinger  of  Spring, 

Chafle  Vi’let,  Queen  of  flowers ! 

Thy  velvet  birth,  in  golden  groves^ 

The  rofy  hours  and  laughing  loves 
With  genial  kifles  fed  : 

And  o’er  thee.  Peace ,  as  on  a  day 
In  early  innocence  you  lay. 

Her  fylvan  mantle  fpreacL 


Wh§R 


POETRY. 


“When  you  in  azure  ftate  appear. 

Thy  prefence  fpeaks  the  purple  year. 

And  promis’d  Summer  nigh. 

Thus  kiffes  blow  the  lover’s  fire. 

Till  the  warm  feafon  of  defire 
Mature  the  Spring  of  joy. 

Blue  fkirts  the  Rain-bow’s  arch  in  air. 

Blue  melts  the  mafs  of  colours  there. 

The  Heavens  are  hung  with 
And  Ihe,  the  nymph  that  charms  my  foul. 
Her  eyes  celeftial  azure  roll. 

And  bell  refemble  you. 

What  though  in  humble  fhades  you  dwell. 
And  lurk  in  thicket,  brake,  or  dell. 
Wafting  your  fweets  away 
Yet  fhadt  thou  live  embalm’d  in  fong. 

And  there  fhalt  reign,  diftinguifti’d  long. 
The  blooming  Queen  of  May. 

Then  quit  the  wild,  left  fome  rude  thorn 
Invade  thy  beauty’s  tender  morn. 

All  lovely  as  thou  art  1 
So  fhall  thy  Poet  lift  his  voice. 

And  to  confirm  his  annual  choice. 

Still  lodge  thee  next  his  heart. 


A  SONG.  By  the  fame* 

WHEN  clouds  that  angel  face  deform. 

Anxious  I  view  the  growing  ftorm  5 
When  angry  lightnings  arm  thine  eye. 

And  tell  the  gathering  tempeft  nigh  j 
I  curfe  the  fex,  and  bid  adieu 
To  female  friendlhip,  love,  and  you. 

But  when  foft  paftions  rale  your  breaft. 

And  each  kind  look  fome  love  has  dreft  ; 

When  cloudlefs  fmiles  around  you  play, 

And  give  the  world  a  holiday ; 

I  blefs  the  hour  when  firft  I  knew 
Dear  female  friendlhip,  love,  and  you® 

P  4  9* 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  177S. 


2 16 


To  a  Lady,  who  f aid  the  Author  flattered  her  he  his  Verfes* 

By  the  fame . 

WHEN  Phoebus  (hoots  his  radiant  beams 
Where  fllver  Avon  ftrays, 

Lefs  glorious  in  reflecting  ftr earns 
We  mark  the  folar  blaze. 

The  bordering  flowers,  that  lovely  blow 
A  Jong  yon  fountain’s  fide, 

Lefs  graceful  in  that  mirror  lhow^ 

And  half  their  beauties  hide. 

Thus  in  my  rhymes  thy  graces  fhone 
With  lefs  attractive  power.— 

Verfe  gives  not  glory  to  the  fun* 

Nor  beauty  to  the  flower. 

VERSES  ^written  by  a  Gentleman  at  the  Leasowes. 

FROM  the  bold  fummit,  where  Ierne’s  ihore 
Frowns  o’er  the  weftern  wave,  the  pilgrim  came 
To  viflt  Albion’s  fons,  and  hear  their  lore. 

And  catch  thofe  founds  which  All  her  trumpof  fame. 

And  many  a  vale  with  rich  embroidery  gay. 

And  many  a  hill  with  fpreading  foliage  dreft. 

Had  the  lone  pilgrim  travers’d  in  his  way. 

Ere  the  green  Leafowes  gave  him  wifh’d-for  reft. 

O’er  the  green  Leafowes  as  he  freely  rov’d 

The  groves,  the  bowers,  the  winding  walks  among. 

Soon  Fancy  call’d  the  fpirit  which  he  lov’d. 

And  wak’d  the  mem’ry  of  her  Shenftone’s  fong. 

For  here  the  Bard,  true  Nature’s  faV’rite  child. 

Attun’d  his  oaten  reed,  and  lyric  (hell ; 

And  here,  with  eafy  grace  and  manners  mild. 

Fie  taught  the  fwains  the  art  of  living  well. 

For  well  his  life  had  anfvver’d  to  his,  fong. 

And  Ample  eafe  adorn’d  his  flowing  ftrain  ; 

Friend  to  the  harmlefs,  artlefs,  rural  throng  ; 

Foe  to  the  rude,  the  vicious,  and  the  vain. 

As  o’er  the  fairy  ground  the  pilgrim  llray’d. 

Bright  forms  aroie,  and  caught  his  eager  eye. 

Of  fuch  as  whilom  lov’d  this  folemn  fhade. 

But  now  adorn  the  manfions  of  the  fky. 


There 


POETRY. 


217 


There  Somerville  was  heard,  in  ruftic  chear. 

To  call  his  hounds,  and  wind  the  jocund  horn  5 
There  Tbom/on  fang,  and  caught  the  lift’ning  ear. 
With  praife  of  dewy  eve,  or  blufhing  morn  ; 

And  round  him  danc’d  the  Hours  with  printlefs  tread. 
And  ever  and  anon  the  Seafons  gay 
'With  flowers  adorn’d  their  fav’rite  poet’s  head. 

And  fprightly  wood-nymphs  caught  the  rural  lay. 

And  there,  where  Faunus  near  his  ’cuftom’d  feat 
Attunes  the  doric  pipe  to  paftoral  ftrains. 

The  gentle  Dodjley  fought  the  cool  retreat. 

And  woo’d  the  ftillnefs  of  thefe  lonely  plains  5 

And  there,  where  rev’rend  oaks  acrofs  the  ftream 
Throw  their  wide  arms,  and  mock  the  tempeft’s  rage, 
Muflng  on  many  a  learn’d  and  virtuous  theme. 

Was  feen  the  form  of  Lyttelton  the  fage  $ 

The  tendered:  graces  fported  in  his  train  ; 

Hymen,  the  facred  God  of  chaite  defires. 

To  him  confign’d  his  torch,  and  bade  his  flrain 

Sing  Lucy  dead,  and  Love’s  myfterious  fires  : 

1 

The  Mufe  of  Hiftory  was  feen  unfold 

Th’  inftrudlive  page,  And  o’er  his  favour’d  head 
Religion  wav’d  her  cro/s  of  heavenly  gold. 

And  round  his  brows  her  radiant  glory  fpread. 

Hail  to  thefe  honour’d  forms,”  the  pilgrim  cry’d, 
te  And  faefed  be  the  walks  in  which  they  rove  ! 

<{  Oh  !  flourifh  long  ye  bowers,  the  Poet’s  pride, 

€t  Spread  wide  ye  branches  of  his  favourite  grove, 

f 

6t  Thou  Naiad  fair,  whofe  gently.flovving  rill, 

“  In  lulling  murmurs  feems  his  lofs  to  mourn  ; 

€f  May  copious  dews  and  fhowers  thy  current  fill, 

“  And  purefl:  fprings  o’erflow  thy  chryftal  urn  I 

*e  And  you,  ye  monarchs  of  the  waving  wood, 

<(  T all  oaks  who  tower  your  verdant  heads  on  high, 

*  ‘  Long  may  ye  ftand,  and  brave  the  rufliing  flood, 

“  And  fcorn  the  fury  of  the  wint’ry  fky  1 

**  And  you,  ye  humbler  plants  of  gentler  mien 
“  Wild  fhrubs,  or  hazels  rude,  or  flowery  thorn, 
s<  Long  may  your  artlefs  foliage  here  be  feen 
**  And  long  your  native  bloom  thefe  hills  adprn  ! 


And 


ZlB  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  l7?g; 

**  And  you,  ye  tenants  of  thofe  facred  glades, 
sc  Dryads  and  Oreads  *  may  your  guardian  care 
■f  Still  unrexnitted  watch  your  Shenftone’s  ihades, 
ft  And  deck  his  upland  lawns  with  verdure  fair  2 

(i  And  o’er  each  bough,  each  leaf,  each  fvvelling  mead, 
es  Each  tufted  hill  in  vernal  beauty’s  prime, 

**  May  Heaven,  indulgent,  all  its  blellings  fpread. 
And  long  protect  them  from  the  wa|te  of  time ! 59 


VERSES  cn  feeing  Mrs,  Crewe  at  Drury  Lane  Theatr$° 

WAS  but  a  look !  and,  ihepherd,  thou’rt  undone  ? 

JL  Ah,  hlly  heart !  that,  with  fuch  defp’rate  haite, 

Could’fl  on  the  point  of  certain  danger  run. 

And  in  wild  dreams  of  hope  delufive  waile 
Thy  fruitlefs  fighs  !  Ah,  me  1  fo  low  a  Twain, 

That  fcarce  the  ihades,  or  winding  hills  among. 

Scarce  to  the  dying  gale  that  fans  the  plain, 

Hath  my  weak  pipe  attun’d  its  palt’ral  fong  % 

Whence  ihould  l  hope,  that  from  her  dazzling  height 
Of  unaffected  beauty,  where  fhe  hands 
Nature’s  fweet  work,  and  to  the  raviih’d  light 
Of  vvond’Hng  mortals,  fpreads  herrofeate  bands  | 

1  hat  me  {electing  from  the  croud  below, 

O  arrogance  of  more  than  common  fize! 

On  me  one  cafual  glance  ihe  ihould  beftow. 

Or  heed  the  timid  bluih  of  wild  furprize  ! 

No,  fhepherd,  no  !  as  far  from  thee  remov’d 
Glows  the  fond  objed;  of  Dione’s  care. 

As  is,  by  tender  melting  virgins  lov’d. 

The  radiant  brightness  of  yon  evening  flar  I 


i 


[  219  ] 


An  Account  of  Books  for  1778, 


*Tbe  Hiflory  of  Englijh  Poetry,  from 
the  Clofe  of  the  Eleventh  to  the 
Commencement  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century.  C1  0  which  are  prefixed 
two  Differtations  :  1  On  the  Ori¬ 
gin  of  Romantic  Fiflion  in  Europe. 
2.  On  the  Introduction  of  Learning 
into  England.  Volumes  i fi  and 
2 d.  By  Thomas  Warton,J?.  D. 
Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Ox¬ 
ford,  and  of  the  Society  of  Anti¬ 
quaries.  Quarto, 

^"'1'-^  H  E  publick  has  already 
been  fome  years  in  the 
poflfeflion  of  the  former  of  thefe 
volumes,  which  brings  the  hiflory 
of  our  poetry  down  to  the  death  of 
Chaucer.  Notwithstanding  the 
difadvantages  which  a  work  of  this 
nature  mull:  unavoidably  labour 
under,  from  the  remotenefs  and 
obfcurity  of  its  fubjeCt,  and  from 
the  great  changes  which  have  taken 
place  in  our  cuitoms  and  language, 
and  which  have  rendered  the  pro¬ 
ductions  of  the  three  firft  centuries 
fubfequent  to  the  conqueft,  unin¬ 
telligible  to  the  generality  of 
readers  ;  yet  the  reception  this  vo¬ 
lume  met  with,  and  the  impatience 
with  which  the  profecution  of  his 
enquiries  were  and  hill  areexpeCted, 
might  have  been  flattering  to  a 
writer,  whofe  abilities  were  lefs 
univerfally  known  than  Mr,  War- 
ton's* 


The  progrefs  of  the  arts  is  per* 
haps  one  of  the  noblefl:  and  molt 
interefling  obje&s  in  the  hiflory  of 
mankind.  As  they  owe  their  ori- 
gin,  their  character,  and  their  gra¬ 
dual  improvement,  to  a  great  va¬ 
riety  of  political  and  perhaps  fome- 
times  of  natural  caufes,  it  requires 
the  united  efforts  of  laborious  re- 
fearch  and  philofophical  fagacity 
to  trace  out  and  invefligate  their 
connexion.  Poetry  being  the  pic¬ 
ture,  and,  as  it  were,  the  mir- 
rour  of  life  and  manners,  is  of  all 
the  arts  the  moft  fufceptible  of  that 
variety  which  at  the  different  pe¬ 
riods  of  hiflory  is  fo  confpicuous  in 
national  characters,  and  con  fequent- 
ly  is  the  moft  apt  to  be  affe&ed  by 
the  revolutions  that  take  place  in 

4 

religious  or  civil  eftablifhments.  It 
is  on  this  account  that  our  author 
has  found  it  neceflary  to  prefix  to 
his  work  two  differtations,  in  which 
fome  points  of  a  more  general  and 
hiftorical  nature  are  difeuffed,  and 
of  which  we  (hall  now  proceed  to 
give  our  readers  a  fhort  abftraCl. 

It  has  hitherto  been  a  received 
opinion  amongft  modern  critics, 
that  the  fictions  of  romance  were 
communicated  to  the  Weftern 
World  by  means  of  the  Crufades. 
Our  author  is  of  opinion  that  they 
were  introduced  at  a  much  earlier 
period  by  the  Saracens,  who  came 
from  Africa  and  fettled  in  Spain 

about 


220 


A  N  N  UAL  R  E  G  I STER,  1778. 


about  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
century.  From  Spain  he  imagines 
they  found  an  eafy  paffage  into 
France  and  Italy  ;  and  the  clofe 
conne&ion  which  fubfirted  for  many 
centuries  between  the  Welch  and 
their  colonifts  the  Armoricans, 
might  have  been  the  means  of 
bringing  them  from  France  into 
this  ifland. 

Our  author  in  the  next  place  ex¬ 
amines  the  hypothecs  of  Dr.  Per¬ 
cy  and  M.  Mallet,  who  derive  thefe 
fictions  in  a  lineal  defcent  from  the 
ancient  hiflorical  fangs  of  the  Go¬ 
thic  Bards  and  Scalds.  This  opi¬ 
nion  Mr.  Warton  allows  to  be  in 
force  meafure  well  founded*  and 
that  fo  far  it  is  a!fo  reconciieable 
with  his  own  fyftem.  The  Scaldic 
inventions,  he  fays,  have  undoubt¬ 
edly  taken  deep  root  in  Europe, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  the  more 
eafy  admiffion  of  the  Arabian  fab¬ 
ling,  about  the  ninth  century,  by 
which  they  were,  however,  in  a 
great  meafure  fuperfeded  As  a 
proof  of  which  he  obferves,  “  that 
“  the  inchantments  of  the  Runic 
45  poetry  are  very  different  from 
thofe  in  our  romances  of  chival¬ 
ry.  The  former  chiefly  deal  in 
ipells  and  charms,  fuch  as  would 
preferve  from  poifon,  blunt  the 
cs  weapons  of  an  enemy,  procure 
viftory,  allay  a  tempeft,  cure 
bodily  difeafes,  or  call  the  dead 
from  their  tombs  ;  in  uttering 
a  form  of  myfterious  words,  or 
inferibing  Runic  chara&ers. 
The  magicians  of  Romance  are 
chiefly  employed  in  forming  and 
eC  conducting  a  train  of  deceptions. 
There  is  an  air  of  barbaric  hor¬ 
ror  in  the  incantations  of  the 
Scaldic  fablers  :  the  magicians 
of  romance  often  prefent  vifions 
of  pleafure  and  delight ;  and. 


<  t 


«c 


ft 


e  t 


it 


e  1 
<<■ 


tt 


es 


« t 


«« 


«< 

<< 


ft 


<t 

ts 


<e  although  not  without  their 

ft  alarming  terrors,  fometimes 
tf  lead  us  through  flowery  forefts, 
“  and  raife  up  palaces  glittering 
**  with  gold  and  precious  rtones» 
f(  The  Runic  magic,  is  more  like 
tf  that  of  Canidia  in  Horace,  the 
€i  romantic  refembles  that  of  Ar- 
(e  mida  in  Tarto.  The  operations 
ts  of  the  one  are  frequently  but 
mere  tricks,  in  companion  of 
££  that  fubline  folemnity  of  neerp- 
f(  man  tic  machinery  which  the 
££  other  fo  awfully  difplays.33 

Fie  adds,  It  is  alfo  remark - 
es  able,  that  in  the  earlier  Scaldic 
££  odes  we  find  but  few  dragons, 
££  giants,  and  fairies.  Thefe  were 
<c  introduced  afterwards,  and  are 
**  the  progeny  of  Arabian  fancy. 
Ci  Nor  indeed  do  thefe  imaginary 
“  beings  often  occur  in  any  of  the 
S£  compofitions  which  preceded 
££  the  introduction  of  that  fpecies 
<{  of  fabling.33 

That  the  ideas  of  chivalry,  the 
appendage  and  the  fubitance  of 
romance,  fubfirted  among  thf 
Goths  our  author  readily  allows, 
but  not  without  certain  limitations. 
It  was  under  the  feudal  eftablifht 
ments,  which  were  foon  afterwards 
ereCted  in  Europe,  that  it  received 
new  vigour  and  was  inverted  with 
the  formalities  of  a  regular  inrtitu- 
tion. 

From  the  whole  of  his  obfer va¬ 
tic  ns  the  author  deduces  the  fol¬ 
lowing  general  conclufion. 

“  Amid  the  gloom  of  fuperrti- 
ee  tion,  in  an  age  of  the  grolfert: 
c<  ignorance  and  credulity,  a  tarte 

for  the  wonders  of  oriental  fic- 
££  tion  was  introduced  by  the  Ara= 
“  bians  into  Europe,  many  coun- 
££  tries  of  which  were  already  fea- 
f£  foned  to  a  reception  of  its  extra- 
rs  Vagances  by  means  of  the  poe- 

try 


ACCOUNT 

try  of  the  Gothic  Scalds,  who, 
<c  perhaps,  originally  derived  their 
“  ideas  from  the  fame  fruitful  re- 
*c  gion  of  invention.  Thefe  fic- 
4t  tions,  coinciding  with  the  reign- 
tc  ing  manners,  and  perpetually 
<c  kept  up  and  improved  in  the 

tales  of  trovvbadours  and  min- 
•'  ftrels,  feem  to  have  centered 
**  about  the  eleventh  century  in 
€t  the  ideal  hiilories  of  Turpin  and 
*c  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  which 
<l  record  theTuppofitious  atchieve- 
“  ments  of  Charlemagne  and 
ir  King  Arthur,  where  they  form- 
“  ed  the  ground-work  of  that  fpe- 
,c  cies  of  fabulous  narrative  called 

romance.  And  from  thefe  be- 
**  ginnings,  or  caufes,  afterwards 

enlarged  and  enriched  by  kin- 
“  dred  fancies  fetched  from  the 
“  Crufades,  that  fingular  and  ca- 
**  pricious  mode  of  imagination 
**  arofe,  which  at  length  compofed 
**  the  marvellous  machineries  of 
(<  the  more  fublime  Italian  poets, 
**  and  of  their  difeiple  Spenfer.” 

In  the  fecond  differtation,  the 
author,  after  lamenting  the  de¬ 
traction  of  the  arts  by  the  irrup¬ 
tion  of  the  Goths  into  Italy,  ob¬ 
serves,  that  they  were,  however, 
kept  from  total  extindlien  part¬ 
ly  by  the  prelates  of  the  church  and 
religious  communities,  and  partly 
by  the  humanity  of  fome  of  the 
Gothic  kings,  who  were  far  from 
being  invariably  fuch  enemies  to 
literature  as  they  are  generally  re- 
prefented. 

In  the  dxth  century  things  be¬ 
gan  to  put  on  a  different  face.  The 
Gothic  tribes,  which  had  poffeffed 
themfelves  of  the  feveral  provinces 
of  the  Roman  empire,  had  attain¬ 
ed  a  tolerable  degree  of  political 
union  and  liability.  Moll  of  the 
northern  nations  of  Europe  were 
converted  to  chriilianity.  Religi- 


OF  BOOKS.  221 

ous  controverfy  turned  , the  minds 
of  men  to  literary  purfuits,  and, 
laftly,  the  authority  and  example 
of  many  of  the  popes  were  happily 
exerted  in  forwarding  the  revival 
of  every  fpecies  of  learning  and 
fcience. 

The  greate#  obllrudlion  which 
this  revival  met  with,  arofe  from 
the  extreme  -paucity  of  valuable 
books.  Of  this  circumllance  the 
author  has  given  a  number  of  cu¬ 
rious  anecdotes.  As  a  fpecimem 
of  the  author’s  llyle,  we  fit  all  pre- 
fent  our  readers  with  an  extract 
from  this  part  of  his  work. 

te  The  libraries,  particularly 
fhofe  of  Italy,  which  abounded  ia 
numerous  and  ineltimable  treafures 
of  literature,  were  every  where 
dellroyed  by  the  precipitate  rage 
and  undiftinguifhing  violence  of 
the  northern  armies.  Towards 
the  clofe  of  the  feventh  cen¬ 
tury,  even  in  the  papal  library 
at  Rome,  the  number  of  books 
was  fo  inconliderable,  that  Pope 
SaintMarcin  requelled  Sandlamand 
bilhop  of  Maekricht,  if  poffible,  to 
fupply  this  defedt  from  the  remote# 
parts  of  Germany.  In  the  year 
855,  Lupus,  abbot  of  Ferrieres  in 
France,  fent  two  of  his  monks  to 
Pope  Benedidt  the  Third,  to  beg  a 
copy  of  Cicero  de  Oratore ,  and 
Quintilian*  s  Injlitutes ,  and  fome 
other  books  :  for,  fays  the  ab- 

<c  bot,  although  we  have  part  of 
“  thefp  books,  yet  there  is  no 
“  whole  or  complete  copy  of  them. 
“  in  all  France.”  Albert  abbot 
of  Gemblours,  who  with  incredible 
labour  and  immenfe  expence  had 
colledled  an  hundred  volumes  on 
theological,  and  fifty  on  profane 
fubjetits,  imagined  he  had  formed 
a  fplendid  library.  About  the  year 
790,  Charlemagne  granted  an  un¬ 
limited  right  of  hunting  to  the  ab¬ 
bot 


222  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i7f$; 


hot  and  monks  of  Sithiu,  for 
making  their  gloves  arid  girdles  of 
the  fkms  of  the  deer  they  killed, 
and  covers  for  their  books.  We 
may  imagine  that  thefe  religious 
were  more  fond  of  hunting  than 
reading.  It  is  certain  that  they 
were  obliged  to  'hunt  before  they 
could  read  ;  and  at  leak  it  is  pro¬ 
bable,  that  tinder  thefe  circum- 
itances,  and  of  fuch  materials, 
they  did  not  manufa&ure  many 
volumes.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
tenth  century  books  were  fo  fcarce 
in  Spain,  that  one  and  the  fame 
copy  of  the  Bible,  Saint  Jeromes 
EpiEles,  and  fome  volumes  of  ec- 
elefiaftical  offices  and  martyr olo- 
gies,  often  ferved  feveral  different 
monafteries.  Among  the  confuta¬ 
tions  given  to  the  monks  of  Eng¬ 
land  by  Archbifhop  Lanfranc,  in 
the  year  1072,  the  following  in- 
juridlion  occurs.  At  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  Lent,  the  librarian  is  or¬ 
dered  to  deliver  a  book  to  each  of 
the  religious :  a  whole  year  was 
allowed  for  the  perufal  of  this 
book :  and  at  the  returning  Lent, 
thole  monks  who  had  negle&ed 
to  read  the  books  they  had  refpec- 
tively  received,  are  commanded  to 
proftrate  themfelves  before  the  ab¬ 
bot,  and  to  fupplicate  his  indul¬ 
gence.  This  regulation  was  partly 
occasioned  by  the  low  Hate  of  litera¬ 
ture  which  Lanfranc  found  in  the 
Englifli  monasteries.  But  ac  the 
fame  time  it  was  a  matter  of  necef- 
fitv,  and  is  in  great  meafure  to  be 
referred  to  the  Larcity  of  copies  of 
ufeful  and  fuitable  authors.  In  an 
inventory  of  the  goods  of  John  de 
PcntilTara,  bifhop  of  Winchefter, 
contained  in  his  capital  palace  of 
Wulvefey,  all  the  books  which 
appear  are  nothing  more  than 
**  Septendecim  jpecies  librorum  de  dl~ 
«•  vtrjis  Stitntiu”  This  was  in 


the  year  1294,  The  fame  prelate',’ 
in  the  year  1 299,  borrows  of  his 
cathedral  convent  of  ‘St.  Swithin 
at  Winchefter,  Bibiiam  bene  glo/fa~ 
tctm,  that  is,  the  Bible,  with  mar¬ 
ginal  annotations,  in  two  large 
folio  volumes  :  but  gives  a  bond 
for  dde  return  of  the  loan,  drawii 
up  with  great  folemnity.  This 
Bible  had  been  bequeathed  to  the 
convent  the  fame  year  by  Pontif- 
lara’s  predeceffior,  Bifhop  Nicholas' 
de  Ely  :  and  in  con fi deration  of  fo 
important  a  bequeit,  that  is,  *  pro 
iC  bona  Biblia  didii  epifcopi  bene 
<e  glojfatad  and  one  hundred 
marks  in  money,  the  monks  found¬ 
ed  a  daily  mafs,  for  the  foul  of 
the  donor.  When  a  lingle  book 
was  bequeathed  to  a  friend  or  re¬ 
lation,  it  was  feldom  without  many 
reftridiions  and  Ilipulations.  If 
any  perfon  gave  a  book  to  a  reli¬ 
gious  houfe,  he  believed  that  fo 
valuable  a  donation  merited  eter¬ 
nal  falvation,  and  he  offered  it  on 
the  altar  with  great  ceremony. 
The  mod:  formidable  anathemas 
were  peremptorily  denounced  a- 
gainft  thefe  who  fhould  dare  to 
alienate  a  book  prefented  to  the 
cloifter  or  library  of  a  religious 
houfe.  The  prior  and  convent  of 
Rochefter  declare,  that  they  will 
every  year  pronounce  the  irrevoca¬ 
ble  Sentence  of  damnation  on  him 
who  fhali  purloin  or  conceal  a  La¬ 
tin  tranilation  of  hnftotXe’s^PhyJics, 
or  even  obliterate  the  title.  Some¬ 
times  a  book  was  given  to  a  mo- 
nailery  on  condition  that  the  donor 
fhould  have  the  ufe  of  it  during 
his  life :  and  fometlmes  to  a  pri¬ 
vate  perfon,  with  the  refervation 
that  he  who  receives  it  fhould  pray 
for  the  foul  of  his  benefador.  The 
gift  of  a  book  to  Lincoln  cathedral, 
by  Bifhop  Repingdon,  in  the  year 
1422,  occurs  in  this  form  ajtfl  under 

thefe 


thefe  curious  circumftances.  The 
memorial  is  written  in  Latin,  with 
the  bilhop’s  own  hand,  which  I 
will  give  in  Englilh,  at  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  Peter’s  Breviary  of  the  Bi¬ 
ble .  “  I  Philip  of  Repyndon, 

4<  late  bilhop  of  Lincoln,  give  this 
*f  book  called  Peter  de  Aureolis  to 
**  the  new  library  to  be  built 
**  within  the  church  of  Lincoln  : 
*'  referving  the  ufe  and  polTeffion 
**  of  it  to  Richard  Tryfely,  clerk, 
**  canon  and  prebendary  of  Mil- 
toun,  in  fee,  and  to  the  term 
t(  of  his  life:  and  afterwards  to 
“  be  given  up  and  reftored  to  the 
**  faid  library,  or  the  keepers  of 
fC  the  fame,  for  the  time  being, 
€c  faithfully  and  without  delay. 
€t  Written  with  my  own  hand, 
**  A.  D.  1422.”  When  a  book 
was  bought,  the  affair  was  of  fo 
much  importance,  that  it  was 
cuftomary  to  affemble  perfons  of 
confequence  and  character,  and  to 
make  a  formal  record  that  they 
were  prefer  t  on  this  occafion. 
Among  the  royal  manufcripts,  in 
the  book  of  the  Sentences  of  Peter 
Lombard,  an  archdeacon  of  Lin¬ 
coln  has  left  this  entry.  “  This 
**  book  of  the  Sentences  belongs  to 
“  mailer  Robert,  archdeacon  of 
(t  Lincoln,  which  he  bought  of 
**  Geoffrey  the  chaplain,  brother 
€c  of  Henry  vicar  of  Northelking- 
cc  ton,  in  the  prefence  of  mailer 
Robert  de  Lee,  mailer  John  of 
ee  Lirling,  Richard  of  Luda, 
*c  clerk,  Richard  the  almoner,  the 
laid  Henry  the  vicar  and  his 
(<  clerk,  and  others  :  and  the  faid 
<£  archdeacon  gave  the  faid  book 
<r  to  God  and  Saint  Ofwald,  and 
•*  to  Peter  Abbot  of  Barton,  and 
‘£  the  convent  of  Barden.”  The 
difputed  property  of  a  book  often 
occafioned  the  moil  violent  alterca- 


v> 

tions.  Many  claims  appear  to  have 
been  made  to  a  manufeript  of  Mat¬ 
thew  Paris,  belonging  to  the  latl- 
mentioned  library :  in  which  John 
Ruffell,  biihop  of  Lincoln,  thus 
conditionally  defends  or  explains 
his  right  of  poffeffion.  <{  If  this 
book  can  be  proved  to  be  or  to 
“  have  been  the  property  of  the 
ft  exempt  monailery  of  St,  Al- 
“  ban  in  the  diocefe  of  Lincoln* 
ts  I  declare  this  to  be  my 
<<r  mind,  that,  in  that  cafe,  I 
**  tife  it  at  prefent  as  a  loan  urn* 
ft  der  favour  of  thofe  monks  who 
t(  belong  to  the  faid  monakery* 
*c  Otherwife,  according  to  the 
te  condition  under  which  this  book 
fe  came  into  my  polTeffion,  I  will 
that  it  lhall  belong  to  the  col- 
“  lege  of  the  bleffed  Wincheker 
f<  Mary  at  Oxford,  of  the  founda- 
*£  tion  of  William  Wykham* 
€C  Written  with  my  own  hand  at 
Bukdane,  1  Jan.  A0  D.  1488, 
**  Jo  Lincoln.  Whoever  lhall  ob~ 
<e  literate  or  deftroy  this  writing, 
€c  let  him  be  anathema.”  About 
the  year  1225,  R°ger  de  Infula* 
dean  of  York,  gave  feveral  Latin 
bibl'es  to  the  univerlity  of  Oxford* 
with  a  condition  that  the  lludents 
who  perufed  them  Ihould  depofit  a 
cautionary  pledge.  The  library  of 
that  univerlity,  before  the  year 
1300,  con  filled  only  of  a  few 
tradls,  chained  or  kept  in  cheks  in. 
the  choir  of  St.  Mary’s  church* 
In  the  year  1327,  the  fcholars  and 
citizens  of  Oxford  affaulted  and 
entirely  pillaged  the  opulent  Bene¬ 
dictine  abbey  of  the  neighbouring 
town  of  Abingdon.  Among  the 
books  they  found  there,  were  one 
hundred  pfalters,  as  many  grayles* 
and  forty  miffals,  which  undoubt¬ 
edly  belonged  to  the  choir  of  the 
church  ;  but  belides  thefe,  there 
6  were 


224  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


were  only  twenty-two  codices ,  which 
I  interpret  books  on  common  fub- 
je&s.  And  although  the  invention 
of  paper*  at  the  clofe  of  the  ele¬ 
venth  century,  contributed  to  mul¬ 
tiply  man  u  fcri  prs,  and  confequent- 
Jy  to  facilitate  knowledge,  yet  even 
fo  late  as  the  reign  of  our  Henry 
the  Sixth,  I  have  difeovered  the 
following  remarkable  inftance  of 
the  inconveniencies  and  impedi¬ 
ments  to  Itudy,  which  mull  have 
been  produced  by  a  fcarcity  of 
books,  it  is  in  the  ftatutes  of 
St.  Mary’s  college  at  Oxford, 
founded  as  a  feminary  to  Ofeney 
abbey  in  the  year  1446,  “  Let  no 
**  fcholar  occupy  a  book  in  the  li- 
**  bra ry  above  one  hour,  or  two 
hours  at  molt,  fo  that  others 
*c  lhali  be  hindered  from  the  ufe  of 
*e  the  fame.”  The  famous  libra¬ 
ry  eflablifhed  in  the  univerfity  of 
Oxford,  by  that  munificent  patron 
of  literature  Humphrey  duke  of 
Gloucefter,  contained  only  fix  hun¬ 
dred  volumes.  About  the  com¬ 
mencement  of  the  fourteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  there  were  only  four  clafTics 
in  the  royal  library  at  Paris.  Thefe 
were  one  copy  of  Cicero,  Ovid, 
Lucan,  and  Boethius.  The  reft 
were  chiefly  books  of  devotion, 
which  included  but  few  of  the  fa¬ 
thers  :  many  treatifes  of  aftrology, 
geomancy,  chiromancy,  and  me¬ 
dicine,  originally  written  in  Ara¬ 
bic,  and  tranflated  into  Latin  or 
French  :  pandefts,  chronicles,  and 
romances.  This  collection  was 
principally  made  by  Charles  the 
Fifth,  who  began  his  reign  in 
1365.  This  monarch  was  pafiion- 
ately  fond  of  reading,  and  it  was 
the  fafhion  to  fend  him  prefen ts  of 
books  from  every  part  of  the  king¬ 
dom  of  France,  Thefe  he  ordered 
to  be  elegantly  tranferibed,  and 


richly  illuminated  ;  and  he  placed 
them  in  a  tower  of  the  Louvre, 
from  thence  called,  la  toure  de  la 
lihraire .  The  whole  conflfted  of 
nine  hundred  volumes.  They  were 
depofited  in  three  chambers  : 
which,  on  this  occaflon,  were 
wainfeotted  with  Irifli  oak,  and 
cieled  with  cyprefs curioufly  carved. 
The  windows  were  of  painted  glafs, 
fenced  with  iron  bars  and  copper 
wire.  The  Englifh  became  maf- 
ters  of  Paris  in  the  year  1425.  On. 
which  event,  the  Duke  of  Bedford, 
regent  of  France,  fent  this  whole 
library,  then  confining  of  only 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  three  vo¬ 
lumes,  and  valued  at  two  thou  fan  d 
two  hundred  and  twenty -three 
livres,  into  England  ;  where  per¬ 
haps  they  became  the  ground-work 
of  Duke  Humphrey’s  library  jufl 
mentioned.  Even  fo  late  as  the 
year  1471,  when  Louis  the  Ele¬ 
venth  of  France  borrowed  the 
works  of  the  Arabian  phyiician 
Rhafis,  from  the  faculty  of  medi¬ 
cine  at  Paris,  he  not  only  depo¬ 
fited  by  way  of  pledge  a  quantity 
of  valuable  plate,  but  was  obliged 
to  procure  a  nobleman  to  join  with 
him  as  furety  in  a  deed,  by  which 
he  bound  himfelf  to  return  it  un¬ 
der  a  confiderable  forfeiture.  The 
excejlive  prices  of  books  in  the 
middle  ages,  afford  numerous  and 
curious  proofs.  I  will  mention  a 
few  only.  In  the  year  1174,  Wal¬ 
ter,  prior  of  St.  Swithin’s  at  Win- 
chefter,  afterwards  elected  abbot 
of  Weilminfter,  a  writer  in  Latin 
of  the  lives  of  the  bifhops  who 
were  his  patrons,  purchafed  of  the 
monks  of  Dorchefter  in  Oxford- 
fhire,  Bede’s  Homilies,  and  Saint 
Auftin’s  Pfalter,  for  twelve  mea- 
furesof  barley,  and  a  pall  on  which 
was  embroidered  in  Elver  the  hif- 

tory 


ACCOUNT  OF  BOOKS.  225 

tory  of  Saint  Birinas  converting  a  fucceflive  patronage  of  Charle* 
Saxon  king.  Among  the  royal  magne  and  Charles  the  Bald,  had 
manufcripts  in  the  Britifh  mufeum  made  a  very  confiderable  progrefs. 
there  is  Comejlor's  Scbolajlic  Hiftory  Many  celebrated  umverfities  were 
in  French  ;  which,  as  it  is  record-  founded,  which  produced  men,  he¬ 
ed  in  a  blank  page  at  the  begin-  fore  the  year  1000,  diftinguifhed 
ning,  was  taken  from  the  King  of  not  only  for  their  knowledge  of  the 
France  at  the  battle  of  Poitiers  ;  fciences,  but  their  attention  to 
and  being  purchaied  by  William  polite  learning  and  an  acquaintance 
Montague  earl  of  Salifbury  for  one  with  the  claffics. 
hundred  marks,  was  ordered  to  be  Our  author,  in  the  next  place, 
fold  by  the  laft  will  of  his  countefs  reverts  to  the  date  of  literature  in 
Elizabeth  for  forty  livres.  About  England,  which  he  obferves,  was 
the  year  14CO,  a  copy  of  John  of  not  without  its  lhare  of  thefe  im- 
Me un’s  Roman  de  la  Rofe ,  was  fold  provements  in  knowledge,  and  de- 
before  the  palace-gate  at  Paris  for  rived  them  chiefly  from  the  fame 
forty  crowns  or  thirty-three  pounds  fources.  The  Anglo  Saxons  were 
lix  and  fix- pence.”  converted  to  chriftianitv  in  the  year 

For  our  firlt  acquaintance  with  570.  The  communication  which 
the-  ancient  philofophical  fciences  this  event  opened  with  Rome,  and 
we  are  indebted  to  the  Arabians,  the  ardour  with  which  the  new 
In  ravaging  the  Afiatic  provinces  converts  vilited  the  holy  fee,  foon. 
they  had  found  many  Greek  books,  made  the  Latin  language  familiar 
which  they  read  and  tranflated  to  them,  and  gave  them  a  tafte  for 
with  infinite  avidity.  Their  fre-  the  fciences,  which  began  about 
quent  incurfions  into  Europe,  and  the  fame  time  to  flourifh  in  that 
their  abfolute  eflablilhment  in  capital.  Many  learned  men  were 
Spain,  where  they  founded  many  alio  fent  by  the  popes  into  Britain, 
univerfities,  imported  thefe  feeds  who  founded  many,  what  wer6 
of  knowledge  into  Europe.  In  the  then  called,  noble  and  copious 
time  of  Charlemagne  moil;  of  thefe  libraries. 

books  were  by  the  orders  of  that  The  bell  writers  among!!  the 
emperor  tranflated  from  the  Ara-  Saxons  lived  about  the  eighth cen- 
bic  into  Latin:  they  were  quickly  tury.  Thefe, were  Aldhelm,  Ceol- 
dilfeminated  over  his  extenflve  do-  frid,  Alcuine,  and  Bede;  and  at 
minions,  and  by  that  means  foon  their  head  is  placed,  with  great 
became  familiar  to  the  Wellern  j  iliice,  King  Alfred,  as  no  con- 
World.  ,  temptible  author,  and  as  one  of  the 

As  the  fciences,  to  which  the  moll;  celebrated  patrons  and  profit 
Arabians  were  more  particularly  cients  in  every  kind  of  literature, 
addi&ed,  were  thole  of  aftrology.  Of  all  thefe  our  author  has-given. 
medicine,  and  chemiftry,  our  an-  a  circumftantial  and  critical  ac~ 
thor  thence  deduces  the  caufes  of  count,  for  which  we  are  under  the 
that  love  of  the  abftrufe  arts  which  neceflity  of  referring  our  readers  to 
diflinguilhes  the  literature  of  thofe  the  work  itfelf. 
early  ages.  Though  many  of  the  Saxon 

About  the  clofe  of  the  ninth  fcholars  were  certainly  acquainted 
century,  the  politer  arts,  under  the  with  Greek,  yet  it  dees  not  appear 
You,  XXL  Q  thas 


226  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


that  that  language  was  ever  fami¬ 
liar  to  them.  Nor  indeed  w^re 
many  of  the  Latin  daffies  mhch 
known  or  iludied  by  them.  Th'ofe 
with  which  they  were  moil;  ac¬ 
quainted,  either  in  prole  or  verfe, 
were  the  writers  of  the  lower  em¬ 
pire.  It  was  even  reckoned  the 
moil  abominable  herefy  to  have 
any  concern  with  the  pagan  fic¬ 
tions. 

To  this  dawn  of  fcience,  a  long 
night  of  ignorance  and  coniufion 
fucceeded  from  the  irruption  of  the 
Danes  and  the  diftra&ion  of  nati¬ 
onal  affairs.  At  length,  in  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  eleventh  century, 
England  received  from  the  Nor¬ 
mans  thofe  feeds  of  cultivation 
which  have  been  gradually  im¬ 
proving  to  their  prefent  maturity. 
The  Conqueror  himfelf  loved  and 
patronized  letters.  Many  of  the 
Norman  prelates  preferred  by  him 
in  England  were  polite  fcholars  ; 
but  what  our  author  thinks  was 
chiefly  inftru mental  in  promoting 
the  progrefs  of  literature,  was, 
that  about  this  period  fchools  were 
opened  by  many  learned  men  of 
the  laity  as  well  as  clergy,  and  the 
Important  charge  of  education, 
which  before  had  entirely  been 
entrufted  to  monadic  teachers, 
was  fhared  by  men,  whofe  courfe 
of  ftudy  was  more  Comprehenfive, 
and  their  method  of  teaching  more 
full,  perfpicuous  end  rational. 
It  mull,  however,  be  obferved, 
that  mod  of  the  eminent  fcholars 
which  England  produced,  both  in 
philofophy  and  humanity,  before 
and  even  below  the  twelfth  cen¬ 
tury,  were  educated  in  our  reli¬ 
gious  houfes. 

Our  author  in  the  next  place 
proceeds  to  give  an  account  of  the 
moil  celebrated  Englifh  writers. 


down  to  the  fourteenth  century* 
about  which  time  the  Greek  lan¬ 
guage  began  to  be  more  univer- 
fally  iludied  both  in  England  and 
on  the  continent.  The  manu- 
feripts  of  the  Greek  authors,  he  is 
inclined  to  think,  found  their  way 
into  Europe  from  Conftantinople 
in  the  time  of  the  crufades.  About 
the  fame  period,  the  Jews,  who 
had  been  differed  to  efiablifh  them- 
felves  in  England  by  the  Con¬ 
queror,  were  banifhed  the  king¬ 
dom  :  and  by  the  fuddennefs  of 
their  difmiffion,  immenfe  ftores  of 
Hebrew  manuferipts  came  into  the 
hands  of  the  ecclefiafiicks,  and  be¬ 
came  the  means  of  circulating  the 
knowledge  of  that  language  and 
of  rabbinical  learning. 

In  this  profperous  date  of  things, 
the  progrefs  of  literature  was  foon 
after  checked  by  the  introduction 
of  fcholafiic  divinity.  This  art  was 
firil  invented  and  taught  by  Peter 
Lombard,  archbilhop  of  Paris,  and 
the  celebrated  Abelard.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  Englifh  Undents  which  then 
filled  the  univerfities  of  France 
foon  imported  it  into  England, 
where  it  was  received  and  cherifhed 
with  fuch  zeal  and  ardour,  that 
before  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Se¬ 
cond,  no  foreign  univerfity  could 
boafl  fo  confpicuous  a  catalogue 
of  fubtle  and  invincible  do&ors. 

The  profeffion  of  the  civil  and 
canonical  laws,  Mr.  Warton  alfo 
imagines,  was  no  fmall  impedi¬ 
ment  to  the  progrefs  of  the  politer 
arts.  This  effeCl  he  is,  however, 
far  from  aferibing  to  any  thing 
hoflile  to  cultivation  in  the  im¬ 
perial  code,  but  to  the  mode  in 
which  that  invaluable  fyftem  of 
jurifprudence  was  iludied.  <e  It 
*e  was  treated, ”  he  fays,  if  with 
(S  the  fame  fpirit  of  idle  fpecula- 

€t  iiQix 


5 


I 


ACCOUNT 

<f  non,  which  had  been  carried 
“  into  philofophy  and  theology  ; 
*f  it  was  overwhelmed  with  end- 
“  lefs  commentaries  which  dif- 
<f  claimed  all  elegance  of  lan- 
“  guage,  and  ferved  only  to  exer- 
“  cife  genius,  as  it  afforded  mate- 
“  rials  for  framing  the  flimiy  la- 
**  byrinths  of  cafuikry,  But,’’ 
as  he  afterwards  obferves,  “  per- 
<(  haps  inventive  poetry  loft  no- 
tf  thing  by  this  relapfeT  Ha  d  claf- 
fical  take  and  judgment  been  now 
ellablifhed,  imagination  would  have 
fuffered,  and  too  early  a  check 
would  have  been  given  to  the  beau¬ 
tiful  extravagancies  of  romantic 
fabling.  In  a  word,  truth  and 
reafon  would  have  chaced  before 
their  time  thofe  fpedtres  of  illufive 
fancy,  fo  nleafing  to  the  imagina¬ 
tion,  which  delight  to  hover  in  the 
gloom  of  ignorance  and  fuperki- 
tion,  and  which  form  fo  confider- 
able  a  part  of  the  poetry  of  the 
fucceeding  centuries. 

We  are  now  arrived  at  the  Hijlo - 
ry  of  Englijb  Postry,  wrhich  the  au¬ 
thor  commences  with  an  account 
of  the  different  epochs  of  the  Saxon 
language,  fpoken  in  this  king¬ 
dom.  Of  the  language  of  the  firit 
epoch,  which  contains  a  fpace  of 
three  hundred  and  thirty  years, 
down  from  the  firk  entrance  of  the 
Saxons,  to  the  irruption  of  the 
Danes,  and  which  is  called  Britifh 
Saxon,  no  remains  are  left,  ex¬ 
cept  a  fmall  metrical  fragment  of 
Caedmon’s  in  Alfred’s  verfion  of 
Bede’s  Ecclefiakical  Hillory.  The 
fecond  epoch  is  the  Danifh  Saxon, 
and  clofes  with  the  Conquek. 
Many  confiderable  fpecimens  of 
the  language  in  this  fiage,  both  in 
profe  and  verfe,  are  hill  preferved. 
The  third  is  the  Norman  Saxon, 
with  which  our  author’s  hiitory 


OF  BOOKS.  227 

commences,  and  which  continued 
beyond  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Se¬ 
cond. 

It  may  eafily  be  imagined  hovv 
much  the  Saxon  language,  which 
even  in  its  fecond  llage  flill  re¬ 
tained  a  confiderable  degree  of  per- 
fpicuity,  llrength,  and  harmony, 
muk  have  fuffered  from  the  admix¬ 
ture  of  that  confufed  jargon  which 
the  Normans  brought  into  Eng¬ 
land.  Accordingly  we  find  the 
language  of  our  poets,  during  the 
two  firft  centuries  after  the  Con¬ 
quek,  extremely  barbarous,  irre¬ 
gular,  and  intractable.  We  muft 
refer  our  readers,  for  the  numerous 
and  very  curious  fpecimens,  which 
Mr.  Warton  has  feledted  with  equal 
induftry  and  difeernment  for  the 
elucidation  of  his  hiftory,  to  the 
work  itfelf,  and  content  ourfelves 
with  a  few  general  obfervations  on 
the  poetry  of  that  age.  It  is  re¬ 
markable  that  the  bulk  of  the 
compofitions  of  this  period  are  lfe  * 
gendary  and  religious.  From  the 
feudal  manners  and  magnificence 
of  our  Nonnan  anceftors,  from 

their  military  enthufiafm,  and, 

* 

above  all,  from  the  known  fa£t, 
that  their  ^retinues  abounded  with 
minltrels  and  harpers,  and  that  it 
was  their  chief  entertainment  to 
liken  to  the  recital  of  romantic  ad¬ 
ventures,  one  would  naturally  have 
expected  to  find  fome  confiderable 
remains  of  the  metrical  tales  which 
mult  have  prevailed  in  thole  times. 
But  the  cafe  is  quite  otherwife. 
There  is  only  one  metrical  ro¬ 
mance  which  our  author  car* 
aferibe  to  an  earlier  period  than  th$ 
thirteenth  century.  Mr.  Warton 
accounts  for  this  fingular  circum- 
ftance  in  a  very  fatisfa&qry  man¬ 
ner  on  the  following  grounds.  He 
imagines  that  they  kill  exik  in  the 
(£.  z  Englifh 


ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


!2lS 

Englifli  metrical  romances  of  the 
later  ages,  “  di veiled  of  their  ori¬ 
ginal  form,  polifhed  in  their  ftyle, 
adorned  with  new  incidents,  and 
fucceffively  modernized  by  repeat¬ 
ed  tranfcription  and  recitation.” 
That  this  would  not  be  the  cafe  of 
the  legendary  and  other  religious 
poems  written  loon  after  the  Con- 
queft,  is  equally  probable.  From 
the  nature  of  their  fuhjed  they 
were  lefs  popular  and  common  j 
and,  being  lefs  frequently  recited, 
became  lefs  liable  to  perpetual  in¬ 
novation  or  alteration.  The  fati¬ 
dical  compactions  of  this  age  are 
pretty  numerous.  It  is  probable, 
that  our  Englifli  rhymers  got  then- 
turn  for  this  fpecies  of  poetry  from 
the  French  and  Provencal  Trouba¬ 
dours,  who  were  very  much  ad¬ 
dicted  to  fatirical  inventive,  and 
from  whom  they  alfo  borrowed  the 
art  of  clothing  their  fatire  in  alle¬ 
gories.  The  earlieft  love-fong  our 
author  met  with,  he  does  not  place 
higher  than  the  year  1200.  Molt 
of  thefe  ditties  are  alliterative,  and 
not  deititute  of  imagination  and 
poetical  exprefTion. 

In  the  fucceedingr  centurv  the 
character  of  our  -poetry  began  a 
little  to  change.  A  tape  for  or¬ 
namental  and  exotic  expreffion 
gradually  prevailed,  and  the  in¬ 
crease  of  the  tales  of  chivaby  and 
the  improvements  of  romance  ;  the 
rife  of  the  crufades,  and  the  inter¬ 
course  that  was  opened  between  the 
French  and  Englifli  minitrels, 
contributed  to  give  an  advantage¬ 
ous  turd  both  to  our  poetry  and 
language.  In  this  part  of  his 
work  our  author  has  introduced  a 
fhort  account  of  the  origin  of  our 
drama.  It  abounds  in  antiquated 
learning  and  ingenious  criticifm, 
and  may  be  very  ufeful  to  any  fu¬ 


ture  author,  who  may  be  Inclined 
to  make  this  branch  of  our  poetry 
the  peculiar  objed  of  his  enqui¬ 
ries. 

In  the  reign  of  Edward  the 
Third,  a  new  rera  in  Englifli  poe¬ 
try  commences  with  the  illuftrious 

✓ 

Chaucer.  Our  author,  on  this 
occafion,  flops  the  courfe  of  his 
narrative  in  order  to  take  a  retro- 
fped  of  the  general  manners. 
(t  The  tournaments,  he  fays,  and 
caroufals  of  our  ancient  princes, 
by  forming  fplendid  affemblies  of 
both  fexes,  while  they  inculcated 
the  moft  liberal  fentiments  of  ho¬ 
nour  and  heroifm,  undoubtedly 
contributed  to  introduce  ideas  of 
courtefy,  and  to  encourage  deco¬ 
rum.  Yet  the  national  manners 
Fill  retained  a  great  degree  of  fe¬ 
rocity,  and  the  ceremonies  of  the 
molt  refined  courts  in  Europe  had 
often  a  mixture  of  barbarifm, 
which  rendered  them  ridiculous. 
This  abfurdity  will  always  appear 
at  periods  when  men  are  fo  far  ci- 
viiifed,  as  to  have  loft  their  native 
fimplicity,  and  yet  have  not  at¬ 
tained  juft  ideas  of  politenefs  and 
propriety.  Their  luxury  was  in* 
elegant,  their  pleafures  indelicate, 
their  pomp  cumberfome  and  un¬ 
wieldy.  In  the  mean  time  it  may 
feem  furprifrng,  that  the  many 
fchoofs  of  philofophy  which  fiou- 
rifhed  in  the  middle  ages,  fhould 
not  have  correded  and  polifhed 
the  times.  'But  as  their  religion 
was  corrupted  by  fuperftition,  fo 
their  philofophy  degenerated  into 
fophiftry.  Nor  is  it  fcience  alone, 
even  if  founded  on  truth,  that  will 
polifli  nations.  For  this  purpofe, 
the  powers  of  imagination  mull  be 
awakened  and  exerted,  to  teach 
elegant  feelings,  and  to  heighten, 
our  natural  fenfibilities.  It  is  not 

the 


OF  BOOKS. 


ACCOUNT 

the  head  only  that  mull;  be  in¬ 
formed,  but  the  heart  mull  alfo  be 
moved.  Many  claffic  authors  were 
known  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
but  the  fcholars  of  that  period 
wanted  talle  to  read  and  admire 
them.  The  pathetic  or  fublime 
ftrokes  of  Virgil  would  be  but  lit¬ 
tle  relifhed  by  theologies  and  roe- 
taphyficians.,> 

He  afterwards  proceeds  in  the 
following  manner: — <f  The  moil 
alluftrious  ornament  of  the  reign  ot 
Edward  the  Third,  and  of  his  fuc- 
ceffor  Richard  the  Second,  was 
Jeffrey  Chaucer ;  a  poet  with 
whom  the  hiiiory  of  our  poetry  is 
by  many  fuppofed  to  have  com¬ 
menced  ;  and  who  has  been  pro¬ 
nounced,  by  a  critic  of  unqueilion- 
able  talle  and  difcernrnent,  to  be 
the  firfl  Englifli  verfifier  who  wrote 
poetically.  He  was  born  in  the 
year  1328,  and  educated  at  Ox¬ 
ford,  where  he  made  a  rapid  pro- 
grefs  in  the  fc’nolaftic  fciences  as 
they  were  then  taught  :  but  the 
livelinefs  of  his  parts,  and  the  na¬ 
tive  gaiety  of  his  difpofition,  fcon 
recommended  him  to  the  patronage 
of  a  magnificent  monarch,  and 
rendered  him  a  very  popular  and 
acceptable  charaXer  in  the  bril¬ 
liant  court  which  1  have  above  de- 
fcribed.  In  the  mean  time,  he 
added  to  his  accomplifhments  by 
frequent  tours  into  France  and 
Italy,  which  he  fometimes  vifited 
under  the  advantage  of  a  public 
character.  Hitherto  our  poets  had 
been  perfons  of  a  private  and  cir- 
cumfcribed  education,  and  the  art 
of  verfifying,  like  every  other  kind 
of  compofition,  had  been  confined 
to  reclufe  fcholars.  But  Chaucer 
was  a  man  of  the  world  :  and  Torn 
this  circumltance  we  are  to  ac¬ 
count,  in  great  meafure,  for  the 


many  new  embellifhments  which 
he  conferred  on  our  language  and 
our  poetry.  The  defcriptions  of 
fplendid  procefiions,  and  gallant 
caroufals,  with  which  his  works 
abound,  are  a  proof  that  he  was 
converfant  with  the  practices  and 
diverfions  of  polite  life.  Familia¬ 
rity  with  a  variety  of  things  and 
objects,  opportunities  of  acquiring 
the  fafhionable  and  courtly  modes 
of  fpeech,  connexions  with  the 
great  at  home,  and  a  perfonal  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  the  vernacular 
poets  of  foreign  countries,  opened 
his  mind  and  furnifhed  him  with 
new  lights.  In  Italyhe  was  intro¬ 
duced  to  Petrarch,  at  the  wedding 
of  Violante,  daughter  of  Gal- 
leazzo  Duke  of  Milan,  with  the 
.Duke  of  Clarence  :  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  Boccacio  was  of 
the  party.  Although  Chaucer  had 
undoubtedly  iludied  the  works  of 
thele  celebrated  writers,  and  par¬ 
ticularly  of  Dante,  before  this  for¬ 
tunate  interview ;  yet  it  feems 
likely,  that  thefe  excurfions  gave 
him  a  new  relifh  for  their  compo- 
fitions,  and  enlarged  his  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  Italian  fables.  His 
travels  likevvife  enabled  him  to 
cultivate  the  Italian  and  Proven- 
cial  languages  with  the  greateft 
fuccefs  ;  and  induced  him  to  po- 
lifh  the  afperity,  and  enrich  the 
fierility  of  his  native  verfification, 
with  fofter  cadences,  and  a  more 
copious  and  variegated  phrafeolo- 
gy.  In  this  attempt,  which  was 
authorifed  by  the  recent  and  popu¬ 
lar  examples  of  Petrarch  in  Italy, 
and  Alain  Chartier  in  France,  he 
was  countenanced  and  afiified  by 
his  friend  John  Gower,  the  early 
guide  and  encourager  of  his  ftu- 
dies.  The  revival  of  learning  in 
moll  countries,  appears  to  h.ave  fid* 
Qr3  owed 


/ 


230  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


owed  its  rife  to  tranflation.  At 
rude  periods  the  modes  of  original 
thinking:  are  unknown,  and  the 
arts  of  original  compofition  have 
not  yet  been  itudied.  The  writers 
therefore  of  fuch  periods  are  chiefly 
and  very  ufefully  employed  in  im¬ 
porting  the  ideas  of  other  lan¬ 
guages  into  their  own.  They  do 
not  venture  to  think  for  them- 
felves,  nor  aim  at  the  merit  of  in¬ 
ventors,  but  they  are  laying  the 
foundations  of  literature  :  and 
while  they  are  naturalising  the 
knowledge  of  more  learned  ages 
and  countries  by  tranflation,  they 
are  imperceptibly  improving  the 
national  language.  This  has  been 
remarkably  the  cafe,  not  only  in 
England.,  but  in  France  and  Italy. 
In  the  year  1387,  John  Trevifa, 
canon  of  Weftbury  in  Wiltfhire, 
and  a  great  traveller,  not  only 
fmifhed  a  tranflation  of  the  Old 
and  New  Teftaments,  at  the  com¬ 
mand  of  his  munificent  patron 
Thomas  Lord  Berkley,  but  alfo 
tranflated  Higden’s  Polycbro?iicon , 
and  other  Latin  pieces.  But  thefe 
tranflations  would  have  been  alone 
info  laden  t  to  have  produced  or 
iuftained  any  conflderable  revolu¬ 
tion  in  our  language  :•  the  great 
work  was  referved  for  Gower  and 
Chaucer.  Wickliffe  had  alfo  tran¬ 
flated  the  Bible  :  and  in  other  re-» 
ipeds  his  attempts  to  bring  about 

*  .  ^  s  • 

a  reformation  in  religion  at  this 
time  proved  beneficial  to  Englilh 
'literature.  The  orthodox  divines 
of  this  period  generally  wrote  in 
Latin  :  but  Wickliffe,  that  his  ar¬ 
guments  might  be  familiarifed 
to  common  readers  and  the  bulk 
of  the  people,  was  obliged  to 
pompofe  in  Englifli  his  numerous 
theological  treatifes  again  ft  the 
papal  corruptions.  Edward  the 


Third,  while  he  perhaps  intended 
only  to  banifh  a  bad^e  of  con- 
queft,  greatly  contributed  to  efta- 
blifh  the  national  dialed,  by  abo- 
lifhing  the  ufe  of  the  Norman 
tongue  in  the  public  ads  and  ju¬ 
dicial  proceedings,  as  we  have  be¬ 
fore  oblerved,  and  by  fubftituting 
the  natural  language  of  the  coun¬ 
try.  But  Chaucer  ijmnifeftly  firft 
taught  his  countrymen  to  write 
Englifh  ;  and  formed  a  ftyle  by 
naturalising  words  from  the  Pro- 
vencial,  at  that  time  the  moft  po- 
lifhed  dialed  of  any  in  Europe,  and 
the  beft  adapted  to  the  purpofes  of 
poetical  expreftion. 

It  is  certain  that  Chaucer 
abounds  in  claflical  allufions :  but 
his  poetry  is  not  formed  on  the 
antient  models.  He  appears  to 
have  been  an  univerfal  reader,  and 
his  learning  is  fometimes  miftaken 
for  genius  :  but  his  chief  fources 
were  the  French  and  Italian  poets. 
From  thefe  originals  two  of  his 
capital  poems,  the  Knight" s  Tale, 
and  the  Romaunt  of  the  Rojet  are 
imitations  or  tranflations. ’* 

The  feven  laft  fedions  of  the 
firft  volume  are  entirely  dedi¬ 
cated  to  Chaucer,  and  contain  a 
complete  analyfis  and  critical 
hiftory  of  the  principal  of  his 
poems. 

Our  author  begins  his  fecond 
volume,  which  has  been  given  to 
the  public  in  thecourfe  of  the  pre¬ 
lent  year,  with  an  account  of  Gower 
the  cotemporary  of  Chaucer.  His 
poems  are  in  general  of  a  grave 
and  (ententious  caft,  not  deititute 
of  harmony,  and  forne  of  the  few, 
which  are  of  a  higher  turn,  have 
even  a  conflderable  degree  of  fim- 
plicity  and  elegance. 

The  ^poetic  fpirit  of  England 
feems,  by  making  too  vigorous  art 

exertion* 


* 


ACCOUNT 

exertion,  to  have  almoft  exhaufted 
itfelf  in  Chaucer.  The  reign  of 
Henry  the  Fourth  affords  but  the 
name  of  one  folitary  miferable 
poet  :  that  of  his  fucceflor  was  not 
much  more  happily  diftinguifhed 
either  in  number  or  merit.  Even 
Lydgate,  who  flourifhed  in  the 
time  of  Henry  the  Sixth,  falls 
very  Ihort  of  Chaucer,  both  in 
imagination,  judgment,  and  the 
powers  of  poetical  expreflion.  In 
addition  to  the  extract  containing- 
the  charafter  of  this  poet,  which 
we  have  given  in  another  part  of 
our  volume,  (fee  p.  21.)  we  will 
prefent  our  readers  with  the  fol¬ 
lowing  fpecimens  of  his  talent  at 
defcription  in  two  different  flyles. 
They  are  taken  out  of  a  poem  of 
his  called  'Troy  Boke. 

This  poem,  fays  Mr.  Warton, 
is  replete  with  descriptions  of  rural 
beauty,  formed  by  a  feledlion  of 
very  poetical  and  pidturefque  cir- 
cumftances,  and  cloathed  in  the 
molt  perfpicuous  and  mufical  num¬ 
bers.  The  colouring  of  our  poet’s 
morning,  is  often  remarkably  rich 
and  fplendid.” 

When  that  the  rowes  *  a°d  the  rayes  redde 
Eaftward  to  us  full  early  ginnen  fpredde, 
Even  at  the  twylyght  in  the  dawneynge, 
Wi.ea  that  the  larke  of  cuflom,  ginneth 
fynge, 

For  to  faliie  -J-  in  her  heavenly  laye. 

The  lufty  gnddefTe  of  the  morrowe  graye, 

I  mear.e  Aurora,  which  afore  ihe  funne 
Is  won’t  t’  J  enchafe  the  blacke  fkyes 
dunne, 

And  al  the  dirknefle  of  tire  dimmv  night  *. 
And  fre/he  Phebus,  with  comforte  of  his 
light, 


O  F  B  O  O  K  S.  231 

And  with  the  brightnes  of  his  bemes 
fhene, 

Hath  overgylt  the  huge  hylles  grene  ; 

And  floures  eke,  agayn  the  morrowe  tide, 
Upon  their  ftalkes  gan  playn  |j  their  leaves 
wide. 

Again,  among  more  pi&ures  of 
the  fame  fubjedt  : 

When  Aurora  the  fylver  droppes  fhene, 

Her  teares  had  fhed  upon  the  frefhe 
grene, 

Complaynyng  aye,  in  weeping  and  in  fo-/ 
rowe, 

Her  chyldren’s  death  on  every  fommer- 
morrowe : 

That  is  to  faye,  when  the  dewe  fo  foote, 
Embawmed  hath  the  floure  and  eke  roote 
Wiih  luflie  lycour  in  Aprill  and  in  Maye  : 
"When  that  the  larke,  thd  meffenger  of 
daye, 

Of  cuftom  aye  Aurora  doth  falue, 

With  fundry  notes  her  forowe  to  §  tranf- 
mue. 

The  fpring  is  thus  deferibed, 
renewing  the  buds  or  bioffoms  of 
the  groves,  and  the  flowers  of  the 
meadows : 

And  them  whom  winter’s  blades  have 
fhaken  bare 

With  foie  blofomes  frefhly  to  repare  ; 

And  the  meadows  of  many  a  fundry  hewe, 
Tapidd  ben  with  divers  floures  newe 
Of  fundry  motlefs -f,  lufly  for  to  fenej 
And  holiome  balrne  is  fhed  among  the 
grene. 

Frequently  in  thefe  florid  land- 
fcapes  we  find  the  fame  idea  dif¬ 
ferently  expreffed.  Yet  this  cir- 
cumftance,  while  it  weakened  the 
defcription,  taught  a  copioufnefs 
of  didtion,  and  a  variety  of  poeti¬ 
cal  phrafeology.  There  is  great 
foftnefs  and  facility  in  the  following 
delineations  of  a  delicious  retreat: 


*  Streaks  of  light.  A  very  common  word  in  Lydgate.  Chaucer,  Kn.  T. 
V.  579.  col.  2.  Urr.  p.  455. 

And  while  the  twilight  and  the  ronvis  red 
Of  Phebus  light. - 

Salute.  \  Chafe.  |]  Open.  §  Change.  Colours. 

04  m 


2J2  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778 


Tyll  at  the  laft,  among  the  Lowes  glade, 

Of  adventure,  I  caught  a  pleafant  iftade ; 
Pul  fmothe,  and  playn,  and  lufty  for  to 
fene, 

And  fofte  as  velvette  was  the  yonge  grene ; 
Where  from  my  hors  I  did  alight  as  faft, 
And  on  a  bowe  aloft  his  reyne  caff. 

So  fay  rite  and  mate  of  werynefie  I  was, 

That  I  me  layd  adowoe  upon  the  gras, 
Upon  a  brinke,  fbovtly  for  to  telle, 

Belyde  the  river  of  a  criftall  weile  j 
And  the  water,  as  I  reherfe  can, 

Like  quicke-  fylver  in  his  ftreames  yran, 

£)f  which  the  gravell  and  the  bryghte  ftone, 
As  any  golde,  agaynft  the  fun  yfhone. 

There  is  much  elegance  of  fen- 
timent  and  expreffion  in  the  por¬ 
trait  of  Crefeide  weeping  when  fhe 
parts  with  Trail  us. 

And  from  her  eyn  the  teares  round  drops 
tryll. 

That  all  fordewed  have  her  biacke  wedej 
And  eke  un  rufs’d  [her  haire  abrcde  gan 
fpredc, 

Lyke  g®iden  wyre,  forrent  and  alto  torn,— 
And  over  this,  her  frefbe  and  rofey  hewe, 
Whylom,  ymeynt  *  with  white  lylyes 
newe, 

Y/yth  wofuil  wepyng  piteoufly  difleynd  ; 
And  lyke  the  herbes  in  April  all  bereynd. 
Of  floures  fre {he  with  the  cewes  fwete, 
Jtyght  to  her  chekes  nioyiie  were  and 
wete 

The  following  verfes  are  worthy 
of  attention  in  another  ityle  of 
writing,  and  have  great  flrength 
and  fpirit.  A  Knight  brings  a 
Iteed  to  He&or  in  the  midil  of  the 
battle. 

And  brought  to  KeAor.  Sothly  there  he 

ft  code 

Among  the  Grek.es,  al  bathed  in  their 
blood  : 

The  which  in  hafte  ful  knightly  he  be- 
ft rode,  -  / 

And  them  amonge  like  Mars  himfelfe  he 
rode. 


%  Mingled. 


The  flrokes  on  the  helmets  are 
thus  exprefs’d,  flriking  fre  amid 
the  plumes. 

But  ftrokys  felle,  that  men  might  herden 
rynge, 

On  bsflenetts,  the  fieldes  rounde  aboute, 

So  cruelly,  that  the  fyre  fpraog  oute 
Amonge  the  tuftes  brode,  bright  and 
fhene, 

Of  foyle  of  golds,  of  fethers  white  and 
greene, 

Mr  Warton  next  proceeds  to 
the  reign  of  Edward  the  Fourth, 
which  lie  introduces  with  a  very 
elaborate  account  of  the  French 
tranfations  of  the  antient  claffic 
authors,  and  other  writers  of  a 
more  modern  date,  with  which  that 
century  abounded.  By  means  of 
thefe  transitions  he  believes  that 
our  countrymen  became  acquaint¬ 
ed  with  ancient  literature  at  a 
much  earlier  period  than  is  ima¬ 
gined.  “  How  greatly  our  poets, 
he  adds,  in  general  availed  them- 
felves  of  thefe  treafures,  we  may 
collect  from  this circumftance  only  : 
even  fuch  writers  as-  Chaucer  and 
Lydgate,  men  of  education  and 
learning,  when  they  trail  (late  a 
Latin  author,  appear  to  execute 
their  work  through  the  medium  of 
a  French  verfiqnT 

In  the  fame  reign,  our  author 
finds  the  frit  mention  of  the 
King’s  Poet  Laureate  ;  his  account 
of  the  origin  of  which  office  we 
have  already  given  our  readers 
under  the  head  of  Antiquities  f. 

The  reign  of  Richard  the  Third 
and  Henry  the  Seventh,  furnifh  a 
long  catalogue  of  obfcure  ver fi¬ 
bers.  Barclay,  the  author  of  a 
popular  latirical  poem  on  thcf$ 

I 

t  See  p.  13J.. 


t,\  ms 


ACCOUNT 

times,  called  the  Ship  of  Fools,  is 
the  moll  confiderable.  His  lan¬ 
guage  is  more  cultivated  than  that 
of  many  of  his  cotemporaries,  and 
he  certainly  contributed  his  lhare 
to  the  improvement  of  the  Englifh 
phrafeology  —  Our  author  is  alfo 
cf opinion  that  his  Egloges  are  the 
fir  ft  that  appeared  in  the  Englifh 
language:  They  are  all,  he  la)  s, 
like  Petrarch’s  and  Mantuan’s,  of 
a  moral  and  fatirical  kind  ;  and 
contain  but  few  touches  of  rural 
defcription  and  bucolic  imagina¬ 
tion. 

Having  brought  the  hiftory  of 
Englifh  poetry  down  to  the  fix- 
teen  th  century,  the  author  takes 
a  view  of  the  cotemporary  ftate  of 
poetry  in  Scotland,  and  has  given 
us  an  account  at  large  of  fome  of 
the  moll  celebrated  productions  of 
the  Scotch  poets  of  that  age. 
Thefe  are,  the  T hi  file  and  the  Rofe 
and  the  Golden  Eerge  of  William 
Dunbar  —  the  translation  of  the 
Eneid  and  fome  original  poems,  by 
Gaaven  Douglas — the  poems  of  Sir 
JDavid  Lindeley,  and  fome  anony¬ 
mous  pieces.  The  merit  of  thefe 
poems,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr. 
Warton,  is  very  confiderable,  and 
inferior  in  no  refpcCt  to  the  pro¬ 
ductions  cf  the  Englifh  mufe  of 


OF  BOOKS.  233 

the  fame  age,  thofe  of  Chaucer 
only  excepted. 

*  We  are  now  arrived  at  the  end 
of  the  hiftorical  part  of  the  fecond 
volume,  which  brings  the  hiftory 
cf  our  poetry  down  to  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  fixteenth  century. 
The  period  in  which  the  author 
has  been  hitherto  engaged,  though 
it  be  not  fo  brilliant  and  fplendid 
as  that  which  fucceeded,  has  ne- 
verthelefs  been  productive  of  abun¬ 
dance  of  matter  extremely  inte- 
refting  and  curious  to  an  Englifh 
reader.  It  exhibits  (to  ufe  the 
author’s  words)  the  gradual  im¬ 
provement  of  our  poetry  and  the 
formation  of  our  tafte,  at  the  fame 
time  that  it  uniformly  reprefents 
the  progreflion  of  our  language  . 
Nor  mull  our  obligations  to  Mr, 
Warton  be  forgotten,  for  having 
brought  out  of  their  obfcurity  the 
remains  of  fo  many  of  our  early 
and  almoft  unknown  poets, —  Some 
of  their  writings,  from  their  in- 
trinfic  worth,  deferved  a  better 
fate;  even  thofe  of  an  inferior 
call  have  their  merit,  and  deferve 
to  be  known,  as  they  tranfmit  pic¬ 
tures  of  familiar  manners,  and  pre- 
ferve  popular  cuftoms. 

In  the  two  laft  iedions  our  au¬ 
thor  takes  a  general  view  of  the 


*  The  fifteenth  llCtion  of  this  volume  appears  to  us  to  be  a  little  mifplaced. 
Skelton,  who  is  the  principal  fubjeCt  of  it,  was  the  cotemporary  of  Halves , 
(who  appears  in  the  10th  fed.)  and  ought  therefore  to  have  preceded  Barclay 
and  the  Scotch  poets.  This  would  alio  have  prevented  the  fines  of  his  hiftory 
from  being  broken  by  this  northern  digrefiion,  and  have  thrown  that  fubjeCl 
into  Its  proper  place,  the  end  of  this  volume.  If  we  may  be  allowed  to  find 
any  fault  with  a  work  fo  replete  with  inftru&ion  and  amufement,  we  could 
have  wifhed  that  the  author  had  attended  a  little  more  to  the  arrangement  of 
his  materials.  The  hiftory  of  the  origin  of  the  Englilh  drama,  in  particular, 
which  is  profeffedly  treated  of  in  the  firft  volume,  is  again  refumed  in  the  9th 
fe£l.  of  the  fecond  ;  and  laftly,  begun  over  again  in  the  15th  ami  1 6th.  This 
defultory  mode  of  writing,  may  be  very  convenient  to  the  needy  compilers  of 
the  age,  but  is  not  fuited  to  the  eig  am  which  we  expeCl  from  the  hands 
pf  fo  refpeclablea  literary  character  as  Mr.  Warton. 


revival 


234  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  i77s. 


revival  of  claffical  learning  in  Eu¬ 
rope,  of  the  reformation  of  reli¬ 
gion,  and  of  its  effeCts  on  litera¬ 
ture  in  England.  The  great  re¬ 
volution  which  thefe  events  pro¬ 
duced  in  our  poetical  competition, 
is  referved  for  trie  argument  of 
feme  future  volume,  in  which  the 
line  tails  and  critical  judgment 
of  Mr.  Warton  may  exert  them- 
felves  with  freedom,  difencumber- 
ed  of  the  weight  of  his  archiologi- 
cal  labours. 


Mi/cellaneous  State  Papers .  From 
1501  to  1 726.  2  'vol.  \to. 

HERE  are  perhaps  no 
JL  books  that  are  read  with  a 
snore  general  coriotity  than  chofe 
hifforical  compilations,  which  ap¬ 
pear  under  the  name  of  State 
Papers :  and  indeed,  when  their 
authenticity  is  unquestionable,  and 
the  feleCtion  made  with  candour 
and  judgment,  there  are  no  works 
more  ufeful,  or  that  deferve  more 
eminently  the  attention  and  en¬ 
couragement  of  the  public.  The 
very  high  and  refpeCtabde  name  * 
that  has  been  given  to  the  world 
as  the  publisher  of  thefe  volumes, 
leaves  us  nothing  to  fay  with  re- 
fpeCt  to  their  merit  on  any  of  thofe 
heads  :  the  introductions,  prefixed 
to  the  feveral  divifions  of  thefe 
papers,  and  the  notes,  with  which 
they  are  occasionally  elucidated, 
are  fufiicient  proofs  of  the  noble 
writer’s  judgment,  and  extentive 
knowledge  of  hiffory.  As  we  have 
already  given  our  readers  feveral 
extracts  from  this  curious  and  va¬ 
luable  collection,  we  lliaU  content 


ourfelves  at  prefent  with  giving 
them  the  heads  of  the  different 
articles  that  compofe  it  in  the  or¬ 
der  they  occur. 

Volume  I. 

No.  I. 

Certain  notes  taken  out  of  the 
entertainment  of  Katharine,  wife 
of  Arthur,  Prince  of  Wales, 
OCL  1501.  [From  the  Harleian 
Collection .] 

[This  is  a  curious  picture  of  the 
manners  of  thofe  .  times,  and,  as 
the  editor  very  well  obferves,  may 
be  thought  a  good  companion  to 
the  picture  of  the  Champ  de  Drap 
d’Or  in  Windfor  Caftle,] 

No.  II. 

Original  Letter  of  Thomas  Leigh, 
one  of  the  vifitors  of  the  Mona- 
fferies,  to  Thomas  Cromwell, 
Lord  Privy  Seal,  dated  from  the 
Monaftery  of  Vale  Royal,  Aug. 
22,  1536  f.  [From  the  Harleian 
Collection.  ] 

No.  III. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  the  Marquis  of  Exeter, 
and  Sir  Anthony  Brown,  Knt, 
JnltruCtions  for  the  levying  men 
to  go  againff  the  rebels  in  the 
north,  1536.  [From  the  Harleian 
Collection .] 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  and  the  Marquis  of 
Exeter,  being  in  their  march 
toward  Doncafter,  againff  the 
rebels,  QCt.  20,  1536. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke. 
InftruCtions  about  dealing  with 
the  rebels,  and  offering  them 
pardon,  Dec.  2,  1536. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  Dec.  6,  1536. 


*  Lord  Hardwicke* 
p.  8.  of  this  volume',. 


ff  See  this  letter  in  our  article  of  Characters , 


ACCOUNT 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke, 
Feb-  4,  1536-7. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke, 
Feb.  4,  1536-7. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke, 
Feb.  25,  1536-7. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke, 
March  3,  1536-7. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke, 
March  12,  1536-7. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke, 
March  17,  1536-7. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke, 
April  7,  1537. 

The  Privy  Council  to  the  Duke, 
April  8,  1 5  ",7. 

No.  IV. 

Roger  Afcham’s  communication 
with  Monfieur  d’Arras,  at  Lan¬ 
dau,  061.  1,  1552.  To  Sir 

Richard  Moryfon.  [ From  the 
Paper  Office. \ 

Sir  Richard  Moryfon  to  the  Lords 
of  the  Council,  Oft.  7,  1552. 

[The  author  of  this  laft  letter  was 
a  man  of  confiderable  learning  in 
thofe  times.  There  is  fomething 
exceedingly  peculiar  in  his  ftyle  ; 
but  his  "letter  is  chiefly  valuable, 
for  fome  curious  particulars  it 
contains  refpefting  the  court  and 
manners  of  Charles  the  Fifth.] 

No.  V. 

The  Journey  of  the  Queen’s  Arn- 
baffadors  unto  Rome,  Anno 
1555.  The  Reverend  Father 
in  God  the  Bifhop  of  Ely,  and 
Vifcount  Montague,  then  Am- 
balfadors  ;  who  let  out  of  Ca¬ 
lais  in  Picardy,  on  Wednefday, 
being  Afh  Wednefday,  the  27th 
of  February.  [ From  the  Har - 
lei  an  Collection .] 

[An  Englifh  traveller  may  here 
have  a  curious  opportunity  of  ccm- 


OF  BOOKS.  235 

paring  the  ftate  of  Italy,  and  the 
cufloms  of  its  inhabitants,  at  fo 
early  a  period  as  1555,  thofe 

of  the  prefent  time.] 

No.  VI. 

Letters  concerning  Calais.  [From 
the  Paper  Office .] 

The  Council  of  Calais  to  the 
Queen,  May  23,  1557. 

Lord  Wentworth,  Lord  Grey,  Sec. 

to  the  Queen,  Dec.  27,  1557. 
Their  conlultation,  Dec.  27,  1557. 
The  Lord  Wentworth,  Deputy  of 
Calais,  to  the  Queen,  Jan.  1, 
1557-8. 

Lord  Wentworth  to  the  Queen, 
Jan.  2, 1557-8. 

Lord  Grey  to  the  Queen,  Jan.  4, 

J557-8. 

Mr.  JHighfield’s  account  of  the 
fiege  and  lofs  of  Calais. 

No.  VII. 

Letters  from  Sir  Nicholas  Throk- 
morton,  Ambaffador  in  France. 
[From  the  Paper  Office .] 

To  Secretary  Cecil,  Oct.  28,  1560. 
To  Secretary  Cecil,  Oft.  31,  1560. 
To  the  Queen,  Nov.  17,  11560. 

To  Secretary  Cecil,  Nov.  17,  1560. 
To  Secretary  Cecil,  Nov.  1 8,  1560. 
To  the  Queen,  Nov.  28,  1560. 

To  Secretary  Cecil,  Nov.  28,  1560. 
To  the  Queen,  Nov.  28,  1560, 

To  Secretary  Cecil,  Nov.  29,  1560. 
To  the  Queen,  Nov.  29,  1560. 

To  Secretary  Cecil,  Dec.  1,  4560. 
No.  VIII. 

Mr.  Jones  to  Sir  Nicholas  Throk- 
mor ton,  Ambaffador  in  France  *. 
[From  the  original ,  in  the  poffief- 
Jion  oj  the  Earl  of  Har d^voi eke .] 

No.  IX. 

Letters  from  Sir  William  Cecil, 
and  from  the  Earl  of  Bedford, 
to  Sir  Nicholas  ThrokmOrton, 
Ambaffador  in  France.  [ From 


the 


*  See  this  letter,  p.  9.  preceding. 


a 36  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778. 


the  originals,  in  the  pojfeffiion  of 
the  Earl  of  Hardwicks.  ] 

From  Sir  William  Cecil  to  Sir  N. 
Throkmorton,  May,  1561* 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same,  July 
14,  1561. 

Earl  of  Bedford  to  Throk morion, 
July  8,  1561. 

From  Cecil  to  Throkmorton,  Aug. 
26,  1561. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same,  Dec. 
22,  1561 . 

No.  X. 

A  note  of  consultation  had  at 
Greenwich,  primo  May  1561, 
by  the  Queen’s  Majefty’s  com¬ 
mandment,  upon  a  requeft  made 
to  her  'Majefty  by  the  King  of 
Spain’s  Ambaffador,  that  the 
Abbot  of  Marti  nengo  being 

•  Nuntio  from  the  Pope,  and  ar¬ 
riving  at  Bruxells,  might  come 
into  the  realm  with  letters  from 
the  Pope  and  other  Princes  to 
the  Queen.  [ Copied  from  the 
Advocates  Library  at  Edinburgh. ) 

No.  XL 

Henry  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  to  the 
Earl  of  Leicefler,  April,  156$. 
[F  rom  the  original  in  the  Britijh 
Mufeum .  1 

No.  XI L 

Letters  from  the  Queen  of  Scots 
to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  *. 
[From  Dr.  Forbes's  Collection,  in 
the  pojfejfon  of  the  Earl  of  Hard - 
wicke.  ] 

From  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  the 
P.  of  Norfolk,  jan.  31,1569-70. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same,  March 
19,  1569-70. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same,  May 
17,  157^ 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same,  June 
14,  1570. 

From  the  Same  to  die  Same. 


No.  XIII. 

Letters  from  Sir  Edward  Stafford, 
Ambaifador  in  France.  [Front 
the  originals  in  the  Paper  Office .] 
Sir  Edward  Stafford  to  the  Queen, 
Dec.  1,  1583. 

SinEd.  Stafford  to  Secretary  Wal- 
lingham,  Dec,  1,  1583. 

Sir  Edward  Stafford  to  the  Queen, 
Dec.  10.  1583, 

Sir  Edward  Stafford  to  Lord  Bur¬ 
leigh,  Dec.  19,  1583. 

Copy  of  a  private  letter  to  Mr.  Se¬ 
cretary,  about  the  anfwer  of  that 
he  writ  to  me  of  my.  Lord  Paget. 
Sir  Edward  Stafford  to  the  Queen. 

No.  XIV. 

From  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  Charles 
.  Paget,  May  20,  1586.  [ From 

Dr.  Forbes's  Collection ,  in  the  pof 
feffion  of  the  Earl  of  Hardwicke.J 
No.  XV. 

Evidence  again!!  the  Q.  of  Scots. 
[From  a  copy  of  the  trial ,  in  the 
poffeffion  of  the  Earl  of  Hardwicke.  ] 
[The  noble  editor  is  of  opinion, 
From  the  evidence  contained  in 
this  article,  that  the  crime  of  com- 
paffing  and  imagining  Queen  Eli¬ 
zabeth’s  death,  feems  fully  proved 
again!!  her.] 

"  No.  XVI. 

A  letter  from  Sir  Edvyard  Stafford, 
Ambaffador  in  France,  to  the 
Queen,  with  one  to  Ld.  Treafur- 
er  Burleigh,  inclofmg  in  it.  [From 
the  original  in  the  Paper  Office.  ] 

Sir  Edward  Stafford  to  the  Queen, 
Feb.  25,  1587-8, 

Sir  Edward  Stafford  to  the  Lord 
Treafurer,  Feb.  26,  1587, 

No.  XVII. 

A  brief  difcourfe,  containing  the 
true  and  certain  manner  how7  the 
late  Duke  of  Guife,  and  the 


Cardinal 


#  See  tpefe  letters,  p.,  13.  &  feq.  of  this  volume. 


ACCOUNT 

Cardinal  of  Lorraine  his  brother, 
were  put  to  death  at  Blois,  the 
14th  of  December,  1588,  for 
fundry  confpiracies  and  treafons 
praftifed  by  them  againll  their 
Sovereign  the  French  King  ; 
wherein  is  farther  declared  the 
imprifonment  of  fome  other  of 
the  confpirators  and  leaguers, 
with  divers  other  circumliances 
and  matters  happening  there¬ 
upon.  Written  unto  our  late 
Queen  Elizabeth,  by  Sir  Edward 
Stafford,  at  that  time  her  Ara- 
baffador  in  the  court  of  France. 
[ From  the  Harleia.n  colleffion.] 

No.  XVIII. 

Letters  to  and  from  Lord  Leiceder, 
in  the  Low  Countries.  [From 
the  originals  in  the  Cotton  ii~ 
hrary. 

Lord  Burleigh  to  Lord  Leiceder, 
Feb.  7,  1586. 

Mr.  Thomas  Duddeley  to  Lord 
Leiceder,  Feb.  11,  1586. 

Mr.  Davifon  to  the  Earl  of  Lei¬ 
ceder,  Feb.  1 7,  1586. 

Earl  of  Leiceder  to  Sir  Francis 
Walfingham,  Feb.  8. 

Earl  of  Leiceiler  to  the  Lords  of  the 
Privy  Council,  Feb.  8,  1585  6. 

Earl  of  Leiceder’s  letter  to  Mr. 
Davifon,  expollulating  with  him, 
and  Mr.  Davifon’s  notes  in  the 
margin  upon  it,  March  10, 
1585-6. 

The  anfwer  of  the  Council  of  State 
to  the  Queen  of  England’s  let¬ 
ter  of  the  lathofFeb.  1585. 

Earl  of  Leiceiler  to  the  Lords  of 
the  Council,  March  27,  1586. 

Extraft  of  my  Lord  of  Leiceder’s 
letter  of  the  5th  of  April,  1586. 

Lord  Burleigh  to  the  Earl  of  Lei¬ 
ceder. 

[The  charafter  of  Leiceder,  as 

the  editor  jufllv  ob  Serves,  is  flrong^ 


OF  BOOKS.  237 

ly  marked  in  thefe  letters  ;  paf- 
fionate  and  vindiftive,  but  wit'll 
more  confiderable  talents  for  bufi- 
nefs  than  Camden  and  other  hifio- 
rians  allow  him.] 

No.'  XIX. 

Letters  from  Sir  Philip  Sydney  to 
the  Earl  of  Leiceiler.  [ Front  the 
originals'  in  the  Cotton  library .  ] 

Sir  Philip  Sidney  to  Lord  Leiceiler, 
Feb.  2,  1  586. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Feb.  2, 

1 ,85. 

•  No.  XX. 

Papers  about  a  private  treaty  with 
Spain.  [From  the  originals  in  the 
Cotton  library .] 

Lord  Burleigh  to  Andreas  de  Loo. 
Earl  of  Leiceiler  to  Lord  Burleigh, 
Sept.  30,  1 587- 

Earl  of  Leiceder  to  Lord  Burleigh, 
Oft.  30,  1587. 

Earl  of  Leiceder  to  the  Lords  of 
the  Council,  Nov.  6,  1587. 

Sir  Francis  Walfingham  to  the  Earl 
of  Leiceiler,  Oft.  9,  1587. 

Sir  Francis  Walfingham  to  the  Earl 
of  Leiceder,  Nov.  12,  1587. 

No.  XXL 

Letters  from  Sir  Francis  Walfinp-- 

O 

ham  to  Sir  Edward  Stafford, 
Ambaffador  at  the  court  of 
France.  [ From  the  originals  in 
the  Pay  er  Qjfice.  ] 

Sir  Francis  Walfin-gham  to  Sir  Ed¬ 
ward  Stafford,  Sept.  8,  1588. 

Sir  Francis  Walfingham  to  i>ir  Ed¬ 
ward  Stafford,  Sept.  30. 

Sir  Francis  Walfingham  to  Sir  Ed¬ 
ward  Stafford,  Oft.  19. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Oft.  20. 
Sir  Francis  Walfingham  to  Sir  Ed¬ 
ward  Stafford,  Nov.  10. 

Sir  Francis  Walfingham  to  Sir  Ed¬ 
ward  Stafford,  Nov.  28. 

Sir  Francis  Walfingham  to  Sir  Ed¬ 
ward  Stafford,  Dec.  10. 

No.  XXII. 


23S  ANNUAL  REG  ISTER,  1778. 


No.  xxir. 

Letter  of  Henry  Cuffe,  Secretary 
to  Robert  Earl  of  Efi'ex,  to  Mr. 
Secretary  Cecil,  declaring  the 
cffedt  of  the  inftrudlions  framed 
by  the  Earl  of  EfTex,  and  deli¬ 
vered  to  the  Ambaffador  of  the 
King  of  Scots,  touching  his 
title  to  the  crown  of  England  ; 
which  letter  was  written  after 
Cufte’s  condemnation.  [From  a 
copy  in  the  pof'efion  of  the  Earl  of 
HardwickeS\ 

No.  xxrir.  i 

Two  letters  of  Sir  Dudley  Carle- 
ton,  afterwards  Vifcount  Dor- 
chefter,  concerning  Sir  W.  Ra¬ 
leigh’s  plot ;  inclofed  in  the 
following  letter  from  Mr.  Dud¬ 
ley  Carleton  to  Philip  Lord 
Wharton*.  [From  the  IVharton 
Papers .] 

Mr.  Dudley  Carleton  to  Lord 
Wharton,  Feb.  14,  1651. 

Sir  Dudley  Carleton  to  Mr.  John 
Chamberlain,  Nov.  27,  1603, 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  Dec.  ii, 
1603. 

[We  cannot  pafs  over  this  arti¬ 
cle  without  giving  our  readers  the 
jaft  of  thefe  letters  ;  it  proves  but 
too  clearly  what  mankind  have 
hitherto  been  unwilling  to  believe, 
that  a  King  may  be  fo  far  hurried 
away  by  private  paffions  and  felfifh 
interefts,  as  fecretly  to  betray  even 
his  own  fubjeds  and  fervants  to  a 
foreign  power.  It  is  introduced  by 
the  noble  editor  with  the  following 
obfervations.] 

*  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  accufed  King 
‘  James  of  having  difclofed  the 

*  whole  defign  of  his  voyage  to 

*  Gundomar.  How  far  the 


*  following  letter  confirms  this 

*  charge,  is  left  to  the  reader’s 
c  judgment.  Win  wood,  who 
c  was  a  great  enemy  to  the  Spa-. 

*  nifh  intereft,  mu  ft  have  exe- 
‘  cuted  this  commiffion  with  re- 
‘  ludance.* 

<£  Sir,  I  have  acquainted  hi*3 
gt  Majelly  with  your  letter,  and 
“  that  which  came  inclofed  from 
Sir  Henry  Wotton,  of  whofe 
“  opinion  Sir  Henry  is,  touch- 
fC  ing  the  advertifement  given 
ec  therein,  that  this  difcovery  is 
“  like  to  unite  the  duke  and  the 
es  Venetian  clofer  together,  and 
ic  bring  on  better  conditions  fora 
te  peace  with  Spain.  His  Ma- 
jelly  perceiveth  by  a  letter  he 
ec  hath  received  from  the  Spanifts 
Ambaffador,  that  you  have  not 
te  been  yet  with  him  to  acquaint 
£S  him  with  the  order  taken  by 
<f  his  Majefty  about  Sir  Walter 
cc  Raleigh’s  voyage  ;  and  there- 
<c  fore  would  have  you  go  to  him 
££  as  foon  as  you  can  poftible,  to 
relate  unto  him  particularly  his 
“  Majefty ’s  care  of  that  bufmefs* 
f<  and  the  courfe  he  hath  taken 
“  therein.  And  fo  I  reft 

“  Your  very  loving  friend, 

<(  Buckingham.5* 
No.  XXIV. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  to  Sir  Dudley 
Carleton  at  Turin,  March  15, 
1614.  [From  the  Paper  Office .  j 
No.  XXV. 

The  Earl  of  Buckingham  to  Mr. 
Secretary  Winwood,  March  28, 

1 6 1 7 .  [  F rom  a  copy  taken  by  Mr . 
Sawyer.  ] 

No.  XXVI. 

[We  could  wifh,  for  the  fake  of 
the  regal,  as  well  as  minifterial  cha- 


See  before,  p.  13,  where  part  of  this  number  is  inferted. 


rafter. 


ACCOUNT  OF  BOOKS. 


rafter,  to  pafs  by  this  curious  cor- 
refpondence  ;  in  which  it  is  dif¬ 
ficult  to  fay  which  is  more  con¬ 
temptible,  the  puerile  weaknefs  of 
the  King,  or  the  mean  obfequiouf- 
nefs  of  the  favourite.] 

Papers  relative  to  the  Spaniih 
match.  [ From  the  Harleian  MSS . 
in  the  Britijh  Mujcum 

King  fames  to  the  Prince  and  D.  of 
Buckingham,  Feb.  26,  1622-3. 
The  Prince  and  Duke  to  King 
James,  March  id. 

The  Prince  and  Duke  to  K.  James. 
King  James  to  the  Prince  and 
Duke,  March  15. 

King  James  to  the  Prince  and 
Duke,  March  17. 

The  Prince  and  Duke  to  King 
James,  March  17. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  K.  James. 
King  James  to  the  Prince  and 
Duke,  March  25,  1623. 

The  Prince  and  Duke  to  King 
James,  March  27. 

King  James  to  the  Prince  and 
Duke,  April  10. 

The  Prince  and  Duke  to  King 
James,  April  22. 

The  Prince  and  Duke  to  King 
James,  April  27. 

Pr.  Charles  to  K.  James,  April  zg. 
Duke  of  Buckingham  to  King 
James,  April  29. 

King  James  to  the  Prince  and 
Duke,  May  1 1 . 

The  Prince  and  Duke  to  King 
James,  June  6. 

King  James  to  the  Prince  and 
Duke,  June  14. 

Prince  Charles  and  the  Duke  to 
King  James,  June  26. 

Prince  Charles  and  the  Duke  to 
King  James,  June  27. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  Secretary 
Conway,  June  29. 

Prince  Charles  and  the  Duke  to 
King  James,  June  29, 


Prince  Charles  and  the  Duke  to 
King  James,  July  15. 

King  James  to  .the  Prince  and 
Duke,  July  21. 

Secretary  Conway  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  July  23. 

Prince  Charles  and  the  Duke  to 
King  James,  July  29. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  King 
James,  July  30. 

Secretary  Conway  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  Aug.  5. 

Secretary  Lonway  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  Aug.  6. 

King  J  ames  to  the  Prince  and 
Duke,  Aug.  5. 

Secretary  Calvert  to  Secretary  Con¬ 
way,  Aug.  8. 

K.  [ames  to  the  Prince,  Aug.  10. 

Prince  Charles  and  the  Duke  to 
King  James,  Aug.  20. 

Prince  Charles  and  the  Duke  to 
King  James,  Aug.  30. 

The  Infanta  to  K.  James,  Aug.  30. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  King 
James,  Sept.  1. 

Prince  Charles  to  the  Pope. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  K.  James. 

Prince  Charles  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  April  26,  1624. 

Prince  Charles  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham.  < 

K.  James  to  the  D.  of  Buckingham. 

Prince  Charles  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  K.  James. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  K.  James. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  toK.  James. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  K.  [ames. 

Duke  cf  Buckingham  to  K.  James. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  K.  [ames, 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  K.  James. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  K.  James. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  K.  James. 

No.  XXVII. 

The  Spanifh  match  continued  ;  the 
Earl  of  BridoPs  letters.  [From 
the  originals  in  the  Paper  Qj]ice.  ~\ 


240  ANNUAL  RE 

Earl  of  BriAol  to  Secretary  Cal¬ 
vert,  Oct.  24,  1624. 

E.  of  Briflol  to  the  King,  Aug.  29. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  9. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  24. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  061.  24. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Nov.  26. 

Earl  of  Briflol  and  Sir  Walter  Alton 
to  the  Same,  Dec.  26. 

The  anfwer  of  the  Earl  of  Briltol 
to  certain  interrogatories  intend¬ 
ed  for  his  MajeAy?s  private  fatis- 
fa&ion,  with  a  referve  for  a  per- 
miflion  of  making  recourfe  to 
iuch  other  things  as  may  be  far¬ 
ther  neceffary  to  his  clearing. 
No.'  XXVIII. 

Papers  relative  to  the  French  match. 
\_FrOm  the  originals  in  the  pof'efjion 
of  the  Earl  of  Hardn.vicke.’] 

From  Secretary  Conway  to  Lord 
Carlifle  and  Lord  'Holland, 
Aug.  12,  1624. 

From  Walter  Montague  to  the 
Earl  of  Carlifle. 

From  Lord  Carlifle  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingha?n,  Q£t.  2. 

--■■■ —  In  the  Earl  of  Carliile’s  hand¬ 
writing. 

From  Secretary  Conway  to  the 
Ambaffadors,  Oct.  5. 

From  Lord  Carlifle  to  the  Prince, 
Oil.  7. 

From  Lords  Carlifle  and  Holland 
to  Secretary  Holland,  Oft.  i3. 

From  Mr.  Lorkin  to  the  Lords  Car¬ 
lifle  and  Holland,  OSL  n. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same, 
Oct.  21. 

Copy  of  the  Secret  Efcript  pre- 
fented  by  the  French  Amhaua- 
dors,  and  avowed  to  be  the 
fame  agreed  on  between  them 
and  his  Majefly’s  Ambaffadors 
in  France,  Nov.  18. 

From  Secretary  Conway  to  Lords 
Carlifle  and  Holland,  Dec.  23. 


G  I  S  TER,  1778. 

From  Lords  Carlifle  and  Holland 
to  Secretary  Conway, 

From  Lord  Carlifle  to  the  D.  of 
Buckingham,  Feb.  16,  1624-5. 

From  Mr.  Thomas  Lorkin  to  the 
Lords  Carlifle,  &c>  Feb.  12. 

From  Secretary  Conway  to  Lord 
Carlifle,  Feb.  2A. 

7  1 

The  Duke  of  Buckingham  to  Lord 
Carlifle,  March  15. 

From  Secretary  Conway  to  the 
Same,  March  16. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same, 

March  24. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same, 

March  24. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same., 

April  12,  1625. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same, 

April  28. 

From  the  Same  to  Lords  Carlifle 
and  Holland,  May  5. 

Account  of  the  vaftly  rich  clothes 
of  the  Duke  of  Buckinghams  the 
number  of  his  fervants,  and  of 
the  noble  perfonages  in  his  train, 
when  he  went  to  Paris,  A.  D, 
1625,  to  bring  over  Queen  Hen¬ 
rietta  Maria. 

A  P  PENDIX. 

No.  L 

Letter  of  Richard  the  Third  to  the 
Bilhop  of  Lincoln.  [ From  ths 
Harieian  Library .  1 
No.  IL 

The  Earl  of  Leicefter  to  Q.  Eliza¬ 
beth,  J  ul  y  27 ,  1 5  3  8 .  j  Frora  the 
original  in  the  Paper  QjjiceL\ 

No.  III. 

Letters  from  the  commanders  of 
the  fleet,  about  the  Spanifh  Ar¬ 
mada.  [ From  the  originals  in  the 
Paper  Office .] 

From  Sir  Francis  Drake  to  Se* 
cretarv  W7alfmghain,  from  a- 
board  the  Revenge,  June  24* 
358B* 


From 


ACCOUNT 

l^rotn  the  Lord  Admiral  to  the 
Same,  July  6,  158s. 

Sir  Francis  Drake  to  tire  Lord 
Henry  SeymoUr,  July  21. 

From  the  fame  to  Secretary  Wal- 
fingham,  July  31,  1588. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Queen, 
Aug.  8,  1 588. 

From  the  Same  to  Secretary  Wal- 
fingham,  AUg.  10.  1588. 

Vo  L  U  M  t  II. 

No.  L 

Letters  of  King  Charles  t.  Lord 
Carlifle,  and  Secretary  Conway, 
to  the  Duke  of  Buckingham. 

[ From  the  Harieian  Collefiion.} 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Nov.  20,  1625. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Nov.  20. 

Lord  Carlifle  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Nov.  20. 

Secretary  Conway  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  Nov.  30. 

Secretary  Conway  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  Dec.  16. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  1626, 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Aug.  13,  1627. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Aug.  23. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Sept.  2. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Sept.  20. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Oft.  1. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Oft.  13. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham^  Noy.  6. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  Of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Feb.  23. 

King  Charles  to  the  Duke  of  Buck¬ 
ingham,  Feb.  23. 

No.  II. 

Ifle  of  Rhe  expedition.  [From  the 
Paper  Office.} 

Vol.  XXL 


OF  BOOKS.  541 

Mr.  De  Vic  to  Lord  Conway,  July 
27,  1627. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  Lord  Con¬ 
way,  July  28* 

Mr.  De  Vic  to  Lord  Conway, 
Aug.  14. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  Edward 
Nicholas,  Efq. 

Mr.  De  Vic  to  Lord  Coftway, 
Aug.  24. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  Lord  Con¬ 
way,  Aug.  240 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  Lord 
Conway. 

Mr.  De  Vic  to  Lord  Conway, 
Sept.  4. 

Mr.  De  Vic  toLd.  Conway,  Sept. 

Duke  of  Buckingham  to  Lord  Con¬ 
way,  Sept..  19 

Sir  William  Beecher  to  Lord  Con¬ 
way,  Sept.  27. 

Sir  William  Beecher  to  Lord  Con¬ 
way,  Oft.  3. 

Mr.  De  Vic  to  Lord  Conways 
Oft.  22. 

No.  Hi. 

Papers  about  a  fecret  treaty  with 
the  Flemings.  £ From  the  Paper 
Office  ] 

Extrafts  from  Mr.  Gerbier’s  ac¬ 
count  given  to  his  Majefty  of 
the  flate  of  the  Catholic  States, 
Aug.  14,  i6;2. 

Copy  of  his  Majefty’s  letter,  which 
he  wrote  to  Mr.  Gerbier,  agent 
at  Bruflels,  all  with  his  owa 
hand,  and  was  fent  prefently  by 
an  exprefs,  Aug.  ti,  I632. 

Secretary  Coke  to  Mr.  Gerbier. 

Secretary  Coke  to  Mf.  Gerbier, 
Sept.  24. 

Secretary  Coke  to  Mr.  Gerbier, « 
Oft.  6. 

Secretary  Coke  to  Mr.  Gerbier, 
Oft.  30. 

Heads  propofed  to'  the  King’s  con- 
flderation.  May  15,  1633. 

Mr.  Gerbier  to  Secretary  Ccke,, 
June  24. 

&  Mr, 


242  ANNUAL  RE 

Mr*  Gerbier  to  Secretary  Coke, 
July  i. 

[This  projedt  of  the  unfortunate 
Charles  has  not  been  mentioned, 
as  far  as  we  recoiled,  by  any  of 
the  hiftorians  of  thofe  times.  It 
Teems  to  have  failed  from  the  un¬ 
certain  date  of  his  politicks  at 
home,  and  the  confequent  want 
of  fufficient  weight  and  credit 
abroad.] 

No.  IV. 

Scotch  troubles,  1637-41.  [From 
the  Archives  of  ihe  Hamilton  fa¬ 
mily,  the  Paper  Qjjice,  bfc.] 

The  Earl  of  Traquair  to  the  Mar¬ 
quis  of  Hamilton,  Od.  19, 1637. 
Earls  of  Traquair  and  Roxburgh 
to  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton, 
Feb.  1 7, 1637-8. 

Earl  of  Traquair  to  the  Marquis  of 
Hamilton,  Feb.  26. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  March  5. 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  March  22. 
The  Same  to  the  Same. 

The  Same  to  Lord  judice  Clerk. 
The  Same  to  the  Marquis  of  Ha¬ 
milton,  May  17,  1638. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  July  13. 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  July  20* 
Marquis  of  Hamilton  to  King 
Charles  I.  Nov.  27. 

Earl  of  Traquair  to  the  Marquis 
.  of  Hamilton,  Nov.  30. 

The  fame  to  the  Same,  Jan.  5, 

,  ..1638-9. 

Lord  St.  Albans  and  Clanricarde 
to  Secretary  Windebank,  Apr.  9. 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  April  14. 
Countefs  of  Weftmorland  to  Fran¬ 
cis  Windebank,  May  6. 
Facifcation  of  Berwick,  Tune  8, 
1639. 

Private  warrant  from  K.  Charles  I. 
to  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  to 
converfe  with  the  Covenanters, 

jui>'  1T' 


UISTER,  1778. 

A  relation  concerning  the  Scots 
proceedings,  their  natures  and 
prefent  eftates,  with  their  in¬ 
tentions,  and  fome  ways  to  ani¬ 
mate  this  country  againft  them, 
and  divide  themfelves,  By  one 
who  hath  long  redded  there, 
Feb.  10,  1639-40. 

Secretary  Windebanke  to  the  Lord 
Conway,  Aug.  14,  1640. 

Minutes  of  Cabinet  Council,  An- 
gull:  16,  1640. 

Mr.  Treafurer  Vane  to  Secretary 
Windebanke,  Aug.  23. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Aug.  23. 

Copy  of  the  Lord  Conway's  letter 
to  Mr.  Treafurer,  fent  to  the 
Lord  Cottington,  by  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  Aug.  21. 

Sir  H.  Vane  to  Windebanke,  Au» 
guft  25. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Aug.  28, 

The  Lord  Conway’s  letter  to  Mr, 
Treafurer,  Aug.  24. 

Lord  Conway’s  lettered  Mr.  Trea¬ 
furer,  Aug.  26. 

Mr.  Treafurer  Vane  to  Secretary 
Windebanke,  Aug.  29. 

The  fame  to  the  Same,  Aug.  30. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Aug.  30. 

Extrad  [of  the  Lord  Lieutenant’s 
letter  to  his  Majefty,  Aug,  30, 

Mr,  Treafurer  Vane  to  Secretary 
Windebanke,  Sept  1. 

Memorial,  Council,  and  Com¬ 
mittee,  Sept.  2. 

Lord  Conway  to  Secretary’'  Winde¬ 
banke,  Sept.  9. 

Sir  H,  Vane  to  Secretary  Winde¬ 
banke,  Sept.  1 1. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  13, 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  14. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  i6. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  18, 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  20. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  22. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  24.’ 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  25. 


ACCOUNT  OF  BOOKS. 


L4, 


The  Same  to  the  Same*  Sept.  27. 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  Sept.  29. 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  Oft.  1. 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  Oft.  6. 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  Oft.  9. 
Lord  St.  Albans  and  Clanricarde 
to  the  Same. 

Mr.  Treafurer  |Vane  to  the  Same, 
Oft.ii. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Oft.  13. 
Secretary  Windebahke  to  the  Earl 
of  Northumberland,  061.  13. 
Mr.  Treafurer  Vane  to  Secretary 
Windebanke,  Oft.  17. 

The  Same  to  the  Same,  Oft.  2c. 
The  Same  to  the  Same,- Oft.  21. 
The  Same  to  the  Same,  Oft.  23., 
Lord  Keeper  Finch  to  the  Queen, 
Oft.  23. 

Earl  of  St  Albans  and  Clanricarde 
to  Sec.  W  indebanke.  Get.  26. 
Minutes  of  the  Great  Council  of 
the  Peers  at  York,  Tuefday^th 
Sept.  16^0,  in  the  afternoon. 
Ditto,  25th  Sept,  in  the  afternoon. 
D  itto,  26th  Sept,  in  the  morning. 
Ditto,  26. h  Sept,  in  the  afternoon. 
Ditto,  28th  Sept,  in  the  forenoon.. 
Ditto,  28:h  Sept,  in  the  afternoon. 
Ditto,  29th  Sept,  in  the  forenoon. 
Ditto,  29th  Sept,  in  the  afternoon. 
Ditto,  6th  Oft.  in  the  afternoon. 
Ditto,  7th  Oft.  in  the  forenoon. 
Ditto,  9th  Off.  in  the  afternoon.. 
Ditto,  i  ith  -Oft.  in  the  afternoon. 
Ditto,  1 2th  Off.  in  the  afternoon. 
Ditto,  13th  Oft.  in  the  forenoon. 
Dittto,  13th  Oft.  in  the  afternoon. 
Ditto,  1 8th  Oft.  in  the  afternoon. 
Ditto,  28th  Oft.  in  the  afternoon. 
A  relation  of  the  incident,  1641, 
by  Lord  Lanerick. 

[Thefe  papers  the  editor  juiliy 
confiders  as  fome  of  the  molt  im¬ 
portant  of  the  whole  colleftion. 
They  contain  a  number  of  inte- 
telling  anecdotes  relating  to  the 


(late  of  the  King’s  affairs,  and  to 
the  difpofition  and  views  of  the 
different  parties  of  thofe  times.]. 

No.  V. 

Papers  relating  to  Monmouth’s 
rebellion.  [ From  the  HarUian 

MS  Sr  ] 

King  James’s  account  of  the  battle 
of  Sedgmoor. 

Mr.  Wade’s  further  information. 
Oft.  11,  1 69  3 . 

No,  vr.  ' 

Partition  treaty*  [Iravfated  from 
[the  Dutch .] 

Extrafis  from  King  William’s  let¬ 
ters,  relative  to  the  Partition 
Treaty.  To  Penfionary  .Hein- 
fius. 

No.  vii; 

The  Somers  papers.  [In  the  pof 
f eft  on  of  the  Earl  of  Hard<voicke.~\ 
Notes  of  what  palled  in  the  Con¬ 
vention  upon  the  day  thequeiliofi 
was  , moved  in  the  Houle,  of 
Commons  concerning  the  ab¬ 
dication  of  King  James-  II.  the 
28th  of  January  1688  9 

- Mr.  Hampden  in  the  chair, 

29th  January. 

Lord  No  tinphanfc  to  Lord  Keeper 

,,  it  P  aj,  y;  *  . 

oomers,  March  1  93. 

Lord  Keeper  Somers  to  King  Wil¬ 
liam,  March  27th,  1693. 

Letter  from,  the  Duke  of  Shrews¬ 
bury  to  Lord  Somers,  with  the 
warrant  to  be  a  Baron,  May  8, 

1 695 • . 

Duke  of  Shr.ewfbury  to  Lord  So¬ 
mers,  April  14,  1697. 

Duke  of  Shrewsbury  to  Lord  So¬ 
mers,  Oft.  1 5,.  1,698. 

Lord  Somers  to  the  i).  of  Shrew£« 
bury. 

Mr.  Montagu  to  Lord  Somers, 
May  2,  1700. 

Duke  of  Bolton  to  Lord  Somers, 
Sept.  lyoo. 

JR.  2  ‘ 


Duke 


244  ANNUAL  REGISTER,  1778.’ 


Duke  ofShrewfbury  toLd.  Somers, 
June  17,  1701. 

Princefs  Sophia  to  Mr.  Stepney. 
King  William  to  Lord  Sunderland^, 
Sept.  1,  1701. 

Anfwer  by  Lord  Sunderland,  Sep¬ 
tember  1 1 . 

From  Lord  Sunderland  to  Lord 
Somers,  Sept.  15, 

Lord  Somers  to  Lord  Sunderland, 
Sept.  26. 

Lord  Sundterland  to  Lord  Somers, 
Oft.  i  * 

Lord  Somers  to  Lord  Sunderland, 

pa.  3. 

The  King  to  Ld.  Somers,  Oa.  16. 
Lord  Sunderland  to  Lord  Somers, 

oa.  21. 

Heads  of  Lord  Somers’s  arguments 
to  induce  the  King  to  call  a  new 
parliament. 

Lord  Sunderland’s  advice  to  Lord 

Somers. 

Lord  Sunderland  to  Lord  Gallway. 
Lord  Sunderland  to  Lord  Somers, 
Dec.  27. 

Lord  Haver  fh  am  to  Lord  Somers, 
Feb.  19,  1703. 

Lord  Somers  to  Lord  Haverfham. 
Duke  of  Argyle  to  Lord  Somers. 
Lord  Somers  ro  Lord  Halifax,  May 
28,  1706. 

Ld.  Halifax  to  Ld.  Somers,  July. 
Lord  Somers’s  Anfwer. 

Lord  Halifax  to  Lord  Somers, 
Oa.  3,  1706. 

Minutes  of  Lord  Somers’s  Speech 
in  the  Houfe  of  Lords,  on  the 
bill  for  abolifhing  the  Privy 
Council  of  Scotland,  and  the 
amendment  proppfed  in  that 
houfe  to  give  it  a  continuance  of 
feveral  months  after  the  palling 
of  the  bill,  1 ' 07-8. 

Charles  Earl  of  Sunderland  to  Lord 
Somers,  Aug.  8,  1709. 

Duke  of  Marlborough  to  Lord 
Somers,  Sept.  30,  1709. 


[The  noble  editor  informs  us> 
that  the  original  papers  of  Lord 
Somers,  the  greated  part  of  which 
were  confumed  in  the  fire  at  Lin¬ 
coln’s  Jnn,  in  1752,  filled  up¬ 
wards  of  fixty  volumes  in  4:0,  and 
did  not  contain  a  paper  from  Lord 
Somers’s  pen,  which  the  mod  in¬ 
timate  friend  would  have  wifhed 
to  fecrete,  or  the  bittered  enemy 
could  have  fairly  turned  to  his  pre¬ 
judice.] 

No.  VIII. 

Papers  relative  to  Lord  Oxford’s 
adminidraticn,  and  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht.  [ From  the  Paper 
Office.  ] 

Robert  Harley  to  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  Sept.  1707. 

Mr.  Harley’s  plan  of  ad  min  idr  ac¬ 
tion,  Oct.  30,  1710. 

Mr.  Prior  to  Lord  Bolingbroke, 
Dec.  28,  1712. 

From  the  Same  to  theSame,Dec.2g. 
From  the  Same  to  the  Same, 
Jan.  8,  1713. 

Draught  of  a  letter  from  Lord  Bo- 
lingbroke,  to  Mr.  Prior,  Jan.  19. 
Lord  Boiingbroke  to  the  Duke  of 
Shrewfbury,  Feb.  17. 

No.  IX. 

Lord  Stair’s  embaffy  in  France, 
1714,  & c.  \ln  the  poffieffion  of  ths 
Earl  of  Hardnjjicke.] 

Draught  of  a  memorial  to  the  Duke 
of  Marlborough,  Captain  Gene¬ 
ral  of  the  army. 

Extracts  from  Lord  Stair’s  Journal 
at  Paris  in  1715  and  17  iS. 

Heads  of  a  Conference  with  Mare- 
fchal  d’Huxelles,  Ap.  16,  1716* 
Queftions  qu’on  me  fait  d’Angle- 
terre  fur  lefquelles  il  faut  con- 
fulter  S.  A.  R.  pour  pouvoir 
repondre. 

Letters  and  extracts  of  letters  front 
Ld.  Stair  to  James  Craggs,  Elq. 
Ld.  Mar  to  Ld.  Stair,  May  6, 1719* 

Lord 


ACCOUNT 

Lord  Mar  to  Lord  Stair,  May  22. 

Lord  Stair  to  Secretary  Craggs. 

Lord  Mar  to  Lord  Stair,  June  2. 

Lord  Stair  to  Secretary  Craggs. 

No.  X. 

Sequel  to  Lord  Stair’s  embafly. 
[  From  the  Paper  Office.  ] 

From  Mr.  Craufurd  to  the  Ho¬ 
nourable  Mr.  Secretary  Wal¬ 
pole,  Aug.  1 1, 1723. 

From  Mr.  Craufurd  to  Lord  Car¬ 
teret,  Secretary  of  State, 

No.  XI. 

Mifcellaneous  article.  [ From  the 
Paper  Office .] 

Mr.  Robinfon  to  Mr.  Delafaye, 
Sept.  7,  1725. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same,  Sep¬ 
tember  16. 

From  the  Same  to  the  Same,  Octo¬ 
ber  20. 

From  Mr.  Keen  to  Mr.  Robinfon, 
April  5,  1726. 


OF  BOOKS.  245 

[Having  now  gone  through  the 
contents  of  this  valuable  collection, 
we  cannot  recommend  it  to  the  at¬ 
tention  of  the  publick  in  better 
terms  than  thofe  which  the  noble 
editor  himfelf  makes  ufe  of. 
“  Whoever  looks  into  thefe  vo¬ 
lumes  will  be  better  prepared  for 
his  future  entertainment,  if  ho 
pleafes  to  confider  the  work  before 
him  as  an  hiftorical  pi&ure  gallery, 
where  the  different  modes  and 
fafhions  of  upwards  of  two  centu¬ 
ries  are  exhibited  in  regular  fuc- 
ceffion.  The  politics  and  fenti- 
ments  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Eliza¬ 
beth’s  time  differ  as  much  from 
thofe  of  William  III.  and  of 
George  L  as  the  ruff  and  fardin* 
gale  in  the  habits  of  the  former, 
from  the  hoop-petticoat  and  long 
pockets  of  the  latter.  There  may 
be  pieces  of  inferior  matters  in  the 
gallery;  but,  doubtlefs,  fome  Ti¬ 
tians  and  Vandykes  will  be,diftin- 
guilhed/’J  "  , 

/ 


ft  H  E 


the 


TENT 


HISTORY  op  EUROPE, 


CHAP.  I. 


Germany.  Some  obfervations  on  the  political  fiats  of  that  country .  Death  of 
the  Eledior  of  Bavaria.  Some  account  of  the  character  and  difpofiti'oit \ 
of  hu  fuccejfor ,  the  Eledior  Palatine.  Auftrian  troops  feisze  upon  the 
Lower  Bavarian  and  upon  the  Upper  Palatinate .  Subfiance  of  the  con¬ 
vention  concluded  between  the  Eledior  and  the  court  of  Vienna.  Various 
claims  notwilhjlanding  left  open.  Short  view  of  the  Hifiory  of  the  two 
great  Branches  of  the  Bavarian  or  Palatine  line  f Jo  far  as  it  relates  to  the 
prejent  contefi.  Claims  of  the  Houfe  of  Aufiria  controverted .  Claims  of 

the  Prince  of  D  uxponts  ;  of  the  Eiedtrefs  Dovxager  of  Saxony ;  and  of  the 
Dukes  of  Mecklenburg ,  Proiefi  entered  by  the  frfi  a  gain  ft  the  late  conven¬ 
tion  ;  and  an  appeal  to  the  Diet  of  the  empire  ag^ainfi  the  condudi  of  the  court 
of  Vienna.  JCing  of  Pritfila  ejpoujes  the  cauje  of  the  Princes  who  fuppofed 
themjelves  inju  ed.  V anous  memorials  and  documents  laid  before  the  Diet 
by  the  P ruffian  and  Auftrian  mintjlers.  Memorial  of  complaint  by  the 
Eledior  of  Bavaria.  Will  of  the  late  Eledior  laid  before  the  Diet.  De¬ 
claration  to  the  Pr  fiian  Minifier  at  Vienna »  Frejh  remonjlrances  on  the 
other  fide.  Memorial  by  Prince  K  a  units:  to  the  PruJJian  Minifier.  Dire  Cl 
iorrejpondence  between  the  Emperor  and  the  King  of  Prufiia  m  Bohemia » 
and  a  negociation  opened  in  conjtauence  at  Berlin.  Negociation  fruitlejs. 
few  pyopojals for  an  accommodation,  tranfmitted  by  the  King  to  Vienna t 
Propojais  r  ejected.  Other  /  rop  oft  ions  on  both  Jides  ineffedtual,  Prujfian 
manfejh.  j-  j 

CHAP. 


7 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  II. 


Grtqt  preparations  for  wear  on  both  Jides.  Conduct  of  the  great  neighbouring 
p Olivers.  King  of  Pruffia' s  military  f pee ch  to  his  Generals.  Prefents  to  the 

officers,  and  a  gratification  to  the foldiers .  Prodigious  artillery.  State  of 
Saxony.  Neutrality  propofed  by  the  Elector  ;  but  fuch  conditions  laid  down 
by  the  court  of  Vienna,  as  amounted  nearly  to  a  rejection.  State  and  Jitua.- 
tion  Gf  the  hojlile  armies.  King  of  Prujfa  penetrates  into  Bohemia  from  the 
county  of  Glatz and feiz.es  Nachod.  Emperor' s  army  fecurely  pofted  in  the 
Jlrong  camp  of  Koningfgratz,  and  occupies  the  paffes  on  the  Upper  Elbe . 
All  the  endeavours  uj'ed  bv  the  King  to  bring  the  imperial  army  to  a  Cl  ion,  or 
to  induce  it  to  a  change  of  pofition ,  prove  ineffectual.  Great  prudence  and 
judgment  fhewn  by  the  Emperor  in  this ,  his  JirJi  ejfay  in  war,  Operations 
on  the  fide  of  Saxony.  Prince  Henry  pafies  the  Elbe ,  and  penetrates  the 
mountains  of  Bohemia ,  on  the  fide  of  Mifnia  and  Lufaiia.  Unufual  diffi¬ 
culties  in  that  march.  Good  conduct  of,  and  great  applaufe  gained  by. 
General  Belling.  Defeats  General  de  Vins ,  at  CI ollenjlein.  Prince  Henry 
advances  to  Leypa.  General  Moellendorf ,  and  other  detached  corps,  enter 
Bohemia  in  different  parts.  Marfhal  Laudohn  breaks  uphis  ft  rang  camp'  at 
Pleiffiwedel,  and  falls  back  to  the  Ifer  ;  where  he  takes  fo  admirable  a  po¬ 
fition,  that  he  effe  dually  prevents  the  function  of  the  oppofite  armies,  covers 
the  city  of  Prague,  and  is  himfelf  indccefjible.  Prince  Henry's  army  being 
thrown  into  fever  al  divifions ,  forms  a  line  of  great  pofts ,  and  of  confider- 
able  extent.  Singular  fit  u  at  ion  of  the  four  vafl  armies  in  Bohemia.  Effedl 
of  the  great  generalfhip  and  fuperior  ability  difplayed  on  both  fides.  An¬ 
other,  but  ineffectual  negociation.  Grand  movement  to  the  right,  by  the 
King.  Pufbes  on  towards  the  head  of  the  Elbe,  by  Burkerjdorf,  W ilt- 
fchitz,  Hermanfeifen,  and  hauterwaffer .  All  his  movements ,  and  at¬ 
tempts  to  bring  the  enemy  to  an  adiion,  prove  ineffectual.  Bad  weather. 
Sickncfs.  Difficult  and  admirably  conducted  retreat  to  Wiltfihitz,.  to 
Altfiadt,  and  to  Schatzlar.  King  evacuates  Bohemia.  Various  move¬ 
ments  of  Prince  Henry's  army,  preparatory  to  its  retiring  into  Saxony. 
P ruffians  overrun  the  Auftrian  Silcfia.  [  l  B 


CHAP.  III. 

State  cf  Affairs  previous  to  the  Meeting  of  Parliament.  Consequences  of  the 
American  War  v:ith  refpeCl  to  Commerce.  GonduCt  of  France.  Stability 
of  Adminfiration  equally  fe cured  by  good  or  bad  fuccefs.  Sanguine  hopes 
raifed  by  General  Burgoyne' s  fuccefs  at  Ticonderoga,  checked  by  fubfequent 
accounts.  Speech  from  the  Phrane.  Addreffes.  Amendments  moved  in 
both  Houfes,  Great  Debates,  Protefi.  [3c 


CHAP.  IV. 

Parliamentary  enquiries  into  the  ft  ate  of  public  affairs ,  adopted  by  the  Oppifi^ 
fition  in  both  Houfes .  Motion  for  60,000  feamen.  Animadverfions  on  the 

fiate  of  the  navy.  Debates  on  the  motion  for  a  new  bill,  to  continue 
the  powers  granted  by  the  former,  for  the  fufpenfion  in  certain  cafes 

ft  ^  ,  fif 


t 


CONTENTS. 


&f  the  Habeas  Corpus  Law.  Progrefs  of  the  bill.  Debates  on  the  mo¬ 
tion  for  four  Jh tilings  in  the  pound ,  land  tax.  Motion  by  Mr.  Fox  for 
an  enquiry  into  the  fate  of  the  nation .  Subfequent  motions.  Motion 
for  certain  papers ,  after  long  debates  rejected  upon  a  dint  f  on.  Circum- 
fames  attend, ng  the  dijclofure  of  the  unhappy  event  at  Saratoga.  Debates 
upon  the  magnitude  of  the  fum  granted  in  the  committee  of  fupply  for  the 
ordnance  fee  vice.  Motion  by  Colonel  Bar  re  for  papers,  rejected.  Mr. 
flctrtley’s  motions  relative  to  the  American  war ,  rejected.  Motion 
by  Mr.  Wilkes  for  the  repeal  of  the  Declaratory  Law,  rejected  upon  a  di¬ 
va  for. .  Great  debates  upon  the  motion  of  adjournment.  Amendment  moved 

by  Mr.  Burke.  Original  motion  carried  upon  a  divifon  by  a  great  ma¬ 
jority.  Franfaftions  in  the  Houfe  of  Lords,  fimilar  to  thofe  of  the  Com¬ 
mons .  Duke  of  Richmond' s  motion  for  an  enquiry  into  the  ft  ate  of  the 
nation,  agreed  to.  Lord  Chatham' s  motion  for  the  orders  and  inf  ruc¬ 
tions  to  General  Burgoyne ,  after  confderable  debates ,  rejected  upon  a  di- 
vifton.  Debates  upon  a  feccnd  motion  by  ihe  fame  noble  Lord,  relative 
to  the  employment  of  the  favages  in  ihe  American  war .  Motion  rejected 
mi  a  divifon.  Debates  upon  the  quejiion  of  adjournment ■<,  Motion  car¬ 
ried  upon  a  divifon.  [53 


CHAP.  V. 

Subfcription  for  the  American  prifoners.  State  of  public  affairs.  Scheme 
for  raifing  a  body  of  troops  to  fupply  the  lojs  at  Saratoga.  Difficulties 
attending  that  meajure .  Subjcription  for  raifing  new  levies.  Man - 
chejier  and  Liverpool  raije  regiments.  Failure  of  ihe  attempt  in  ihe 
Corporations  of  London  and  Brifiol.  Large  private  fubfcriptions  in  both 
Cities.  Several  regiments  rafed  in  Scotland,  and  independent  companies 
in  Wales.  Great  debates  in  both  Houfes  on  the  meajure  of  rafing  forces 
without  the  knowledge  or  confent  of  -parliament ;  and  on  ihe  quefion  of 
legality  with  refpedt  to  private  contributions  or  benevolences .  Motion  in 
ihe  committee  of  fupply  for  c loathing  the  new  forces ,  after  long  debates , 
carried  upon  a  divifon.  Earl  of  Abingdon' s  motion  far  fummoning  the 
judges  on  ihe  quef  ion,  overruled.  His  other  motions  for  pajfing  a  con¬ 
jure  on  the  meajure,  after  long  debates  rejected  upon  a  divifon ,  [7 1 


CHAP.  vr. 

Various  piotfns  preparatory  to  the  enquiry  into  the  fate  of  the  nation . 
Duke  of  Grafton's  motion  for  papers  rejected.  Mr.  Fog  and  Colonel 
Barre's  motions  alfo  rejected.  Complaints  on  the  ref ufal  cf  papers ,  and 
pj  the  defect  ivtncjrs  oj  thofe  which  were  prefented.  Avowed  motives  of 
the  oppojuion  in  the  enquiry.  Mr.  Fox  opens  the  enquiry  in  ihe  grand 
committee  cf  the  Commons.  t  Ref  elution  moved  and  rejected.  Mr,  Burke's 
Motions  relative  to  the  employment  of  the  favages,  rejected  after  long 
debates.  Mr.  Fox' s  motions  in  the  committee,  relative  to  the  ftate  oj ~ 
the  forces  in  America  frm  the  commencement  of  the  war,  and  the  toffes 

fufi  ainy.d 


contents. 

fuftained  on  that  fervice ,  rejetted after  much  dehate .  Debates  on  th 
appointment  of  a  Chairman ,  on  opening  the  committee  of  the  Lords . 
Lord  Scarfdale  voted  to  the  chair  on  a  divifon .  Debates  on  the  Duke 
of  Richmond' s  motion  againf  fending  any  part  of  the  old  efta.blijhnd  home 
military  force  on  diftunt  fervice.  Motion  rejetted.  Merchunts  give 
evidence  at  the  bar ,  of  the  gre.at  lojjes  fufiained  by  commerce  in  the 
courfe  of  the  war.  Counter  evidence ,  intended  to  fhew  the  national  ad-, 
vantages  derived  f  om  the  voar.  Several  rejoluticns  moved  by  the 
Duke  of  Richonond ',  founded  on  the  fatts  fated  in  the  evidence  of  the 
Merchants.  Refolutions  fet  afde ,  after  much  debate,  by  the  previous 
quefion ,  [iqj 


CHAP.  vir, 

Petition  from  the  county  of  Norfolk.  Lord  North’s  conciliatory  propoftions. 
Two  bills  brought  in  thereon .  Effett  of  the  Minified  s  fpeech.  Ccndutt  of 

the  minority  voitb  refpett  to  his  conciliatory  fchetne.  Mr.  Fox  fates  bis 
information  of  the  ccndufon  of  a  treaty  between  France  and  the  American 
deputies  ;  calls  upon  the  M.nifter  for  an  explanation  on  that  fubjett.  Pro * 

grefs  op  the  bills.  Mr.  Serjeant  Adair' s  motion  for  the  appointment  of  com* 
mificners ,  after  much  debate ,  rejettc.d.  Mr.  Powys's  motion  to  admit  a 
cl  a:  fe  for  the  repeal  of  the  M.  ffachufetts  Charter  Att,  rejetted  on  a  divificm . 
Motion  by  Mr.  Powys  for  the  repeal  of  the  American  Tea  Att ,  and  by 
Mr.  Burke  for  extending  the  provifions  of  the  Declaratory  Bill  to  the  Weft 
J a  dies ;  both  agreed  to.  Conciliatory  bills  pafs  the  Commons.  New 
houfe-tax.  Mr.  Gilbert  moves  for  a  tax  of  one  fourth  upon  Jalaries,  annui¬ 
ties  y  fenfons ,  fees ,  and  perquiftes  of  offices  under  the  crown.  Motion  car¬ 
ried  upon  a  divifion  ;  but  rejetted  the  following  day ,  on  receiving  the  re * 
port  from  the  Committee ,  by  afmall  majority.  Mr.  Fox's  motion  in  the 
Committee  of  Enquiry ,  relative  to  the  ft  ate  of  the  royal  navy,  after  much 
debate,  ft  afde  by  the  previous  queftion .  Mr.  J.  Luttrell's  motion  for  an 
‘nftruttion  enabling  the  American  commiffi oners  to  promife  the  removal  of 
any  mini  ft  er  or  minifters,  who  they  Jhould  dif cover  to  be  fo  obnoxious  to  the 
colonies,  as  :  hereby  to  prevent  the  reft  oration  of  tranquillity ,  rejetted  upon  a 
d.vifton.  Letter  from  General  Gates  to  the  Earl  of  Thanet  read  by 
the  Marquis  of  Rockingham.  Motion  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  that  the 

letter  jhould  he  on  the  table ,  after  fame  debate,  rejetted.  Duke  of  Rich* 
qnond's  motions  relative  to  t}ye  fate  of  the  forces  in  America,  after  much 
debate,  fet  ajide  by  the  previous  queftion.  State  and  amount  of  the  expences 
incurred  by  the  war  in  America,  fet  forth  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond  \  who 
jropofes  a  number  of  refolutions  founded  thereon,  which  are  all  fet  afde  as 
before.  Motion  for  the  attendance  of  the  Surveyor  of  the  navy,  made  by 
tre  Duke  of  Bo  it  on,  and  rejetted  upon  a  divifeon .  Several Jubfequent  motions 
made  by  the  fume  nobleman,  and  tending  to  an  enquiry  into  the  ft  ate  of  the 
navy,  after  confiderable  debates  rejetted.  American  conciliatory  bills 
faffied  by  the  Lords.  Enquiry  into  the  condutt  of  the  tranjport  fervice  by 
ti'i  x.ar,  cf  Effingham,  whofe  refolutions  thereon  are  rejetted,  [I29 

CHAP. 


CONTENT  S. 


CHAP.  VIII. 

Motion  by  Mr,  Grenville  rejedled.  French  Declaration .  Royal  Meffage. 
Great  Debates  on  the  Addrefs.  Amendment  moved  by  Mr.  Baker . 
Amendment  rejedled ;  ana  the  original  AddreJ's  at  length  carried  on  a  divN 
fion .  Great  debates  on  the  Meffage  and  Addrefs  in  the  Houfe  of  Lords* 
Amendment  moved  by  the  Duke  of  Manchefter.  Rejedled,  and  the  ori¬ 
ginal  Addrefs  carried ,  as  before ,  on  a  divifon .  Great  Debates  on 
Mr.  Fox'*  s  motions  relative  to  the  failure  of  the  Canada  expedition.  Re - 
jedied  on  a  divifon.  Counter  motion ,  carried  in  the  Committee ,  but 
not  reported.  Col.  Barred  motion  for  a  Committee  to  infpedi  the  public 
accounts,  agreed  to,  under  certain  modifications .  Petition  from  New* 
caftle.  Motion  by  Mr.  Wilkes ,  relative  to  private  aids ,  or  loans  to 
the  cronvn ,  rejected  on  a  divfion.  Oppofition  to  the  Houfe  tax  bill, 
Several  amendments  moved,  and  rejected ,  on  feparate  divifions.  Com¬ 
mittee  appointed  to  confider  of  the  trade  of  Ireland .  Reflations  pafj'ed » 

and  bills  brought  in,  on  that  fubjedt.  Sir  William  Meredith* s  motion 
for  a  repeal  of  the  Declaratory  Adi,  laid  by.  Bill  brought  in  and  paffed,  to 
enable  his  Majefiy  to  make  a  fuitabU  provifion  for  the  younger  part  of  the 
Royal  family, ,  as  well  as  for  the  Duke  of  Clone  eft  er*  s  children , 
Motion  by  Sir  P.  f.  Gierke  for  bringing  in  the  contractors  bill ,  carried  on 
a  divfion.  Great  oppofition  formed  to  the  Irijh  bills.  C bntradlar* s 

bill  read  the  firfl  time ;  and  the  'motion  for  its  being  read  the  fe- 
cond,  carried  upon  a  divfion.  Second  reading  of  the  contractor* s  bill , 
Loft  upon  the  qufiion  of  commitment,  by  a  majority  of  two  only.  Great 
debates  on  the  meffage  for  a  vote  of  credit.  Debate  on  the  fecond  read¬ 
ing  of  the  Irifh  bills.  Sir  Cecil  Wray* s  motion  reje.dled.  Bills  com¬ 
mitted.  Proceedings  in  the  Houfe  of  Commons  on  the  death  of  the  Earl  of 
Chatham .  [158 

CHAT.  IX. 

Sir  George  S&ville9 s  motion  for  a  bill  to  repeal  certain  penalties  and  df qua¬ 
lifications  to  which  the  Englijh  Roman  Catholics  were  liable ,  univer - 
folly  agreed  to.  Event  of  the  Irijh  bufinefs.  Debates  relative  to  the 
Toulon  papers ;  Sir  William  Meredith* s  firfl  motion ,  at  length  re - 
jedted.  Motion  of  adjournment ,  by  the  Minfier,  carried.  Circum- 
ftances  relative  to  the  arrival  of  General  Burgoyne.  Motion  by  Mr. 
Vyner ,  relative  to  the  Canada  expedition.  Amendment  moved  by  Mr. 
Fox.  Explanations  of  his  filiation  and  condudl  by  General  Burgoyne. 
Debate.  Mr.  Fox*s  amendment  rejedled  on  a  divfion ,  Original  mo¬ 

tion  Jet  afide  by  the  previous  quefiion.  Motion  by  Mr.  Hartley 
againji  the  prorogation  of  Parliament ,  after  confidcrahle  debate,  re¬ 
jedled  on  a  divfion.  Similar  motion  by  Sir  fames  Lowther ,  meets  the 
fame  fate.  Motion  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond  for  wiihdravAng  the 
forces  from  North  America..  Previous  quefiion  moved  and  carried  on  a 
divfion.  Great  debates  on  the  Earl  of  Effingham* s  motions  tending  to 
an  enquiry  into  the  fate  of  the  navy.  Effective  motions  rejedled ;  two 

other# 


CONTENTS. 


I 


others  agreed  to.  Duke  of  Richmond  clofes  the  enquiry  in  the  general  Com - 
mb  tee  on  the  fate  of  the  nation .  Moves  an  addrej's  of  great  length , founded 
on  various  matters  of  faff ,  which  had  been  eftablijhed  in  the  courfe ■  of  the 
enquiry.  Debate  broke  off  on  the  fudden  illnefs  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham » 
and  adjourned  to  the  following  day.  Addrefs  rejeffed.  Protefi.  Refla¬ 
tions,  founded  on  the  Toulon  papers,  moved  by  the  Duke  of  Rich?nond \ 
ffufiijication  of  naval  affairs  and  conduff ,  by  the  noble  Lord  immediately 
concerned.  Interejling  particulars  fated  by  the  Earl  of  Briflol.  Motions 
Jet  ofde,  on  a  divifon,  by  the  previous  quefion.  Protef  on  the  Chatham 
annuity  bill.  Earl  of  Derby's  motion  relative  to  the  Saratoga  bufnefs,  fet 
cifdc  by  the  previous  quefion.  Duke  of  Bolton's  motion  for  deferring  the 
trorozation  of  Parliament ,  after  Ion?  debate,  rejeffed  on  a.  divition.  Speech 
from  the  Throne,  —  - -  [*189 

C  H  A  F.  X. 

State  of  the  hofile  armies  in  Philadelphia  and  its  neighbourhood  during  the 
winter.  Hard  condition  of  the  brave  army  under  the  convention  of  Sara¬ 
toga.  Sufpenfon  of  the  treaty  by  the  Congrefs,  until  a  ratification  is  ob¬ 
tained  frotn  the  court  of  Great  Britain.  Predatory  expeditions  from  Phi¬ 
ladelphia  and  Rhode  Ijland.  Draught  of  the  Conciliatory  Bills  publijhed 
in  America.  Effect  produced  by  it  on  both  fides.  Conduff ,  and  reflations 

of  the  Congrefs.  Silas  Dean  arrives  with  the  French  treaties.  Sir 
fienry  Clinton  arrives  to  take  the  command  of  the  army  at  Philadelphia,  in 
the  room  of  General  Sir  Wilburn  Howe,  who  returns  to  England.  Arri¬ 
val  of  the  Commifjioners  for  refiorir.g  peace,  &c.  Letter  to  the  Congrefs * 
Secretary  to  the  Commijfioners  refujed  a  paffport.  Anfwer  returned  by  the 
CongreJ's  to  the  Commiffi oners .  Further  particulars  relative  to  the  pro* 
pcfd  negociation.  Evacuation  of  Philadelphia.  Difficulties  encountered 
by  the  Britifh  army  in  their  march  acrofs  the  Jerfies.  General  Wafbington 
croffes  the  Delaware.  Battle  near  Monmouth .  General  Lee ,  tried  by  a 

court  martial ,  and  jufpend,ed.  Britifh  army  pafi  over  to  Sandy  Hook 
Ijh  ’id,  and  are  conveyed  by  the  feet  to  Blew  York.  Toulon  jquadronr 
arrive  on  the  coafi  of  America.  Appear  before  Sandy  Hook,  where  they 
cafi  anchor .  Alarm,  and  preparations  at  Sandy  Hook  and  Nevo  York. 
Departure  of  the  French  fleet.  Arrival  of  reinforcements  to  Lord  Howe. 
French  fleet  appear  before  Rhode  Ifiand.  Defenfive  preparations  by  Gene¬ 
ral  Sir  Robert  Pigot.  Invafion  of  that  Ifiand  meditated  by  the  Americans , 
to  fecond  the  operations  of  the  French.  Lord  Howe  fails  to  the  relief  of 
Rhode  Jfiand.  D'Efiaing  quits  the  harbour,  and  puts  to  fa,  to  meet  the 
Britifh  fquadron.  Fleets  fparated,  at  the  point  of  engaging,  by  a  violent 
Jlorm.  Captain  Raynor,  in  the  IJis,  bravely  engages  a  French  man  of  war 
of '7  4  guns.  D  Efiaing  returns  to  Rhode  Ifiand,  and  proceeds  from  thence 
to  Boflon.  Is  purfued  by  Lord  Howe.  Gen.  Sullivan  lands  in  Rhode 
Jfiand.  Invefis  the  Britifh  pofis,  American  army  greatly  difconcerted  by 
JY Eflaing' s  departure.  Sullivan  retreats,  and  at  length  totally  quits  the 
ifiand.  Lord  Howe,  finding  D'Efiaing' s  fquadron  f  firongiy  fccured  in 
Flantafket  Road,  as  to  render  an  attack  impracticable,  returns  from. 
Bofion ,  ——  «r—  —  [*2II 

The 


CONTENTS. 


The  CHRONICLE. 


girths  for  the  Tear  1778. 
Carriages  •— 

Principal  Promotions 
Deaths 


[i6i  to  [21 6 

—  [«7 

tzl8 

f2ZO 

Z24 


APPENDIX  to  the  C  H  R  O  N  I  C  L  E. 

Abftracl  of  the  A  SI  for  granting  to  his  Majefly  certain  duties  upon  all  inhabits 
ed  Houfes  within  the  Kingdom  of  Qreat  Britain  [229 

Abjlract  of  an  A Si  of  Parliament  for  better  regulating  his  Majefy's  land 

P  OrCeS  “***  — —  ypmnro— m  ^3® 

Amendments  of  the  laws  relating  to  f  orgeries  *■—  [-230 

Ahfract  of  an  A  Sc  for  regulating  Lottery -offices  — »  [23  I 

Account  of  the  Gold  Coin  brought  into  the  Mint  from  Great  Britain  and  Ire* 
land  by  the  Proclamation  in  1773*  *774>  and  \jy6.  —  [235 

Account  of  the  King's  vifits  to  Chatham ,  Portfmouth,  Winchefter ,  Salijbury , 
Worley ,  and  Cox-heath  ;  extraSied from  the  London  Gazettes  [23  2 

Account  of  the  Death  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham ,  the  Proceedings  of  the 

Houfe  of  Commons,  and  of  the  City  of  London,  thereon  [238 

7/k  Funeral  ProceJJion  and  Burial  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham  [243 

An  authentic  Account  of  the  Part  taken  by  the  late  Earl  of  Chatham,  in  a 
TranfaSHon  which  paffed  in  the  Beginning  of  the  Tear  1778;  containing 
Copies  of  the  fevered  Letters  and  Notes  that  paffed  between  Lord  Chatham , 
Dr.  Addington,  and  Str  James  Wright,  relative  thereto  [244 

Dr.  Addington's  Narrative  of  what  paffed  between  him  and  Sir  James 
W right,  relative  to  the  above  PranfaSiion  — — *  '  [249 

Sir  James  Wright's  Anfwer  to  Dr.  Addington' s  Narrative  [252 

Lord  Mount fluart' s  Addrejs,  occafoned  by  the  above  Publications  [252 

The  Hon.  Mr.  W.  Pitt' s  Anfwer  to  Lord  Mountjluart' s  Addrefs  l257 

F urther  Anfwer  of  Sir  James  Wright  to  Dr.  Addington's  Narrative  [261 
P articular s  of  the  Mifchianza ,  exhibited  at  Philadelphia,  in  America,  ai  the 

Departure  of  General  Howe  — - — -  — — - -  [264 

An  Account  of  the  Ceremony  obferved  at  the  firft  Audience  given  to  Monfieur. 
Gerard,  Minifter  Plenipotentiary  from  the  French  King  io  the  Rebel  Colo - 
sties,  by  their  General  Congrefs  ;  a  Copy  and  Tranfation  of  the  French 
King's  Letter  to  them  5  his  Minifler's  Speech  in  Congrefs,  with  their  Reply 

by  the  P ref  dent  - -  — -  —  [270 

An  Account  of  the  Quantities  of  all  Corn  and  Grain  exported  from,  and  im¬ 
ported  into  England  and  Scotland ,  with  the  Bounties  and  Drawbacks  paid, 
and  the  Duties  received  thereon,  for  Eight  Tears  from  the  Commencement  of 
the  Corn-Re  gif  er  Adi,  viz.  1771,  1772,^1773,  1774,  1775,  177  6,  1777, 
1778  :  Extracted from  Accounts  collected from  the  Cujtom-hcuje  Books,  and 
delivered  to  William  Cooke ,  Efq .  by  Authority  of  Parliament  [275 

Supplies  granted  by  Parliament  for  the  Tear  47  7  8  - -  [2  83 

Ways  and  Means  for  raifing  the  above  Supplies  [287 

STAT  £ 


c  O  N  T  E  N  T  s'. 


*  -v  / 

STATE  PAPERS. 


His  Majefty's  mof  gracious  Speech  to  loth  Houfes  of  Parliament ,  on  7 hurfday 

the  20 th  Day  of  November,  1777  -  - -  [294 

The  humble  Addrefs  of  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal  in  Parliament  af- 

fembled  -  —  —  ■ 1,1,1  - -  [29> 

Protejl  of  the  Lords  —  — -  [296 

The  humble  Addrefs  of  the  Houfe  of  Commons  to  the  King  - *  [297 

Mejfage fent  from  the  King  to  both  Houfes  of  P arliament ,  on  Tuefday  the  17  th 
Day  of  March  •  ■  ■  ■"»  «— —  [298 

Copy  of  the  Declaration  delivered  by  the  French  Ambajfador  to  Lord  ViJ count 

Weymouth  -  ,  ■■  — ■  --1-  - . -  [299 

Humble  Addrefs  of  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal  in  Parliament  afftmbied 

[-99 

Protef  of  the  Lords  - -  —  — — . .  j  300 

The  King* s  Speech  at  proroguing  the  Parliament  —  —  [303 

The  Speech  of  his  Excellency  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  to  both  Houfes  of 
Parliament,  on  Friday  the  2tfh  of  Augufi,  1778  —■  ■»  [304 

The  humble  Addrefs  and  Petition  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commons 
of  the  City  of  London ,  prefented  to  the  King,  March  13,  1778  [306 

The  humble  Addrefs  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Peers  and  Commons  of  Great  Bri¬ 
tain,  prefented  to  bis  Majcfy  on  Friday,  May  l  —  [3°9 

Memorial  prefented  to  his  Majcfy  by  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Bolton  [310 

Copy  of  the  Petition  of  the  Wef  India  Planters  and  Merchants,  prefented  to 


the  King ,  December  1 6,  1 778 


[31? 


Lord  Suffolk* s  Anfwer  ( by  the  King* s  Order )  to  the  P.eprefentation  of  Count 
W elder ert.  Envoy  Extraordinary  from  their  High  Mightineffes  the  States 

General  of  the  United  Provinces  — - -  — —  [314. 

Mamjtfh,  or  Declaration  of  the  Motives  vohich  engage  his  Majefy  the  King 
of  Prujjta  to  make  PF ar  againf  the  Emperor  of  Germany  —  [316 

Manifefo  and  Declaration  of  her  Majejly  the  Emprefs  of  Germany  and  fueen 
of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  concerning  the  Enterprises  of  his  Majejly  the 
King  of  P  ruff  a,  hi  oppoftion  to  her  natural  and  legitimate  Rights  to  the 

Succeffon  of  Love  er  Bavaria  -  -  [3^9 

Copy  of  the  Commiff  on  granted  by  his  Majcfy  to  the  Earl  of  Car  life ,  Loj  d 
Vif count  Hoove ,  Sir  William  Hoove,  William  Eden,  Efq.  and  George 
Johnfione,  Efq.  for  quieting  and  extinguifhing  divers  Jealoufes  and  Appre- 

henfions  of  Danger  in  the  Americans  -  —  - .  L323 

Manifefo  and  Proclamation  of  his  Majefy*  s  American  Commiff oners  [3  30 

An  authentic  Copy  of  the  Infractions  given  by  Congrefs  to  the  American  Pleni¬ 
potentiaries Jent  to  the  fever  al  Courts  of  Europe  . —  ..  [3  3  2 

Six  R.eJ'olutions  of  the  Central  Affembly  of  Pennj'ylvania  - -  [  3  3'4 

Letters  and  P  opers  which  p  affed  between  his  Mayefy*s  Commiff  oners  and  the 
Pif  tent  and  Members  of  the  American  Congrefs  ',  with  the  Debates  and 

Refactions  of  Congrefs  thereupon  - — —  * -  [335 

Private 


CONTENTS. 

Private  Letter  from  Governor  Johnflone  to  Henry  Laurens,  Efq .  P  ref  dent  of 
Congrejs ,  with  Mr.  Laurens1  s  A hfwer  — — -  — — >  [339 

* Treaty  of  Alliance,  eventual  and  defenfive,  between  his  mcfi  Chriflian  Majefly 
Louis  the  XV  1th,  King  of  France  and  Navarre ,  and  the  Thirteen  United 
States  of  America  —  [340 


CHARACTER  S, 


Anecdotes,  of  Mr .  Voltaire's  Reception  at  Paris.  and  of  his  Death  i 

Account  of  Dr.  George  Abbot,  herd  Archbijhop  of  Canterbury  .  by  the  late 

Mr .  Onflow,  Speaker  of  the  Houfe  of  Commons  - — ■  6 

Original  Letter  of  Thomas  Leigh,  ( one  of  the  Vifltcrs.  of  the  Monafleries )  to 
Thomas  Cromwell,  Lord  Privy-Seal,  containing  a  curious  but  authentic 
Picture  of  Country  Manners  about  the  Lime  of  the  Reformation  U 

Curious  Letter  from  Mr .  Jones  to  Sir  Nicholas  Throgmorton ,  Ambaffador  in 
France,  Jhewing  the  Inclination  of  FK  Elizabeth  to  marry  Lord  Robert 

Letter s  from  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  — -  H 

Two  Letters  from  Sir  Dudley  Carleton  to  Mr.  John  Chamberlain,  concerning 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh* s  Plot  ■ —  —  — -  1 3 

Of  Chaucer  and  Lydgate',  from  Mr.  W arton* s  Hiflcry  of  Englijh  Poetry 

Of  Skelton  ;  from  the  fame 
Of  Humphrey  Duke  of  docefler  ;  from  the  fame 
Of  Guflavus  the  C1  bird,  the  prefent  King  of  Svoeden 


2i 

24 
26 
28 

Account  of  the  Kingdom  of  Thibet ,  and  of  the  Manners,  Cufloms ,  Religion, 
and  Trade  of  the  Inhabitants  — — —  32 

Account  of  the  Morlacchi ,  a  People  of  Dalmatia  $  their  Manners ,  Guflctns,  &c* 

4  3 

Of  the  Manner  of  making  War  among  the  Indians  of  North  America  65 


NAT  U  R  A  L  H1STOR  Y. 


An  Account  of  the  interior  Parts  of  Sumatra,  and  of  a  neighbouring 

■never  known  to  have  been  viflted  by  any  European  - - - 

A  new  Cafe  in  Squinting  ;  by  Dr.  Darwin  — ■  — 

A  Cure  of  a  mufcular  Contraction,  by  Electricity  * — — * 

Obfervationt  on  the  Climate  of  Ruff  a  -  - - 

Of  FcJJi.l  Bones  ;  from  the  Ahhe  Fortis*s  Travels  into  Dalmatia 
Of  the  Nature  of  Marble  and  Petrifactions  ;  from  the  fame 
Of  the  Formation  and  Dijfblution  of  Hills  ;  from  the  fame  — 

Account  of  the  SeCiion  of  the  Symphyfls  of  the  Pubes ,  performed  at  Paris 

Of  the  Paklara  or  Remora  of  the  Ancients  ——  - — 

Account  of  a  Wild  Manfeen  ln  the  Py  ranees  — ■  — 


Ifland 

81 

88 

92 

94 

102 

107 
s  10 
by  M. 

I  1  2 
5  14 
I  l6 


USEFUL 


CONTE'  N:  T  Si 


USEFUL  PROJECT  5^  He. 


V;  , 

v\  W 


An  improved  Method  of  tanning  Leather  ;  by  David  Maebride ,  lit.  D.  \\p 
Account  of  the  Method  of  fait  in g  and  drying  Cod  in  Newfoundland  1 24 

Mr.  Mudge’s  Cure  for  a  recent  catarrhom  Cough  ■.  —  12^ 

Anecdotes  againf  the  poifonous  Ejfeds  of  c or r ojive  Sublimate,  Verdigreafe,  and 
Lead  —  —  .  ,  *3° 

Short  Account  of  the  Procefs  ufed  at  Paris  for  making  Nitre  133 

Defcription  of  a  Glafs  Apparatus  for  making  artificial  Mineral  Waters  ;  alfo 
the  Procejfes  ufed  therein  — —  —  1 32 


va 


ANTIQUITIES. 

4  .  •  ■ 

.  *  *  ...  4  ^ 

Account  of  the  firfi  Infitution  of  Poet  Laureat  •  —  —  13^ 

Order  and  Manner  of  creating  Knights  of  the  Bath  in  time  of  Peace  141 
The  Origin  of  Lotteries  in  England  —  1 4.3 

Account  of  fome  remarkable  ancient  Ruins,  lately  difeevered  in  the  Highlands 
and  Northern  Parts  of  Scotland  —  '  —  *  146 

Further  Remarks  on  the  fuppofed  ancient  Poems  aferiled  to  Rowlie  153 

"  *  s  *51  •  •  -V  •  vs«’\\  %  \ 

r  *  S  |  •  %  .  »  »  »  *  -v  \  f 

••  X''*  '  .  *T\V. V  >  >  ViY.-  ■  \  • 

MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAYS. 

„■  .  ’  ..  .  .  , 

* The  Origin  of  Knighthood  and  the  Judicial  Combat  of  Nome  aments  hnd  Bla¬ 
zonry  :  the  Sources  of  Chivalry  —  160 

Oj  Manners  and  Refinement ;  the  diffolute  Condudl  of  the  Women  amidfi  the 
Decline  and  OppreJJions  of  Fiefs  j  the  general  Corruption  which  invades 

Society  - - - -  - -  165 

On  the  i  'revalence  of  the  Feudal  S’yfiem  in  the  Eaft,  in  early  Times  168 

Obfervations  on  an  equal  Land-Tax ,  by  Dr.  Burn  - -  1 74 

Two  Letters  written  by  Fir.  Addfion,  in  1708,  to  the  young  Earl  of  War - 


vsick 


Account  of  the  Reception  of  King  James  at  Cambridge ,  in  1 614 
On  W it  and  Raillery  ;  from  Lord  Chef  erf eW  s  Letters  — — 

Extracts  from  a  Letter  of  Mr .  Horne  to  John  Dunning,  Efq.  on  the  Conftrudliou 


1 7$ 

1 77 
179 


of  certain  Enghjb  P articles 
Various  Epitaphs  -  - 

POETRY. 

Ode  for  the  New  Year,  1778  —  — « 

Ode  for  his  My efiy'’ s  Birth-day ,  June  y,  1778  — 

The  C  ontefi  of  the  Seajons,  or  Winter  triumphant  — 

Epilogue  to  the  Tragedy  of  Alfred  ;  written  by  Mr,  Garrick 


183 

189 


29 1 

*93 

*94 

1 9S 
Prologue 


c  o 


TEN 


Prologue  to  the  Battle  ofHafings  ;  written  hy  R.  Cumberland ,  EJq,  tg(j 
Prologue  to  the  new  Comedy  of  the  Suicide  —  — -  igy 

Epilogue  to  the  fame  5  written  by  Mr.  Garrick  —  — i^g 

Prologue  to  Bonduca  ;  written  by  Mr.  Garrick  — »  —  1 

Prologue  at}d  Epilogue  to  the  new  Comedy  of  The  F athers  ;  both  written  by 
Mr.  Garrick  ~  200,  20  i 

Prologue  and  Epilogue  to  the  new  Comedy  of  the  Sleep  Walker  203 

Verfes  by  the  late  Earl  of  Chatham,  to  David  Garrick ,  Efiq.  and  Mr.  Garrick"  s 
Anfwer  —  —  205 

A  Poetical  Epiftle  to  Dr.  Goldfmith ;  or,  the  Supplement  to  his  Retaliation,  a 
Poem  — —  — - » 

Verfes  by  Sir  fohn  Denham,  not  printed  in  his  Works  ®—» 

Extracts  from  a  “  Poetical  Epi fie  to  an  eminent  Painter* ”  x  - 
Sentimental  Poetry,  extracted  from  “  The  Wreath  of  F ajkion” 

A  Defcription  ofTyme  ;  from  <*  Harington" s  Remains **  — 

The  Vift ;  by  Theophilus  Swift,  Efq .  —  — — 

Verfes  to  a  Lady ;  by  the  fame 


Verfes  written  by  a  Gentleman  at  the  Leafowes ,  Aug.  20,  1778 
On  feeing  Mrs.  Crewe  at  Drury -Lane  Theatre  — » *— » 


206 

207 

208 

210 

21 1 
214 
214 
2I& 

218 


Account  of  BOOKS  fot  1778* 

The  Hifory  of  Englijh  Poetry,  from  the  Clofe  of  the  Eleventh  to  the  Commence ** 
merit  of  the  Eighteenth  Century.  To  which  are  prefixed  Two  Dijfertations  s 
lr  On  the  Origin  of  Romantic  Fiction  in  Europe .  2.  On  the  Introduction 

&f  Learning  into  England.  Volumes  if  and  2  d.  By  Thomas  War  ton, 
B.  D.  Fellow  of  Trinity  College ,  Oxford ,  and  of  the  Society  of  Antigua - 
ries.  Quarto.  * —  - —  —  219 

f Hangout  State  Papers,  From  150*  to  1726.  %  vol.  4 to*  234 


THE  E  N  B, 


1.  ; . 


(